The Wall that divided Europe: The Berlin Wall
After the Second World War, during the conference of London in 1944, an agreement was made between the Allies of Nazi Germany (Levy, 7). Germany was divided in 4 sectors belonging to the victors of the War: France, Unites States, England and Russia (Taylor,2007). Berlin was also separated into 4 parts: the western part belonged to the Americans, British and French, whereas the eastern side belonged to the Soviets. The Western Democracies (France, USA and England) came together and formed Western Germany. Germany was now divided into West Germany called the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and East Germany called the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (Taylor,2007). During the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the Western Democracies came together to defeat the biggest threat to both sides: Hitler. Once this matter was resolved, the conflicts between these 2 sides continued to arise. There was a political competition opposing the Soviet Union and the United States. Each side had opposing views on the way in which they wanted to control the economy and the society, in other words they were each attempting to expand their influence amongst the Germans. The Soviet Union and the United States were the two superpowers in the World and Berlin was the center of their debate. “Both sides knew that Germany, even in its weakened and truncated post-1945 condition, was the key to Central Europe, and perhaps even of the entire continent” (Taylor, Chapter 5 4/17). Each side wanted their economy to flourish more than the other; the Soviets economic system was a central government whereas the United States economy was based on capitalism and free exchange. In the German Democratic Republic, the communist government provided it’s citizens with free health care, affordable housing and guaranteed employment. However, this regime did not benefit from generous subventions and the same quality of life and started proving to be...