Why Germany was divided by a wall? Historically.?

Question

Thank you for your help,any references?

Answer 1

Redunicorn is correct, but I would like to embellish a little.

As WWII drew to a close, the Soviet Union wanted to control as much of Nazi Europe as it could. The Red Army pushed beyond Berlin, and Stalin tried to claim the former German capital as part of the Peoples Socialist Republic of Germany (East Germany).

The Allies, United Kingdom, France, and United States, could not get the Soviet Union to give up Berlin completely, but they negotiated a partitioning into zones. Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet zone, but the city itself was divided up into zones like the country was. A zone for each of the Allies, and one for the Soviets.

In 1948, the Soviet Union blockaded Berlin. No supplies were allowed entry to the Allied zones. The US military started The Berlin Airlift, which ferried supplies by air from Allied bases in western Germany into Berlin.

Later, the Allies allowed the Germans in their zones to organize into the country then known as West Germany, and they became self-governing. In response, the Soviets installed a communist puppet government in East Germany, claiming the same legitimacy as the West German government.

The Berlin Wall was built by the Soviets because people in East Germany, and East Berlin in particular, kept fleeing their homes in order to obtain the freedoms available in West Berlin and West Germany. There were instances of Soviet and East German guards shooting people as they tried to cross no-mans'-land between the two Berlins. The Wall was actually pretty effective in stopping that traffic.

Being born in 1942, I was aware of the above events. I was completely amazed when the Wall came down and the USSR self-destructed. I never expected to see either of those events.

As for references, I would expect that searching for Berlin Wall would yield a plethora of resources.
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Answer 2

When the Western Allies and the Soviet troops met in 1945 Berlin was well inside the area conquered by the Soviets, but the victorious powers felt that to allow the traditional and beloved capitol of Germany to fall entirely under Soviet control would cause too much unrest among the conquered people. American and British proposals to make it an international city were vetoed by France and Russia, and since the negotiators were aware the international city concept has never worked in any case it was decided after much debate to divide the city more or less in half. Unfortunately, communism is so benevolent and wonderful a form of government the best and brightest under its aegis will always avail themselves of any opportunity to escape, and West Berlin quickly became a conduit through which not only German dissidents but those from almost every other eastern European nation could defect with relative impunity to freedom. In the 1950's the Soviets sought to close this bolt-hole by denying passage through East Germany for supplies without which the divided city would soon fall, and when the famous Berlin Airlift put a stop to that the frustrated Soviets erected a concrete-block barrier topped with razor wire and studded with machine-gun towers to keep their people in. This state of affairs continued until the German people finally achieved the long hoped-for reunification of their country in the 1980's.

Answer 3

Because of a little thing called the Cold War. After World War II Berlin was split into four parts, but in the end, only two parts survived, the parts owned by the Russians and the Americans. Then came the race for nuclear arms. So Russia (known then as the U.S.S.R.) and America entered into the famous Cold War where each country was hostile to each other, spied on each other, killed/captured each others' operatives etc. The Berlin Wall was put up to separate East and West Berlin in 1961. East belonging to the U.S.S.R. and the West belonging to America. Neither country let traffic go freely from one side to the next until the Wall came down in '89.

Answer 4

West Berlin was an island surrounded by the Russian partition that came to be known as East Germany. After the war, and particularly in the 1950s, there was a serious problem with East Germans escaping from their country into West Berlin, then getting safe passage out of the "island" and into West Germany. Russia, which was the "overseer" of sorts over East Germany, was particularly angry that people would escape. The best and brightest of Eastern Europe, including Poles, Russians, Ukranians, etc. learned that they could make their way to East Berlin, then go through secret passageways between buildings and be free.

There came a time in the early 60s when they couldn't tolerate it in the Politboro any longer. The order came to secure the border. Literally overnight the wall was erected. All of the secret passageways and tunnels were found and sealed with concrete. Now West Berlin was a literal island. There were no roadways in or out that weren't secured by the East Germans. Airlifts suddenly had to bring in food, medicine and other supplies and take out people who needed to leave. The smuggling of people out of East Germany became very intricate over the ensuing 25+ years. Then...it all came tumbling down. Communism collapsed and Ronald Reagan made his famous speech, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

...and down it came.

Answer 5

It wasn't ,it was only Berlin.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by the government of East Germany to stop its citizens escaping to the West.
It was demolished by the people of Berlin in 1989

Answer 6

Russia built the wall because it wanted to keep separate from the west.

City of Berlin: Divided into the
American, British, French and Soviet
sector with several border crossing
points like Checkpoint Charlie

Answer 7

try wikipedia.com and type in berlin wall and it will tell u why.