Map and Timeline: history of the Berlin Wall

TIMELINE:

1945: World War II ends in Europe when Nazi Germany surrenders. The Potsdam Conference divides Germany and Berlin into four occupation zones: British, French, American, and Soviet. 1948: Separate governments form for East and West Berlin. The Berlin Blockade begins, and marks the first major international crisis of the Cold War. The blockade is removed by a massive airlift executed by the allied forces. 1949: The United States, Britain and France create the Federal Republic of Germany, a democratic West Germany. The Soviet Union creates the German Democratic Republic, a communist East Germany. 1950 - 1960: The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union continues. West Berlin starts to prosper. East Berlin doesn't. More than 3 million East Germans flee to the West for a better life.  1961: President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev hold a summit in Vienna. It's unsuccessful. Khrushchev threatens nuclear war. Berliners hear rumors of the Soviet Union closing the border. On Aug. 11, 1961, more than 4,000 East Germans flee to West Berlin. On Aug. 13, East German troops close the border between East and West Berlin with barbed wire. Two days later they place concrete slabs and trenches at the border, signaling their intention to build a permanent wall. By the end of October, American and Soviet tanks confront each other guns loaded at Checkpoint Charlie, along the border between the American sector and East Berlin. The confrontation ends in a stalemate. After the final stages of construction, the Berlin Wall is 96 miles long. It is 12 feet high with a tube like top. 1970s-1980s: East and West Germans live with the Berlin Wall. There are thousands of escape attempts and 100's of deaths. Berliners find ways to communicate with friends and families on the other side of the wall. 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev takes power of the Soviet Union. He begins democratic reform. The Cold War begins to die down. East Germans demonstrate against Communism by protesting and hacking pieces out of the wall to demonstrate a symbolic end to their separation. 1989: The Hungarian government opens its border with Austria in May. Many East Germans use that route to escape to the West. At that point, President Reagan visits the wall and asks Premier Gorbachev to "tear down the Wall". On Nov. 9, the Berlin Wall is opened. Travel restrictions are lifted. More than 10,000 East Germans cross the border to West Berlin. Mass celebrations last for days. People break pieces – even chunks – off the wall. The wall is no more and Berlin is once again united!

MAP:

the map is the outline of, both the Boarders of Berlin (blue line) and the outline of the Berlin Wall (red line).  There are three points along the Wall. All the points are of importance in the Wall's history leading up to its destruction. The first point (yellow) is of the famous "Checkpoint Charlie which was positioned along the US and Soviet boarders. The second point (purple) is on "Embertrasse", a famous street that is home to one of the biggest Holocaust Memorials in the world. The third point (green) is on the famous "Brandenburg Gate. The Brandenburg gate was located on the West side of the wall. The gate stood for freedom, when the borders were finally removed, West Berliners helped East Berliners up on to the wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate, standing together as a unified Nation for the first time in over 40 years!