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Definition: Berlin Wall from Philip's Encyclopedia

Heavily fortified and defended wall, more than 150km (100mi) long, that surrounded West Berlin. About 45km (28mi) of it ran between East and West Berlin. It was built by East Germany in 1961 to prevent refugees fleeing to West Germany. A few thousand people succeeded in crossing the wall; 193 were killed in the attempt. It was dismantled in 1989 after the collapse of East Germany's communist regime

BERLIN WALL

From Encyclopedia of United States National Security
Partition wall built between East Berlin and West Berlin in 1961, with the aim of preventing citizens of communist East Germany from escaping to the West. Due to its position in the middle of a politically divided city, and, by extension, of a divided nation (East and West Germany), the Berlin Wall became one of the most significant symbols of the Cold War. The dramatic story of “the two Berlins” and of the Wall between them began in 1945. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union divided Germany among themselves into four occupation zones. Although located entirely in East Germany (dominated by the Soviet Union), Berlin was also partitioned, with its western half under the control of the United States, France, and Britain. Not surprisingly, when the relationship between the Soviet Union and its former allies began to deteriorate in the postwar period, Germany’s capital became the first “battleground” of the ensuing Cold War. …
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Full text Article Berlin Wall

From Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable
On 13 August 1961 the East German authorities sealed off the border between East and West Berlin and began constructing a barrier along it. The purpose was to halt the large number of defections from East to West and to prevent impoverished East Berliners from travelling to relatively wealthy West…
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Full text Article Berlin wall

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
A wall that separated West Berlin , Germany , from East Germany , which surrounded it until 1989. At the end of World War II , the victorious Allies divided Berlin, the German capital, into four sectors. The eastern, or Russian, sector became the capital of communist East Germany. The French, …
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Full text Article Berlin Wall

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
A concrete wall built by the East German government in 1961 to seal off East Berlin from the part of the city occupied by the three main Western powers. Built largely to prevent mass illegal emigration to the West, which was threatening the East German economy, the wall was the scene of the shooting…
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Full text Article Berlin Wall

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Barrier surrounding West Berlin that closed off East Germans access to West Berlin from 1961 to 1989 and served as a symbol of the Cold War ’s division of East and West Germany. The barrier was built in response to the flight of about 2.5 million East Germans to West Germany in the years 1949–61. …
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Full text Article Berlin Wall

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Dividing barrier between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, erected by East Germany to prevent East Germans from leaving for West Germany. Escapers were shot on sight. Berlin had been formally divided into East and West sectors following the Berlin blockade by Soviet forces June 1948–May 1949. …
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Full text Article Berlin Wall

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
1961–89, a barrier first erected in Aug., 1961, by the East German government along the border between East and West Berlin, and later along the entire border between East Germany and West Germany. At first constructed of barbed wire, the wall was built to halt large numbers of defections and to…
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Full text Article Berlin Wall

From Key Buildings from Prehistory to the Present Full text Article Bridges and Defences
The Berlin Wall is not much to look at, but it became an extraordinarily potent symbol of the division between east and west – which at the time meant the division between free-market capitalism and communism. Although it was not a great engineering achievement, the wall was the concrete embodiment…
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Full text Article Berlin

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Capital and largest city of Germany, lying on the River Spree, NE Germany. Berlin was founded in the 13th century. It became the residence of the Hohenzollerns and the capital of Brandenburg, and later of Prussia. It rose to prominence as a manufacturing town and became the capital of the newly…
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Full text Article Berlin

From The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
Capital of reunited Germany , located in the northeastern part of the country. Formerly the capital of Prussia and then of Germany, Berlin was occupied by American, British, French, and Soviet troops after World War II . Disagreements among the Allies led to the partition of the city, with the…
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Full text Article Berlin crisis, 1961

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
The end of World War II ushered in the cold war...
1961 The 1961 Berlin crisis was the last of the cold war Berlin crises. This time it centered on the construction of the Berlin Wall. Its creation symbolized to all that the cold war would not be a passing phenomenon in world politics. For this reason the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989 is…
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