The Berlin Wall

Q: Hello the board,

What's the watered down summary of the Berlin Wall and why it came down and why it was the physical symbol of the end of the Cold War and why was Reagan so flippin' tight w/ Gorbachev if the U.S was anti-Soviet? wow.. what a sentence.

thank you muchly,
Tired of Trying


A: Dear Tired of Trying,

The Berlin Wall was put up to separate the communist side of Germany from the democratic side of Germany. If you recall, right after World War II, Germany was split down the middle into the East and West sides. The Berlin Wall was built, spreading all the way across Germany. The west side was democratic, the east was communist.

As the years passed, the west (democratic) side of Germany got richer and more prosperous, while the communist side got poor. America wanted East Germany to be free and democratic and to prosper like West Germany was doing, but Russia kept saying "No, no, East Germany belongs to us! Leave us alone!"

This continued until 1987, when the US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech (which you can find here if you're interested) where he said, basically, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said "You know what? Okay."

Communism had fallen apart, and there really wasn't any reason for the wall anymore. Furthermore, everyone was tired of the Cold War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the end, because that was the sign that communism had fallen apart. (Don't forget, the reason for the Cold War was to stop the spread of communism. So when communism fell apart, the war was over.)

As for Reagan and Gorbachev... they got along well because they respected each other, and they recognized each other as honest men. America wasn't anti-Soviet, it was anti-communism. You can respect someone even if you don't agree with what they believe in.

I hope that helps.

-Hakim the Storyteller