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Table of Contents

1. The Berlin Wall: The Partitioning of Berlin

2. The Berlin Wall: Blockade and Crisis

3. The Berlin Wall: Building the Wall

4. The Berlin Wall: 1961-1989

5. The Berlin Wall: The Fall of the Wall

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete "Antifascistischer Schutzwall," or "antifascist bulwark," between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep so-called Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

The Berlin Wall: The Partitioning of Berlin

Berlin's Animal Arms Race

As World War II came to an end in 1945, a pair of Allied peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam determined the fate of Germany's territories. They split the defeated nation into four "allied occupation zones": The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, while the western part went to the United States, Great Britain and (eventually) France.

Even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country (it sat about 100 miles from the border between the eastern and western occupation zones), the Yalta and Potsdam agreements split the city into similar sectors. The Soviets took the eastern half, while the other Allies took the western. This four-way occupation of Berlin began in June 1945.

The Berlin Wall: Blockade and Crisis

The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist East Germany, "stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat," as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it. The Russians began maneuvering to drive the United States, Britain and France out of the city for good. In 1948, a Soviet blockade of West Berlin aimed to starve the western Allies out of the city. Instead of retreating, however, the United States and its allies supplied their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift, lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. The Soviets called off the blockade in 1949.

Did you know? On October 22, 1961, a quarrel between an East German border guard and an American official on his way to the opera in East Berlin very nearly led to what one observer called "a nuclear-age equivalent of the Wild West Showdown at the O.K. Corral." That day, American and Soviet tanks faced off at Checkpoint Charlie for 16 hours. Photographs of the confrontation are some of the most familiar and memorable images of the Cold War.

After a decade of relative calm, tensions flared again in 1958. For the next three years, the Soviets-emboldened by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite the year before during the " Space Race " and embarrassed by the seemingly endless flow of refugees from east to west (nearly 3 million since the end of the blockade, many of them young skilled workers such as doctors, teachers and engineers)-blustered and made threats, while the Allies resisted. Summits, conferences and other negotiations came and went without resolution.

Meanwhile, the flood of refugees continued. In June 1961, some 19,000 people left the GDR through Berlin. The following month, 30,000 fled. In the first 11 days of August, 16,000 East Germans crossed the border into West Berlin, and on August 12 some 2,400 followed-the largest number of defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day.

The Berlin Wall: Building the Wall

That night, Premier Khrushchev gave the East German government permission to stop the flow of emigrants by closing its border for good. In just two weeks, the East German army, police force and volunteer construction workers had completed a makeshift barbed wire and concrete block wall -the Berlin Wall-that divided one side of the city from the other.

Before the wall was built, Berliners on both sides of the city could move around fairly freely: They crossed the East-West border to work, to shop, to go to the theater and the movies. Trains and subway lines carried passengers back and forth. After the wall was built, it became impossible to get from East to West Berlin except through one of three checkpoints: at Helmstedt ("Checkpoint Alpha" in American military parlance), at Dreilinden ("Checkpoint Bravo") and in the center of Berlin at Friedrichstrasse ("Checkpoint Charlie"). (Eventually, the GDR built 12 checkpoints along the wall.) At each of the checkpoints, East German soldiers screened diplomats and other officials before they were allowed to enter or leave. Except under special circumstances, travelers from East and West Berlin were rarely allowed across the border.

The Berlin Wall: 1961-1989

The construction of the Berlin Wall did stop the flood of refugees from East to West, and it did defuse the crisis over Berlin. (Though he was not happy about it, President John F. Kennedy conceded that "a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.") Almost two years after the Berlin Wall was erected, John F. Kennedy delivered one of the most famous addresses of his presidency to a crowd of more than 120,000 gathered outside West Berlin's city hall, just steps from the Brandenburg Gate. Kennedy's speech has been largely remembered for one particular phrase. "I am a Berliner."

In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin Wall. Escape from East Germany was not impossible, however: From 1961 until the wall came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans (including some 600 border guards) managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds.

The Berlin Wall: The Fall of the Wall

On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne and chanting "Tor auf!" ("Open the gate!"). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints.

More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, "the greatest street party in the history of the world." People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall-they became known as "mauerspechte," or "wall woodpeckers"-while cranes and bulldozers pulled down section after section. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945. "Only today," one Berliner spray-painted on a piece of the wall, "is the war really over."

