The Fall of The Berlin Wall

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Democracy was built up as the wall was torn down. The Berlin Wall was built overnight and stood at twelve feet tall and ninety-six miles long. The massive structure is what separated East and West Germany. The wall separated friends and family as well as being a barrier between freedom and oppression. West Germany was a democracy and was essentially a free world, while on the other side of the wall East Germany was a strict, miserable, and communist ran part of the country. On June 12th Ronald Reagan the 40th president of the United States gave a daring speech at the Brandenburg Gate. His speech was so controversial that he needed to speak behind two pains of bullet proof glass, just in case East German snipers were lingering. Reagan ultimately brought an end to communism in East Germany with his influential speech that caused the massive wall to be torn down and allowed democracy to thrive. The destruction of the wall not only unified the two sides of Germany but also symbolized the fall of communism, and the end of the Cold War.
‘’As the relationship between the Soviet Union and the other three Allied powers quickly disintegrated, the cooperative atmosphere of the occupation of Germany turned competitive and aggressive. Although an eventual reunification of Germany had been intended, the new relationship between the Allied powers turned Germany into West versus East, democracy versus Communism’’ (Rosenberg). At the end of World War II the Soviet Union who was once part of the allied powers had suddenly become enemies with the United States, Great Britain, and France. The soviets took over half of Germany and built the wall to separate the two sides. Soon there was an apparent difference between the two sides. West Germany was...

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...llpeckers" - Berlin Wall Graffiti, Berlin Liberates Itself!" Historypin. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.This citation gave me an idea of how the wall actually came down, it also showed how excited people were for the wall to finally come down.

Kennedy, John F. "Ich Bin Ein Berliner." West Berlin. Speech. The speech gave me an idea about how America felt about the wall during Kennedy’s presidency and how he tried to encourage the people of Germany.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Berlin Wall - The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall." About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.This website gave me a lot of background information on the Berlin Wall.

Year 8 History Extention Class. Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall. Strathfield: St. Patrick's College, 2012. Pressbooks.com. Web. 11 May 2014.This book gave me details on the creation and destruction of the Berlin Wall.

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