Construction of the Berlin Wall
- Date
- 13 August 1961
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Central Europe (Germany / Berlin)
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
In the early hours of 13 August 1961 the government of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), with Soviet approval, began sealing the border between East and West Berlin.
Police and army units closed crossing points, tore up connecting roads and strung barbed wire that was soon replaced by a fortified concrete wall. The barrier was built to halt the mass exodus of East Germans to the West through Berlin, which had drained the GDR of millions of workers and professionals since 1949 and threatened the viability of the East German state. The Wall divided families and neighbourhoods overnight and became the most visible physical symbol of the Iron Curtain and the wider Cold War. Over the following decades it was repeatedly reinforced, and many people were killed attempting to cross it. Standing until its opening in November 1989, the Berlin Wall stabilised the division of Germany in the short term while becoming an enduring emblem of communist repression and the partition of Europe.
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Empires active in 13 August 1961
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Founding of the People's Republic of China1 October 1949
- Establishment of Apartheid in South Africa1948
- Independence and Partition of British India14–15 August 1947
- Iranian RevolutionJanuary–February 1979
- Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika1985–1991 (from 11 March 1985)
- Fall of the Berlin Wall9 November 1989
Also relevant
- Algerian Independence From France1962
- Congolese Independence And The Assassination Of Patrice Lumumba1960–1961
- Independence of Western Samoa, the first Pacific island nation1 January 1962
Further reading
The wider story
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.
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