Abstract
Otto von Bismarck in the nineteenth century formed the only German state that three quarters of a century later, has been killed by his own unbridled audacity (Rose, 2013). Bismarck as the founder of the Reich announced that created new Germany is satisfied in its aspirations. But the successors of the first chancellor, and especially Kaiser Wilhelm II considered the Bismarck’s opinion modest and unworthy of a nation that costs more. Dissatisfied ambitions were the cause of both world wars, and that had brought to the German people nothing but misery and suffering. In 1945, the Germans were again forced to pay for their "audacity" with hunger, cold, destruction and finally by the separation of his home country.
After the Second World War, there were established a certain order in the world that we can described as the balance of two opposing forces of the two systems. On the one hand it was a "capitalist system" of democratic Western countries led by the United States of America, on the other there was a "socialist system" of the authoritarian states led by the Soviet Union. Germany, on the results of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945, was divided between these two opposing systems. Such order of the separate existence of Germany was considered a condition of peace on the continent. This situation was unchangeable until the mid-80s.
At that time, it seemed that the unification of Germany is not the issue of the nearest future. But the events in East Germany that was spreading with a lightning speed forced the federal chancellor Helmut Kohl to make the issue relevant.
Keywords: Berlin Wall, URSR, USA, Cold War
History gives us enough material to analyze and compare the current events in the world, with events that took place in other countries during the transition to democracy. It can occur peacefully, as in the case of Czechoslovakia, Georgia, and can lead to such conflicts that cause a split in society and civil war as it was in Yugoslavia. Therefore, the path to democracy should be peaceful because the main task is to preserve peace in the world. Such ideology has been established after the world suffered two bloody World Wars and numerous military conflicts.
After the World War 2 Germany was divided into three military zones of occupation, with particular order for the zone of Berlin. Soviet Union got under its control the eastern part, Great Britain got north - western and Americans received the control over south - western part of formal Germany. At the Yalta conference in February 1945 Churchill opened the issue to give one zone to France on the requests of de Gaulle. Stalin agreed but only on the condition that democratic countries would create it from the lands of the British and American zones. In such way Germany was divided between four states on separate military zones. At the Potsdam Conference, the issue of control over Berlin was regarded. There have been established boards that divided the city.
Each country conducted its policy. The most loyal attitude to Germans was in the area under American control, although they first stood on the position of de-industrialization of the country. The U.S. administration in its area has faced serious problems as ruined agriculture, low productivity, a steady stream of refugees from the east. Poor German economy did not cover even the minimum of nutritional needs and necessities. Americans were forced to export food and other goods at their own expenses. This situation prompted them to move away from the policy of de-industrialization of Germany towards the creation of a self-defeated country. In British area, the situation was similar to the American zone. Churchill conducted a policy of democratization, but in complete apathy of Germans that were trying to survive in the condition of military occupation. So the policies in these two zones could hardly be called successful.
France conducted a more hostile policy in its zone. Its main goal was to use all remained forces of Germany by the way of cooperation, hoping to fill up the expenses on the war and to recover its economy losses and damages caused by German. It exported from its zone all production and technologies. In politics, France kept the idea of dismembering of the Germany and thus laid the first stone in the failure of the joint occupation policy of four states. It was French, not Russian, resistance to create a central government in Germany.
Economic difficulties have led to the merger of the American and British zones in a Buffalo for a successful economic policy. Holding a single occupation policy for all four zones couldn’t be successful because of totally different objectives of the USSR and the Western countries. The Soviet Union pursued a policy of socialization of large industrial enterprises, granting the privileges of workers and peasants. Western countries in Buffalo accorded a liberal policy, reflected in monopolization of large corporations. The Western countries were interested in the economic potential of Germany. This interest resulted in the renewal of the Marshall Plan and to the creation of a separate German state.
The separation of Germany hadn’t become something familiar because it was unnatural. The Federal Republic achieved international recognition and became the third economic powerful country in the world. Its society was open to democratic changes and its institutions adequately performed their duties to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens. Thriving economy ensured a high standard of living, social legislation and legal protection.
