Review Of Frederick Taylor’s The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989
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Summary of the Book by an Essay Professor
In The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989, Frederick Taylor offers the reader an account of the infamous Berlin Wall that divided East and West Berlin. The author tells the story from a historian's perspective and reflects on the contribution of this event to the current political world map. The book contains five parts and 18 chapters in which Taylor chronicles the post-war division of Germany and the eventual construction of the wall. He includes a photographic section where the reader can appreciate the turmoil that Germans went through as they fought with the police and the changing social-economic landscape. The author consults numerous primary and secondary sources including reports from the government of the day. The content in all the chapters is informative and truly representative of the historical event preceding the wall as well the aftermath of this political showdown.
In the foreword, Taylor mentions that the Berlin Wall was a symbol of political propaganda meant to diminish any hope of the reunification of Germany. This process began with the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allied forces. After the poles and Russian curved some of its eastern territories, the remaining land was separated into two politically belligerent nation-states. West Germany took the larger chunk of land comprising of the economically viable cities. The eastern part, or East Germany, remained under the control of the Soviet Union and implemented the communist policies. West Germany was largely capitalist. The capital city of Germany, Berlin, went to East Germany but remained a busy hub where migration of people from the east to west was coordinated (Taylor v).
The high rate of efflux of educated Germans from East Germany left the country with few resources to develop its economy. This sad state of the nation did not impress the communist leaders. Therefore, they began hatching a plan to stop this emigration. After Nikita Khrushchev’s ascent to power, he dictated drastic changes that would “squeeze” NATO powers. His idea to curtail the freedom of movement in Berlin came to effect on 13 August 1961. On this day, Khrushchev placed a barbed wire to divide Berlin. The wire separated people, infrastructure, and enclosed West Berlin (Taylor v). Over the next few weeks, what began as a simple barricade became a fortified wall made of cement and bricks. On both sides of the wall, booby traps, mines, and other explosives were set to discourage any movement. The communist government deployed the police to operate the wall and kill anybody who attempted to cross it. From this point, the lives of Berliners were devastated. Families who lived together in Berlin were separated. People on both sides of the wall suffered extreme poverty and mistreatment akin to that of prisoners (Taylor 186).
After a detailed foreword that serves as the synopsis of the book, the author proceeds to describe pre-wall Berlin in the next eight chapters. In Chapter 1, Taylor describes the city as “a fishing and trading settlement, surviving on sandy, boggy soil” (Taylor 3). The city was the capital of Prussia whose military strength greatly elevated the status of Berlin among its neighbors. He further explains how Berlin developed under the reigns of various monarchs to overpower most of its neighboring cities. He also mentions the interplay between the religious and political factions and explains how their combined influence advanced Berlin as a powerful city in Europe (Taylor 6).
Among the political leaders cited as influential in the transformation of the city are Erick Honecker and Willy Brandt. The two leaders blossomed under Nazi rule to become some of the most prolific politicians after the collapse of Nazism. They gained their education from foreign nations and came back to the country to occupy powerful political positions. Erich Honecker, for example, became the State Secretary for Security in 1953. East Germany leader, Walter Ulbricht, appointed Honecker to help retain the masses and improve the economy of East Germany. However, more than 40000 East Germans left for the west in 1953 when Honecker held this position (Taylor 100).
The involvement of the US in the construction of the Berlin Wall is also featured in the book. Taylor opens the chapter on Operation Rose with President’s John Kennedy speech about his resentment of East Germany’s subjugation of the human right to freedom. Taylor remarks that John Kennedy had pledged military support to the Federal Republic of Germany if there was a need to fight communist East Germany. In his speech, John Kennedy rebuked the East Germany leadership's unwillingness to let the citizens pass to the West. The Soviet leader responded to this threat and loosened his policies on East-West migration (Taylor 135). Over the next months, masses of workers and citizens who were now refugees in their country traveled through the border to West Germany (Taylor 136). This massive emigration affected the economy of East Germany to an extent the leadership felt obligated to intervene. Operation Rose was the outcome of this urge. Operation Rose was the codename of the construction of the Berlin Wall, which was passed down to the concerned parties with great secrecy (Taylor 158).
In Chapter 9, Taylor explains how Operation Rose culminated into the Barbed Wire Sunday. According to Taylor, Walter Ulbricht’s government hired men and troops to close off the border to West Berlin. From midnight to dawn, men worked tirelessly to seal off East Berlin from West Berlin. This blockade created long queues in the train station as police (Trapos) prevented people from boarding West-bound trains. Radio stations broadcasted this historic event that would lead to a refugee crisis in East Germany. The barrier that began as a barbed wire would become a fortified barricade that separated families and severed social relations. For 28 years, East and West Berlin remained separated until 10 November 1989 when the wall came down. Taylor explains how families were happily reunited after the fall of East German powers. In the epilogue, Taylor describes the reorganization of East German leadership and the implication of the Berlin division to Europe and beyond.
Fredrick Taylor’s work in this book portrays great authorship and narration of a significant event in world history. The book is a good read which essay professors for History like myself can recommend to any student of history. The remarkable positive observation about the book is the details of people, events, political establishments, and dates. Another positive observation is that the text follows a systematic sequence that takes the reader from the beginning of an occurrence to the end. The only recognizable defect in the book is the transition from one story to another. For instance, in Operation Rose, the author introduces the statement by the US administration but fails to show clearly the connection between this statement and the events of 13 August 1961. Although the statement has an indirect effect on the decision by Soviet communist leaders and their German representatives, the author brings this relationship in a literal rather than a chronological method. Besides this flaw that appears sparingly in the text, The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 presents the details of the Division of Germany, Berlin, and the authoritarian leadership of the Soviet leaders as they imposed communist ideology in this country.
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