1. 6. The Berlin Wall

2. Back Up! Remember: WWII Ends, and the Soviet Union and the United States emerge as the superpowers (Most powerful countries in the world) Germany is divided: E-Communist-Soviet Union W-Democracy-United States

3. Communist Russia People have very little freedoms. People are forced to do work that the government tells you to do. Russia becomes very poor. Stalin makes things even worse Communal farming- land taken from farmers, given to “Russia.” Russia = communist = Soviet Union

5. People on the Communist side are not allowed to travel to the Democratic side. Because E Germany is communist, they have a command economy, and an unlimited government. The government tells the ppl what they can eat, have, buy, listen to on the radio, watch on TV, etc.. IT IS TERRIBLE!

6. Fast Forward to 1960’s: Problem Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, everything is relatively normal. There is a food, clothing, shelter, jobs, etc. Ppl on the Communist side are trying to sneak over to the Democratic side. The Soviets are killing ppl who try to sneak over to the American Democratic Side. Things are BAD!

7. SOLUTION: The Berlin Wall (1961)

8. The Berlin Wall While the people of Berlin slept, the Soviet Union put a plan into action. They built a wall across the center of Berlin In the morning, people awoke to a wall. They could no longer cross town to visit, or to shop, or to even work. Over the next few months, the wall was built stronger and higher.

9. What if you tried to escape?? Guards at the wall were trained to shoot without warning anyone who was caught trying to escape their side. There were attack dogs and eventually land mines. It would be almost 30 years later when the wall was torn down!

11. The year = 1987 Communism is beginning to collapse. The people of the Soviet Union and on the E side of Germany are seeing how bad it is. They know that a democracy is better. Communism was unable to compete with the appeal of economic and political freedom!

12. “Tear Down This Wall!”

14. Wooohoooo! East and West Berliners arrived in each side to give each other hugs and to celebrate! The celebration continued for days. Everyone wanted to take a swing at the wall, or to take a piece of the wall. Pieces of the wall are in several museums in the United States and around the world.

15. VERY IMPORTANT! What happened when the wall came down?? Germany was finally reunified again!! Political and economic power in Europe Reunification of families

16. What would happen to communism? By 1990, communism could not hold on any longer. Gorbachev resigns, and the Soviet Union is dissolved. The republics of the USSR become separate countries. The hammer and sickle flag is NO MORE! Poland, E. Germany, Czech, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary also lose their communist dictators. These countries also went from a command to a mixed economy!

17. Last Leader of USSR (Gorbachev)

18. End of the Soviet Union End of the Communism End of the Cold War