The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

HISTORY Vault: Declassified: Rise and Fall of the Wall

Mine formerly guarded vaults and archives around the world to reveal untold stories about the brutal life and catastrophic death of the Berlin Wall, a central symbol of the 20th century's longest and deadliest war.

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On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of East Germany began to build a barbed wire and concrete "Antifascistischer Schutzwall," or "antifascist bulwark," between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of the Berlin Wall was to keep Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West.

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The National Archives has a wealth of records and information documenting the U.S. experience in the Vietnam conflict. These include photographs, textual and electronic records, audiovisual recordings, exhibits, educational resources, articles, blog posts, lectures, and events.

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The National Archives has a wealth of records and information documenting the U.S. experience in the Vietnam conflict. These include photographs, textual and electronic records, audiovisual recordings, exhibits, educational resources, articles, blog posts, lectures, and events. What's Happening? Learn about our current programs and exhibits related to the Vietnam War.

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Communism is a form of government most closely associated with the ideas of Karl Marx, which he outlined in The Communist Manifesto. Communism is based on the goal of eliminating socioeconomic class struggles by creating a classless society in which everyone shares the benefits of labor and the state controls all property and wealth.

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Social Studies, Civics, Economics

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Soldiers Marching in Beijing

China is one of just five proclaimed communist nations left. There were many more communist countries in 1973 when this photograph of Chinese soldiers was taken.

Photograph by J. Cuinieres/Roger Viollet via Getty Images

Communism is a form of government most frequently associated with the ideas of Karl Marx, a German philosopher who outlined his ideas for a utopian society in The Communist Manifesto , written in 1848. Marx believed that capitalism, with its emphasis on profit and private ownership, led to inequality among citizens. Thus, his goal was to encourage a system that promoted a classless society in which everyone shared the benefits of labor and the state government controlled all property and wealth. No one would strive to rise above others, and people would no longer be motivated by greed. Then, communism would close the gap between rich and poor, end the exploitation of workers, and free the poor from oppression.

The basic ideas of communism did not originate with Marx, however. Plato and Aristotle discussed them in ancient times, but Marx developed them into a popular doctrine, which was later propelled into practice. Marx's ideal society ensured economic equality and fairness. Marx believed that private ownership of property promoted greed, and he blamed capitalism for society's problems. The problems, he claimed, stemmed from the Industrial Revolution. The rise of factories, the reliance on machines, and the capability of mass production created conditions that promoted oppression and encouraged the development of a proletariat, or a working class.

Simply put, in a capitalist system, the factories fueled the economy, and a wealthy few owned the factories. This created the need for a large number of people to work for the factory owners. In this environment, the wealthy few exploited the laborers, who had to labor in order to live. So, Marx outlined his plan to liberate the proletariat, or to free them of the burden of labor. His idea of utopia was a land where people labored as they were able, and everyone shared the wealth.

If the government controlled the economy and the people relinquished their property to the state, no single group of people could rise above another. Marx described this ideal in his Manifesto, but the practice of communism fell far short of the ideal. For a large part of the 20th century, about one-third of the world lived in communist countries-countries ruled by dictatorial leaders who controlled the lives of everyone else. The communist leaders set the wages, they set the prices, and they distributed the wealth. Western capitalist nations fought hard against communism, and eventually, most communist countries collapsed. Marx's utopia was never achieved, as it required revolution on a global scale, which never came to pass. However, as of 2020, five proclaimed communist countries continue to exist: North Korea, Vietnam, China, Cuba, and Laos.

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Last Updated

October 19, 2023

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Communism is a form of government most closely associated with the ideas of Karl Marx, which he outlined in The Communist Manifesto. Communism is based on the goal of eliminating socioeconomic class struggles by creating a classless society in which everyone shares the benefits of labor and the state controls all property and wealth.

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 Joseph Stalin and his leadership role in the Soviet Union

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 Joseph Stalin and his leadership role in the Soviet Union

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The Battle of Chosin Reservoir | The Forgotten War: Iowans in Korea

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Before the Soviet Union was formed, many of its lands were part of the Russian Empire. The tsar, or emperor, fell from power in a revolution that took place in 1917. Later in the same year a group called the Bolsheviks came to power. This group, later renamed the Communist Party, fought other Russians in a civil war that lasted from 1918 to 1920. Vladimir Lenin led the Communists. The Communists won the war.