German Democratic Republic was a military-political and economic recourse to the Soviet Union. Despite the fact that the GDR was considered statistically the most developed country of the socialist system, it was clearly losing. Democracy in this country has been changed on propaganda. To keep the unlawful regime that initially was not democratic required concrete walls and the official lie. The citizens of the GDR saw the abnormality of this situation, and quite naturally fell into the field of attraction for more successful neighbors. As a result, the question of a well-controlled border arose in the Eastern Germany to “protect” socialism and the machine of propaganda.
The Eastern Germany constructed the Berlin Wall in 1961. It had 155 km of length. It was a complex of different structures. There was a wall of the average height of 3.6 meters; there were electrical fences, earthen ditches, the structures for an antitank protection and other boarder’s elements (Cohen, 2004).
“From the time of its construction in 1961 until its ‘fall’ in 1989 the Wall was a key resource for political rhetoric, revealing several different phases in its symbolic use over the three decades in which it existed (Manghani, 2008). The Wall was a source of anger for Eastern Germans towards the Western civilization. Good description of the political situation we can find at the article of Jack Kenny: “The wall was officially dubbed the “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart” by East German officials, who claimed to be protecting the city from the militarism of their West German neighbors. Better known as the “Wall of Shame,” it stood until the fall of 1989 when, after several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced that on November 9, all citizens of the German Democratic Republic would be free to visit West Germany and West Berlin. Berliners from both sectors gathered at the Wall to celebrate, and with pickaxes, hammers, and chisels began to hack away at the visible symbol of the “Iron Curtain” that had descended on the communist-ruled countries at the end of World War II” (Kenny, 2011). All mentioned names of the Wall reflected its meaning for the citizens of both parts of separated country.
People went to the different tricks to get over the wall. Someone tried to fly it in a balloon, someone climbing a rope slung between the windows of the neighboring houses. Historians estimate for attempting to escape from prison in the GDR were seventy-five thousand people, and for organizing it and threatened all life imprisonment. The wall fell down only after twenty-eight years. From 1962 to 1988 more than seven thousand people left the GDR, and the most part of them moved legally. The rest of immigrants were trying to get the West German in various ways. There was a tunnel under the Wall. In a certain sense, it was a trade of lives, because those who could pay more money had a possibility to move to the western part legally. In first few years, but then it became impossible. The boarder was completely closed.
Over the years, the wall became for the majority of people the usual part of life. It was a symbol of separation of the world into two different ideologies. In East Berlin, the word "wall" was considered almost seditious, instead citizens were saying "state border" or "anti-fascist rampart."
Jeffrey Engel underlined in his work that “the fall of the Berlin Wall is the result of the will of ordinary citizens from both sides” (Engel, 2009). The events that took place in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania in few months made the process irretrievable. Quiet revolution in Hungary, which began in the 70 -'s with the need of transition to a market economy and produced profound changes in the country just before the events in the GDR; the break in 1980 on the world’s arena of the Polish "Solidarity" and its nearly ten years fight with party dictatorship, starting in the mid-80s; the beginning of "Perestroika" in the Soviet Union, that created so much hope and faith in the hearts of people to live better life; it's all together made possible the radical democratization of the social structure of the East Germany in the 89 - 90 years. It was the beginning of the end. On 7 October in Berlin, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Dresden, Potsdam and other cities were held the demonstrations. Citizens were calling for changes and democratization. In all demonstrations, more than 60 thousand people took part. On October 8, the demonstrations were held in Berlin and other cities that had been brutally crushed. But the next day only in Leipzig more than 70 thousand people went on the streets. The process of the unity of both parts of German began. On the night of 2-3 October 1990, it became a fact. This day marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of Germany.
Tzvetan Todorov in his famous article dedicated to the issue of the Berlin Wall mentioned that its fall symbolized the end of the whole historical period. He saw the impact of the French revolution on these events (Todorov, 2009).
Edwards (2009) described the fall of the Berlin Wall as the end of communism in Eastern Europe. The unification of the country happened suddenly and quickly. Miracle the Germans on both parts of the border believed has been realized. The Berlin Wall fell down. It has changed the situation in the world and predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union and the democratization of Central Europe (Rose, 2013).
