The End of the Berlin Wall

"Tear down this wall!" Reagan exclaimed, in his speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate to commemorate Berlin's 750th anniversary, and most importantly, to have the Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev have the Berlin Wall torn down. The Berlin Wall was a representation of the strong Communist government that ruled East Berlin, which was controlled by the Soviet Union. The wall was meant to show that no citizen from the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) could ever travel or ever dare to escape into West Germany. Another purpose of the wall was that it was supposed to separate West Germany, which was allegedly not fully "de-Nazified" from East Germany.

Reagan wanted his speech to show that the Berlin Wall wasn't solving anything, it was simply causing more problems. The wall was a symbol of discrimination, and showed that the citizens of East Germany had no freedoms. Reagan wanted all of Berlin, (East and West) to reunite and have the wall torn down. Although, Reagan's speech made a great impact, the Communist government of Germany took awhile to respond. On November 9th, 1989 the Soviet Union finally gave in and let the Berlin Wall be torn down.

In conclusion, Reagan, known as the great communicator, accomplished his goal, to have the Berlin Wall torn down, peacefully. Without his moving speech, who knows when the wall would be torn down; it still may have been up to this day. If you were President, wouldn't you want to be remembered as the President who was the reason an anti-freedom wall was torn down, in order to reunite a corrupt land?

By: Katherine D.

Information found at: "Tear Down This Wall." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. .,"East Gremany." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. ., "Berlin Wall." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. .