At the end of WWII a pact was made between the Soviet union, Britain, France, and America. With this pact Berlin was divided between them and Germany was divided into two countries in hopes that there would be no more wars.

The French, British, and American sectors eventually collapsed and became one in West Berlin causing it to become a capitalist city.

Things were going well for West Berlin. The U.S. included West Germany in the Marshal plan which provided funds for rebuilding it. East Berlin, on the other hand, had been stripped of tools and machinery in order for them to be used for war equipment and such for the Soviet Union.

West Berlin became known as a place of capitalism and free market, while East Berlin became a place of centralized economy.

When the U.S. proclaimed the Truman Doctrine which said that the US would give aid and support to people who are being threatened or dominated by armed minorities or outside pressures. Stalin became annoyed and in response surrounded west Berlin with troops in order to shut off all access by land and water and demanded that the other powers remove their troops.

In an attempt to starve out the city the Soviet Union blockaded it so that no food could reach the people. This made the U.S. take action and create what is called the “Berlin airlift” This meant that every three minutes a plane would land and bring food to the people. This great humanitarian act saved many lives.

Over two hundred seventy-five thousand planes brought food into Berlin 24 hours a day.

The blockade was abandoned in 1949 because it interfered with public relations. Regular transport of goods to west Berlin was allowed to continue and boarders between the soviet and allied sectors became check points and in many place were white lines simply painted across streets.

Harsh Soviet actions caused the formation of N.A.T.O. which was an alliance of north Atlantic nations that was formed to counter soviet actions like the blockade.

When Stalin died in march 1953 Nikita Khrushchev took over and just like Stalin demanded that the allies remove their troops.

In June 1953 the people of East Berlin became enraged with the government forces and began to riot. They attempted to smash tanks and set fires.

Walter Ulbricht, the east German communist leader, came up with a plan to hurt west Berlin and in august 1961 miles and miles of barbed wire were put in and around east Berlin and many new border guards appeared.

East Germany began to lose citizens to the west and plans to approve the building of the wall that would separate east and West Berlin.

Before august 13 the border was a simple white line but over night it had become a wall of men that prevented people from crossing.

Almost immediately after, people began to escape throw blind spots and gaps in the barbed wire. Including some soldiers. Almost 100

When the wall was built it cut through many neighborhoods causing people to have to relocate. The wall had 79 miles of fencing almost 300 watchtowers more than 250 guard dogs, 20 bunkers, and 65 miles of anti-vehicle tranches.

After approximately 20 years of being separated the Berlin wall became weak due to a slip of the tongue by Gunter Schabowski, leader of the East Berlin communist party. While reading notes at a press conference, he had unknowingly announced that there would be no more travel restrictions.

As soon as the news got out thousands of east Berliners flocked to the border check points.

The border guards did their best to hold off the angry east Berliners but in the end gave in and they allowed them to cross into west Berlin. Soon both east and west Berliners began to tear down the wall.

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