Two Superpowers: The Rise Of The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to reinforce the split in the city of Berlin. At the time, Berlin City was split not only physically, but also economically and culturally. The Wall was built by East German workers and troops, and it symbolized the Democratic Republic of Germany’s political and cultural divide brought about by the domination of the world’s two superpowers on both sides of the wall. The United States of America and the Soviet Union had interests in Germany. The German split began after German was defeated and it was divided into four regions that were to be governed by the joint council of the winning nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France. The Berlin Wall separated West Berlin, which was
The two superpowers have different positions, and they all want to rule Germany according to these positions. The tension between the US and the USSR began mainly because the council that controlled the Allied forces that defeated Germany had its capital in the Soviet territory (Young, 1994 pg 1039). The wall was erected as quickly as possible, and it was originally for keeping the East Berliners from going into the West Berlin territory. The Soviet Union believed in the economic principles of socialism while the United States believed in Western Capitalism and the wall was meant to keep these two principles separate between the East and the West Germans (Wyden, 1989 pg 542). The wall created not only a cultural barrier but also and emotional one between the Germans and it even led to injuries and deaths as a result of people trying to cross over
The United States used radical monetary reforms to help Germany come back to its feet by enabling shops to open trade in which goods were previously traded on the black market (Young, 1994 pg 1040). However, the political and economic ideals of the Soviet Union was different as they denounced the Anglo-American policy of non-consultation. As a result, the USSR imposed a blockade of Berlin, which was in the Soviet Zone. This made it impossible for the Americans and their allies; the British and the French to access Berlin by any means possible and the food and electricity supply was cut. The monetary reforms by the Americans were the primary cause, but the Soviet also wanted to make Berlin their zone by pushing out the Americans and their allies. The Americans, counter-reacted by introducing an airlift by the help of General Lucius D. Clay (Wyden, 1989 pg 743). Berlin became the center of the confrontation between the two superpowers and their allies until 1989 when the Berlin wall was taken