The Berlin Wall: An Important Turning Point In History

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As World War II came to a close in 1945, not all the disagreements between nations were over. Some of the allied countries turned on each other as the future of broken European areas became clear after the war. Two superpowers, the United States and Soviet Union, began to engage in the Cold War after the close of the war. The building of the Berlin Wall is an important turning point in history because of the large physical and psychological symbol the wall played in representing the impacts of the two Cold War ideologies on each other and foreign peoples and the lasting social impact of the latest world war.

The division of Europe’s postwar destructed areas played a significant role in the tension between the two countries through the
During this time, Winston Church gave his famous Iron Curtain speech, “The safety of the world, ladies and gentlemen, requires a unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast.”[2] Coined from this speech, “the Iron Curtain” described the division between the area of Soviet Union and the Western power’s control.[3] This speech is an early explanation of the division in the world that took place during the Cold
A few days after the fence appeared, August 17, 1961, the United States issued a note to the USSR reacting to the Berlin Wall. Within this note the US declared, “…that the measures which the East German authorities have taken are illegal” and “The United States Government solemnly protests against the measures referred to above, for which it holds the Soviet Government responsible. The United States Government expects the Soviet Government to put an end to these illegal measures.”[9] This note showed that the United States’ complete opposition of the USSR’s wall, which contributed to the power struggle between the sides in the Cold

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