ENG 1100 Essay: Critical Analysis of The Fall of Berlin Wall

This essay provides a detailed analysis of the fall of the Berlin Wall, examining the historical context, key events, and its lasting impact. It begins by establishing the significance of freedom and the division of Germany after World War II, setting the stage for the wall's construction. The essay then explores the political climate of the time, including the roles of US presidents JFK and Ronald Reagan, and the influence of Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika. It highlights the role of the people of Berlin, the influence of Poland's Solidarity movement, and the support from the Catholic Church, particularly Pope John Paul II, in the wall's demise. The essay details the demolition process, including the opening of borders, visa-free travel, and the physical dismantling of the wall, along with the reactions of key figures like Margaret Thatcher and Francois Mitterrand. Finally, it discusses the celebrations following the wall's fall and the lingering cultural differences between East and West Germans, as well as the wall's lasting impact on the culture of Germany. The essay concludes by emphasizing the wall's representation of the struggle against division and its continuing presence in people's attitudes and mindsets.

Running head: THE FALL OF BERLIN WALL
English Essay
-The Fall of Berlin Wall
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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History has always regarded freedom as a token for self-pride and self-assurance. Division of
a nation in to two is of great impact in context to the politics as well as the lives of the people
residing there. The Berlin wall had split the country of Germany in to two fragments of east
and west. After the commencement of the Second World War, the Soviet Union captured
Berliners, split their families and developed a communist government demanding entire
control over them (Hoskins & Todd, 2018).
Thesis Statement: The aim of this essay is to establish that the fall of this wall was an
embodiment of the freedom of the people of Germany as well as the collapse of Soviet
Union and the iron whip rule of the Communist rulers.
After the official ending of the Second World War east and West Berlin was separated
by a low barbed wire and in due time cement wall differentiated the two parts of the city also.
Although the wall was recognized as a shield to the East Berliners, it was literally developed
in order to part the families, friends and prevent people to consummate their jobs (Viol et al.
2019). As people tried to escape to the west from the east, they were shot dead and in fact
2000 such casualties occurred in a similar fashion in a small amount of time (Hoskins&Todd,
2018).
When the time of fighting the wall arrived in 1990s, communism was on the back-
stream and there was political atrocity with pictures of poverty stricken citizens everywhere.
The two presidents of US, namely JFK and Ronald Regan were both in support of West
Germany as well as that of Democracy. The politician from the Soviet Union, Mikhail
Gorbachev, initiated the politics of glasnost as well as perestroika which was the reason
behind the opening of the wall (Demshuk, 2019). The citizen of Berlin counted on the new
government to give them freedom, freedom for the press, freedom to travel as well as
freedom for expansion. In the November of 1989, the Berlin people had won the fight as the

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gates of West Germany were being opened for them. Twenty eight years had passed and it
was finally the time for the Berlin wall to fall (Ahlfeldt et al., 2015).
The definition of freedom has changed since the time it used to be defined by the
communists. It is now a special perception for the person around the globe, who now no
longer wishes to reside under the threats of the law (Urban, 2016). The German government
after the fall of the wall had changed (Sonnevend, 2016). The government is now no longer
comprised of only the rulers, rather a set of concrete system where people will not only have
voting rights but also the right to provide their opinion in any context (Fariss, 2017).
Other the Soviet, it is perestroika as well as glasnost had spread among people who
were resenting the domination of the Soviet Union. There was also a strong demand for the
diminishing of the soviet domination and its replacement by the democratic reforms. In this
context, the primary effort came from Poland whose population had been primarily anti-
Russian. The people of Poland had actually been resenting the economic downturn of the
country. There was a great revolt that took shape in the hands of a simple electrician Lech
Walesa who formed the union named Solidarity. There were several strikes on account of
which the government of Poland was forced to accept and give recognition to solidarity
(Geyer, 2017).
There was anti-Soviet support from the Christian Catholics also. Naturally, it was
observed that Walesa had received considerable support from the Christian church also. The
fall of communism under the aura of rejection towards communism that was on display
globally, had a great role to play in the fall of the Berlin wall. The Polish pope John Paul II
also has a significant contribution towards the same (Hoskins& Todd, 2018; Stoetzer, 2018).
According to the critics like Jack Kemp, it is the spiritual embodiment and the
personal prestige which was fostered by the Pope and gradually also became the factors of

