The Berlin Wall was built to separate East and West Germany in 1961 to prevent the Cold War from becoming a bigger war than necessary. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In 1961, approximately 2.5 million people from East Germany moved to West Germany every day. These people who moved west were skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals. So, to save the East German economy, Soviet leader Nikkta Khrushchev recommended to East German officials that closing access between East Berlin and West Berlin would be the best idea. The officials agreed, not knowing that Khrushchev had ulterior motives. When Khrushchev got the OK on the night of August 12-13, 1961, Khrushchev gathered many German soldiers and volunteers to lay more than 30 miles of barbed wire in the heart of Berlin. Khrushchev thought this would be the best solution because now he could make everyone in East Germany fall under his communist command. Citizens of East Berlin were soon banned from entering West Berlin and the same was true for those from the West into those from the East, although the few checkpoints were left open. Eventually there were no more checkpoints open except 3, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie. This was because Khrushchev did not want to lose more people from the East, and he did not want the West to have further influence on the East based on different views. On August 15, 1961, Khrushchev began replacing wire with concrete blocks to ensure that East and West were separated forever. Khrushchev told the East Germans that the wall was supposed to protect them from the West because the West was a bad influence. People in West Germany and other parts of the world saw this wall as a sign of communist oppression. Even though the wall was not a good thing at all, the president of the United States said that having a wall to separate East Berlin from West Berlin was much better than having a war going on, and that it was a simple solution. Some East Germans either didn't care about the road or had no idea that it would permanently cut them off from the West until it was too late to do anything about it. But as the wall was being built, more than 5,000 East Germans fled across the wall to the west to free themselves from their newfound slavery. But thousands still tried to escape over the wall but were trapped in the process and nearly 200 were killed as they tried to escape westward. The Berlin Wall grew in size and scope. It became two concrete walls reaching 15 feet high and 4 feet wide, and was topped with barbed wire and a large pole to prevent anyone from coming or going. Between these two massive walls there was soft sand so you could see footprints, buried land mines, armed guard towers, army personnel with loaded weapons who were told to shoot on the spot, and dogs trained to stop any what was moving. This made it almost impossible for anyone to pass or pass through the wall without permission. But people still tried to escape to the West. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The Berlin Wall is now known as the Berlin Iron Curtain. It is still enormous in size and power, but by 1980 it began to crumble.