The Cold war was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union (east) and the United States and Europe (west) and their respective allies, the Eastern Block and the Western Bloc, after World War II. This conflict lasted through the last half of the 20th century and I’m going to focus on one of the most important events of this war, the fall of the Berlin wall.
To understand why the wall was put up in the first place, we need to understand the political landscape after World War II. Nazi Germany was defeated and the Allies (the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union) agreed on dividing a defeated Nazi Germany into occupation zones and on dividing Berlin, the German capital, among the Allied powers as well. The problem with the later was that Berlin was deep in eastern Germany and the soviets did everything in their power to spread communism and prevent the spread of capitalism. This led to the Berlin Blockade (1948) in which soviets blocked supplies from west Germany to Berlin so the allied forces had to fly in supplies. Over time, the difference between east and west Berlin was very clear- west Berlin was way richer in contrast with east Berlin. This is because the soviets were draining all the funds they could to the military and the space race with the USA.
Inhabitants were free to travel from eastern Berlin to western Berlin and there was an adoration from eastern Berliners with the lifestyle of western Berliners and many chose to stay in the west because of the better life conditions. This ended in 1961, when Khrushchev (the soviet leader) declared it was prohibited for eastern Berliners to visit the west and built up the infamous Berlin Wall. Families were separated and many died trying to flee east Germany and/or be with their family again. This proved the failure of the communist system and United States president John F. Kennedy said “Democracy might not be perfect, but we never had to put a wall up to keep our people in”.
After years and years of weakening on the soviet side, extreme poverty and with Gorbachov, who vouched for peace with the west, in charge, the European “iron curtain” started to dissolve little by little. In Hungary, the barbed wire was removed at the border in 1989, and many east Berliners flew to Hungary with the sole purpose of going through that border in any way they could until Erich Honecker, a Stalinist president, blocked travel to Hungary. People were furious and wanted out of that regime and were especially unhappy with the wall that separated both sides of Berlin. Mass protests were held and the police tried to silence them at all costs with little to no success. After Honecker was voted out of office, in November 9th 1989, the east German government decided to uplift the travel ban and to open the gates to West Germany.
East and West Berliners celebrated together that night what was one of the most moving historical events of all time. The people toppled the wall amidst their celebrations and communism followed suit with the dissolution of the soviet union in 1990.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany#Origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbatchov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain https://www.infopedia.pt/$erich-honecker www.youtube.com