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strength for Solidarity as well as the other freedom movements also. As stated by the same
researcher, the ascension of Karol Wojtyla to the position of papacy saw an immediate
depreciation of powers of the major pillars of communism (Liepmann, 2018).
The demolition of the Berlin Wall started on 9th November, 1989 and continued for the next
few days and weeks. People used various tools to demolish different segments of the wall
taking off souvenirs and creating several border crossings between east and west Germany.
The pictures and videos of the citizens of Germany tearing down the all started to be aired on
the television followed by an announcement by the German Regime to open up ten crossing
between the borders which included the historic locations of BernauerStrabe,
GlienickerBrucke and PostdamerPlatz (Liepmann, 2018). On each side of the crossing a large
crowd amassed in order to cheer while bulldozers tore parts of the wall and reconnect the
roads that were once divided by the wall. Even though illegal crossing between the walls
continued before 1989, the tearing of the wall made the border crossings easie (Morokvasic,
2017). By 23rd December visa-free travel was enables between East and West Germany until
which only restrictive travel was allowed for exchange of a travel visa that can be obtained at
25DM per day. On 13th June 1990, the dismantling process was declared by the military of
Germany at Bernauerstrave in the Mitte district (Andits, 2015). According to estimates the
destruction of the Berlin Wall lead to the created of 1.8 million tons of building rubble and
have also been related to the construction of a railway. A total of 175 trucks, 65 cranes, 55
excavators and 13 bulldozers were required to tear down about 184km of the wall as well as
154 km of border fence system, 114 km of signal system and 87 km of barrier ditches.
Following the destruction of the wall, on 1st July, East Germany adopted the currency of the
West Germany. The fall of the Wall is considered one of the first and most important steps in
the reunification of east and west Germany that ended with the dissolution of East Germany

4THE FALL OF BERLIN WALL
in 1990. The political unification therefore occurred with the East part of Germany adopting
the basic laws of West Germany (Viol et al., 2018; Eisman, 2015).
The destruction of the Berlin wall however was not viewed favorably in several parts
of Europe. In 1989, Margerette Thatcher, the Prime Minister of UK requested Mikhail
Gorbachev the Secretary of Soviet Union to intervene and prevent the demolition of the
Berlin Wall and unification of East and West Germany fearing that it could endanger the
national security of UK. The President of France, Francois Mitterrand, also supported such
fears considering that a unified Germany can again be a threat to entire Europe (Liepmann,
2016).
Following the demolition of the Berlin Wall, celebration started on a massive scale.
On 21st November, performance of the song, “ Chipping away” was done at the Branden
Burg Gate by Croby& Nash. On 25th in December Beethovan’s Ode to Joy, Joy and Freedom
from the 9th Symphony was played by lenord Bernstein. Other performances that followed the
demolition of the Wall involved that by David Hasselhoff, Roger Waters, Scorpions,
BonJovi, Sinead O’ Cornner, Brain Adams, Thomas Dolby, Cindy Lauper and Van Morrison
(Ahlfeldt et al., 2015).
For several years post reunification, talks about cultural differences between East and
West Germany commonly referred to as Ossis and Wessis or MauerimKompfwhich means
Wall in the head . This represented a difference in the attitudes and behaviors even after the
demolition of the wall. A poll conducted in 2004 showed that 12% of East Germans and 25 %
of West Germans wanted a wall to be built again between East and West Germany while 10%
of the population interviewed in 2009 showed unhappiness with the unification. The wall still
makes an important impact on the culture of Germany and its parts have been preserved in
many places as a memory of the past of the two countries and also the struggle to unite the

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two countries. The Berlin Wall therefore represents a struggle of humans against division and
still prevails in the attitudes and mindsets of people (Geyer, 2017).

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