The Reason for the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Airlift did nothing to defuse tension between the East and West in Germany . Berlin was an peculiarly tender spot , because it was the only gap in the Iron Curtain . People in West Berlin could fly out of the metropolis freely . While the border between East Germany and West Germany was closed , there was nothing to stop East Germans from entering West Berlin and fleeing ( ordefectingfrom ) communist rule . Brobdingnagian number of them did leave . By 1960 , tens of thousands of masses were leaving every calendar month . In 1961 , more than 200,000 East Germans had defect by summer .
West Germany was n’t felicitous to see this numeral of mass leaving the East . Not only did it create an incredible economic strain , it increase tension between East and West to an unbearable grade . It seemed that an outbreak of violence was inevitable – no one knew what to do about the situation . The solution came from the Sovietpolitburo(the executive committee of the USSR ) and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev . The order technically were issued by German communistic party leaderWalter Ulbricht , but he was fundamentally a marionette of the Soviets .
On the nighttime of Aug. 12 and 13 in 1961 , the borders between East and West Berlin were closed , along with all the rail stations . Thousands of East German soldier guarded the border while workers began constructing barbed wire fences . Construction begin at about 1 a.m. – streetlights were turned off so no one could see what was happening . The urban center of Berlin was being walled off , and the residents had no thought it was happening until morning . Neither did westerly leaders . President John F. Kennedy was need wholly by surprise .
The Berlin Wall is normally think of as a rampart between East and West Berlin . In fact , East Germany want to slue off all access that East Germans had to West Berlin . Therefore , they had to cordon off all of West Berlin . The Berlin Wall altogether circumvent the democratic half of the city .
Most resident of Berlin were stunned and indignant when they realize what had happened . Those in the East had few ways to express their choler under the thumb of communistic rule and the ever - watchfulStasi , the East German mystic police . Since the Berlin Wall was still really just a fence that morning , and incomplete in many places , some East Germans ran through the gaps or hopped the fence , realizing it was their last chance to reach the West . Even East German soldier defect .
West Berlin was more demonstrative in its displeasure . Crowds were gathering along the border . There were demands that the U.S. step in and cease the building of the wall , which intelligibly and openly transgress the Yalta agreements and subsequent treaty . But the reverence of nuclear war prevented the U.S. andNATOfrom responding with military military unit . Strong news were pretty much the only consequences faced by the Soviets for putting up the wall , and in private , many political leader were relieved that the wall had been built . It create constancy , even at the cost of exemption , in a region that had been dangerously close to erupting into topsy-turvydom . Nevertheless , West Germans were angered that their NATO friend had seemingly abandoned the citizens of West Berlin .
In the next part , we ’ll look at the paries itself .
