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Battle of Berlin
World War Two was ending and the Red Army (the colloquial name for the Russian National Military Forces) captured Berlin which resulted in the divide of the city and the development of the Soviet Sector (East) and the British, US and French sector (West). This event is important as it caused the political divide of the country and introduced communism to Germany. This date is one of the most significant events which caused Germany to be divided for 30 years. -
Potsdam
The Potsdam Conference occurred in the south of Berlin and due to the fact that Germany did not win the war, the Allies divided Germany into four occupation zones which were; USA, Great Britain, France and Soviet Union. A social effect of the Potsdam conference was that Germany had been split into two very different ways of life: the soviet, communist based system and their way of life and then the Allies democratic way of life. (finished 2nd August 1945 -
Berlin Blockade begins
This attempt from the Soviets to ‘starve’ the Allies out of their sectors in berlin by cutting off their land and water transit routes as well as the ability to travel into their sectors in Berlin. Two days later the Allies set up an airlift to supply their sectors in Berlin with necessities and this lasted 11 months. This event holds significance as it was the first major ‘clash’ of the Cold War and it highlighted the major political tensions across Germany. -
Federal Republic of Germany is founded
The Federal Republic of Germany is founded (West Germany). This, while a positive step for the West side politically as it created a sense of stability, had the effect of reducing the hope that Germany would be reunified in the near future. -
German Democratic Republic is created
The German Democratic Republic is created in response to the Federal Republic and Germany is officially run by two different governments and Germany is two different Nations. This resulted in the Cold War having a significantly larger amount of tension added to it and Germany became a symbol for the divided world. -
Occupation ended
Allies end their occupation. This had major military impacts as West Germany was now allowed to have a military forces of 500,000 men, create weapons but was not allowed to create any chemical weapons. By the Allies giving Germany the right to build their military force again, they could start to be seen as trust worthy in the eyes of the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW7YSLOTSNo -
Walter Ulbricht leads GDR
Walter Ulbricht becomes leader of GDR and the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The effect of this man having a lot of leadership was very significant as it meant that he had the authority to order the Berlin Wall to be built. In giving Ulbricht these roles, he had the power fuel the cold war, creating major political tension by building the wall. -
Attempted crossing of the wall
Two young men attempted to cross from East to West Berlin and while one was successful, the other was shot by machine guns but managed to keep going until he was shot in the back and left to die in the ‘death strip’ which was the divider between the East and the West which contained lookouts, guard dogs and military personnel. This shooting acted as a significant symbol of fear to the East as a warning to not attempt to cross to the West. -
Kennedy's Speech
US president Kennedy makes his speech where he says “ich bin ein Berliner” translating to I am a Berliner. “All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin” stated Kennedy and this speech became one of the most well-known speeches in the duration of the Cold War, thus it holds a great amount of significance. This speech had a social impact as it inspired people to have hope and to fight for their equality and freedom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK907TwM7q0 -
Travel agreement signed
An agreement was signed between West and East Germany allowing easier travel to and from Berlin. This is significant as it showed the beginning of a thawing in the division of the country. However, while this was an important step to freedom, the effects weren’t felt from this small step for another 18 years. -
Ronald Reagan's speech
Ronald Reagan (President of the US) gave a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate where he stated “ Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” This caused immense pressure to be put on the East to begin to consider the possibility of taking the wall down. Reagans speech inspired many civilians to protest for the reunification of Germany and the end of the wall, thus making the speech very significant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfZgR5KOIXs -
Monday Demostrations
The ‘Monday Demonstrations’ in Leipzig begin. These were a series of protest in East Germany of citizens demanding a new government and their main slogan read ‘Wir sind das volk!” (We are the people). This caused the social changes of everyone in east German coming together to get their voices to be heard and forcing the Government to listen to them. Essentially, because of this pressure placed on the government, the wall was able to be taken down.https://vimeo.com/112118083 (up to 1 min) -
Wall comes down
This was the day it was announced that the German Democratic Republic was able to travel freely into East Berlin without restrictions and that this would take place immediately. However, boarder guards were not aware of this change in policies and were bombarded with people surrounding the wall shouting 'open the gate!'. This day holds an enormous amount of significance as it marks the day a separated country could begin to be reunified – politically, socially, culturally and economically. -
Germany is Reunified
This was the day Germany was reunified as a whole country again when the 5 federal states of East Germany formally joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The positive effects of this were large as the country now had a stable government, families and friends could be reunited and stability was put back into place. However, a negative ramification of the reunification process was the fact that Germany’s economic slowed dramatically as the whole process cost 1.5 trillion euros.