Early Years

On December 20, 1922, the Communists created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Russia was one of its republics. The other republics were mostly regions of the former Russian Empire. They were home to various non-Russian groups.

Lenin died in 1924. A few years later, a Communist Party leader named Joseph Stalin came to power. Stalin was one of the cruelest rulers who ever lived. He killed farmers who did not want collective farms. He sold crops to foreign countries and let his own people starve. During the 1930s he caused as many as 10 million people in the Soviet Union to die.

World War II

In 1939, just before World War II began, Germany and the Soviet Union secretly agreed not to attack each other. Germany then invaded Poland, which started the war. Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them. The Soviet Union also took Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia at this time and made them Soviet republics.

In June 1941, however, Germany broke the agreement and invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union then joined the United States and Great Britain to fight Germany.

The Soviet Union suffered terribly during the war. By the time Germany surrendered in 1945 more than 20 million Soviet people had died.

Cold War

Despite all the damage it had suffered, the Soviet Union was still the greatest power in Europe after World War II. While fighting the Germans, Soviet troops moved into many countries in eastern Europe. Between 1945 and 1948 the Soviets set up Communist governments in these countries. They controlled these governments. This activity worried many people in other countries, particularly the United States. Both countries built up their military forces. The rivalry between them came to be known as the Cold War. In addition to building up their armies, both countries developed nuclear weapons. Many people were afraid that this would lead to nuclear war. But neither country ever used the weapons.

Conditions improved for the Soviet people following Stalin's death in 1953. Over the next few years Nikita Khrushchev came to power. Khrushchev introduced some reforms that angered other Communist party leaders. In 1964 he lost power.

Some eastern European countries tried to take advantage of the reforms. They rose up against Soviet rule. To stop the uprisings, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Afghanistan is an Asian country that bordered the Soviet Union. Rebels there were trying to overthrow a Communist government. The United States supported the rebels. In 1989 the Soviet Union left Afghanistan in defeat.

Breakup

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. Gorbachev wanted to build a stronger economy and a freer society. He made changes that made Soviet citizens want even more freedom. Beginning in 1987 people in some of the Soviet republics began to demand greater independence.

In 1989 a series of almost completely peaceful revolutions began. The eastern European countries gained independence from Soviet control. During 1991 the Soviet republics also gained their independence. On the last day of that year, the Soviet Union came to an end. Fifteen separate countries replaced it.

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Before the Soviet Union was formed, many of its lands were part of the Russian Empire. The tsar, or emperor, fell from power in a revolution that took place in 1917. Later in the same year a group called the Bolsheviks came to power.

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During a time when segregation was the societal standard, racism was widely practiced and Black Americans were widely discriminated against, the United States was in the shadow of Pearl Harbor and on the brink of World War II. At the same time, the U.S. was ranked the 16th largest military in the world and desperately needed pilots.

Due to the uncertainty of another world war coupled with a lack of military manpower, in 1939 the U.S. government created the Civilian Pilot Training Program, according to the Smithsonian Institute. This federally-funded and segregated program allowed Black Americans to train on combat aircraft and learn how to fly in case of another war. Black Americans were already allowed in the military, but they hadn't been allowed to train as pilots yet.

Even as the CPT began training African American pilots, there were still many leaders within and outside of the military who didn't think African Americans should serve. Many of these opinions stemmed from a survey conducted in 1925 by the Army War College, now called the Department of Defense, titled: The Employment of Negro Manpower In War.

"An opinion held in common by practically all officers is that the negro is a rank coward in the dark. His fear of the unknown and unseen will prevent him from ever operating as an individual scout with success. His lack of veracity causes unsatisfactory reports to be rendered, particular on patrol duty," the report states.

The NAACP, Black media outlets and other Black organizations fought against the report and those negative opinions. They pressured the U.S. military relentlessly for inclusion, desegregation and fair treatment.

Then in January of 1941, under the direction of the NAACP, Howard University student Yancey Williams filed a lawsuit against the War Department to compel his admission to a pilot training center.

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During a time when segregation was the societal standard, racism was widely practiced and Black Americans were widely discriminated against, the United States was in the shadow of Pearl Harbor and on the brink of World War II. At the same time, the U.S.