The Fall of Berlin Wall and its impact on the 1989 Revolution Research Paper

The Fall of Berlin Wall and its impact on the 1989 Revolution - Research Paper Example In addition, the paper examines the relationship between the collapse of the war and the subsequent revolution in 1989. Shortly before the Berlin wall was opened, the East German government had announced in 9 November 1989 that travel restrictions between the East and West Germany would be lifted with immediate effect (Beissinger, 2002). The announcement triggered excitement among the residents on the eastern and western side of the Berlin city and they dashed to the concrete barrier that had prevented interaction and movement of people across the boundary for over two decades. Berlin wall was constructed in 1961 and Peters (2009) indentifies four factors that motivated the construction. These include division of Germany in different administrative sectors, the mass movement of people from the east to the West Germany, rapid development and industrialization in West Germany and tensions between United States and Soviet Union (Peters 2009). Division of Germany into various administrative sectors occurred soon after the end of the Second World War. According to Darden and Anna (2006), the country was divided into four segments which were assigned to the four powers that had played the major role in the defeat of Germany during the war. United States, Britain and the Soviet Union in addition to France were assigned one administrative portion each. Similarly, Berlin which was the capital city was divided into four segments which were allocated to the four foreign powers. Due to the fact that Berlin was within the sector allocated to the Soviet Union, it was major cause of tension between the ideologically different western and the eastern powers. Consequently, Berlin City was polarized into two segments, the western part controlled by United States, France and Britain while the eastern part under the Soviet Union (Michael, 2009). According to Engel (2009),