“The fall of the Wall symbolizes the end of the Cold War; it made the re-unification of Europe, including Germany, possible” (Bakke, 2011). Many scholars raised the question about the danger Germany become a super powerful country with a huge military force. Irondelle and Merand regard this issue in the work dedicated to the global security after the fall of the Berlin Wall. But the authors focus more on other three issues of the European security: terrorism, climate changes and non-proliferation (Merand et al., 2011).
In the events that took place in Germany in 1989-1990 the masses were actively involved that allowed historians to describe this process as an act of "direct democracy." This statement proves the opinion of many historians, politicians and public figures that the process of democratization of society is irreversible and can be realized only through the active participation of the citizens through peaceful demonstrations, rallies and protests. Government and leadership should react to political and social changes in the attitudes of society to not make the situation worse. Therefore, the task of historians, politicians, economists and all those who think about the prospects of mankind is to raise issues for their timely resolution until they turned into a problem.
People ruined the Wall with hatred and enthusiasm, and their eyes glowed with the hope that a new bright future would come. Their hopes in the majority came true. The fall of the Berlin Wall became a symbol and a stimulus to all European revolution transformations and incentive reunification not only of Germany but the unification of the whole continent. It became a symbol of celebration and encouragement of universal democratic values and goals.
Some analysts believed that the economic potential of Germany after the unification could be great, and they were afraid that Germany will dominate not only in the Central Europe, but in the whole continent. Ten years later, it became clear that German unity has changed European policy and the distribution of power inside the boundaries of the EU. The country became a great partner for France. After the October 3, 1990 the French government was forced to look around in search of a partner that would become a new factor of "political equilibrium" in EU. In the following decades, the Germany will vigorously strength its positions in Europe and will maintain particularly close relations with Russia. The country will receive a seat on the Security Council and will insist on strengthening of the common European efforts towards the formation of the defense. Germany and America will re-define their roles in the world. America will be wise enough to see that the of the leading state would be inefficient, while its strategic and economic interests very well suits to the development of a new force in the Central Europe.
The political views were changing with the changing in the countries. But the essence of international development should remain the same: all the changes have to happen with the goal to maintain peace and stability in Europe and worldwide. Germany seeks to find its identity, to feel its importance and to take the rightful place in the international politics. We can see it from the demands of Germany to give her a place as a permanent member in the UN Security Council and a leading place in the European Community. It naturally has its own meaning. Germany becomes a powerful country and every year it is more noticeable. However, this power should be a guarantor of peace and stability on the continent. Therefore, great attention to the social and psychological aspects of the process of unification of the German nation should be paid.
We cannot stop the course of the history. Society in its development is moving towards democracy. Proof of this can be the events that took place in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine in November - December 2004 and in February 2014.
References
Manghani, Sunil. (2008). Image Critique and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Intellect Books.
Bakke, Elisabeth. (2011). 20 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Transitions, State Break-ups and Democratic Politics in Central Europe and Germany. BVW Verlag Publishers.
Merand, Fredrick, Foucalt, Martial & Irondelle, Bastien. (2011). European Security since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. European Union Studies. University of Toronto Press.
Tondorov, Tzvetan. (2009). The Fall of the Berlin Wall in History. Retrieved from connection.ebscohost.com
Kenny, Jack. (2011). The Wall, Hiding Shame. New American. Vol. 27, No. 16, Pp 37.
Joffe, Josef. (2009). The Wall and the End of History. Newsweek (Pacific Edition).
Cohen, Roger. (2004). 1989: When the Wall Came Tumbling Down. New York Times Upfront. Vol. 137, No. 5, Pp 22.
Edwards, Lee. (2009). Why We Should Remember Fall of the Berlin Wall. Human Events. Vol. 65, No. 39, Pp 1.
Engel, Jeffrey A. (2009). The Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Revolutionary Legacy of 1989. Oxford University Press.
Rose, Richard. (2013). Learning About Politics on Time and Space. ECPR Press.
