Rise & Fall of the Berlin Wall

"Ich bin ein Berliner."
        -President John F. Kennedy (June 26, 1963)

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
                     - President Ronald Reagan (June 12, 1987)

The Berlin Wall became the ultimate iconic image of the Cold War.  As the victorious allies divided the defeated Germany at the end of World War II, it soon became evident that the different sectors were unable to coexist harmoniously.  Britain, the United States, France and Russia each controlled part of Germany, and also part of its capital, Berlin.  Berliners were at first allowed to move freely from east to west, but on August 12, 1961 Walter Ulbricht, the East German leader, ordered the border closed. The 155-kilometer Wall, complete with 302 watchtowers and barbed wire, was built -- effectively cutting the city in two for nearly 30 years.  The ban on travel remained until November 9, 1989, when the border was re-opened and the wall came tumbling down. Easterners immediately flooded to the other side.  Over the years 192 people had been killed trying to reach the west. Fifty years later, almost all traces of the wall are gone.  Germany was reunited in 1990.