Berlin: Capital of the Cold War | Animated History

[Music] okay buddy i'll see you tomorrow um aren't you forgetting something huh my new elvis record oh do you mind if i borrow it for the night the east berlin record stores don't have anything like this uh i don't know dieter come on what do you think's gonna happen they're gonna build a wall overnight that will prevent me from seeing you for like the next 30 years well that's oddly specific but i guess you're right that could never happen alvita sane schnitzel [Applause] what the hans is that you dieter what happened i don't know i can't get past this wall well can you throw over my record this video is part of project mad a cold war collaboration between your favorite history youtubers check out the playlist at the end or in the description below world war ii was wrapping up the allies won in germany was de-demonetized but in order to make sure that this world war franchise didn't become a trilogy the four main powers made a plan to occupy the defeated nation after rearranging the border we'll split germany into four temporary occupation zones and everyone should pitch in to help rebuild the german economy or we could them with reparations until they're dust will shreds that before it did nothing dwell and we must get some fair elections in there communism excuse me i mean only if they freely vote for it let's do the same for berlin for occupied zones sounds fine i guess as it is right in the middle of germany i forgot about america's level of geographic knowledge you do know that the capital city of berlin is way in eastern germany right it is important to me that you know that whatever this partition is only temporary right russia sure now come with me truman we need to talk about the temporary partition of korea you guys go i have to talk with the jews about some homeland we promised them 30 years ago guess i'll go check on french indochina so in 1945 germany was split with each of the allies overseeing a zone of occupation the british and americans soon merged and created the buy zone guys oh hi france oh this is not what it looks what do you think come on man we already had shirts made in 1948 the buy zone became the try zone but a quad zone would not be in the cards the soviet union was too busy expelling germans out of the newly rebooted poland extracting anything of industrial value out of east germany and repainting their zone like the rest of eastern europe in comrad red but when stalin looked over his newly established iron curtain he said to himself those capitalists are up to something and they were see to cover the cause of occupation soviets had been printing german reichsmarks like crazy and making it rain in an attempt to avoid hyperinflation the western allies were about to introduce a new currency the deutsche mark but only in the west which would cause already weak reichsmarks to flood east making them utterly worthless stalin was furious and decided to hit back what do you mean you're blocking all the roads rails and canals into your occupation zone you can't do that how will we get to west berlin show me in our agreement where it says i gotta keep giving you access you can't find it that's because it's not there dude come on where's the good will we trusted you trust me i'm stalling i'll starve my own people i used to be on hitler's side what don't you get about me a crisis was born west berlin already struggling to rebuild after the war would soon run out of vital necessities the soviet union who had been angling to gain all of berlin from the beginning had just punked out the west it would take an ingenious plan to solve this predicament america go while there was no formal agreement guaranteeing the western allies road rail and waterway access to berlin there was one formal agreement guaranteeing the use of three air corridors ah you gotta be kidding me should we shoot them down and start world war three don't be a geez look they're flying in coal and food and medicine actually i think it's a male plane really how could you tell well didn't you notice it's little balls the us uk and a few others flew a quarter of a million flights to west berlin providing the city with vital necessities for over a year until the soviets finally opened access again the berlin blockade would be the first real battle of the cold war between america the soviet union and their allies and would leave stalin enraged and embarrassed on a world stage but then he got the bomb a few months later and perked right back up it was at this time when the tri-zone vultroned into the federal republic of germany or west germany this was soon followed by the creation of the german democratic republic or best germany no just east germany what a wasted opportunity the 1950s were great for west germany between the new deutsche mark low taxes cheap labor and marshall plan money west germany had become the largest and most influential economy in europe and while conditions in east germany improved as well they paled in comparison to their western neighbor and nowhere was this contrast seen more than in the divided city of berlin in 1958 this led soviet premier nakita khrushchev to deliver a stern ultimatum to the united states president eisenhower i demand that you and your allies pull out of west berlin about that did you receive the envelope yet envelope what the envelope come in sir this just arrived for you what is this that's an autographed picture of my ass feel free to kiss it next time you think you can tell me what to do khrushchev wasn't the only one mad about berlin with the border between the two germany shut in 1952 west berlin had become the warp pipe to freedom east german leader walter albrecht watched as millions of people fled to the west through this loophole creating a massive brain drain if fifths of the east german population has left many of them doctors and engineers and skilled workers so what do we have left well it says here's the majority of remaining east germans hang the toilet paper under instead of over scheisse i'm surrounded by doom cops i've got to make a call [Music] nikki it's valley remember declining renovation project we discussed what yeah whatever do it i'm going back to sleep in the dead of night between august 12th and 13th 1961 the wall would start to be constructed almost 100 miles of barbed wire and torn up streets meant not to keep west berliners out but instead to keep east germans in and what did the western allies do pretty much nothing instead of having to deal with eisenhower khrushchev was now up against president john f kennedy who had just taken the l with the bay of pig's invasion khrushchev was emboldened and said berlin is the testicles of the west every time i want the west to scream i squeeze on berlin sir it's not your job to squeeze the testicles of the west that's her job one man whose testicles refused to be squeezed was american general lucius d clay having previously ordered the berlin airlift he was back in berlin as a special advisor when he found out that american diplomats were being denied access at the crossing known as checkpoint charlie he sent 10 tanks to the border the soviets matched this with 10 tanks of their own and the world held its breath shoja keep your eyes on the lead tank commander i got him sir he can't be more than 50 meters away i can see his scowl his wispy blonde hair his eyes blue like the siberian sky piercing through me like a child opening nesting dolls until my final purest form is exposed oh how can a wall so cold leave my world so warm what whatever just got word that the russkies are going to pull back so we are too let's get out of here boys while diplomats would be able to cross again the same could not be said for most east berliners still many brave germans devised methods to escape including digging tunnels hitching a ride on west berlin subways that ran under the east jumping out of buildings walking tight ropes using hot air balloons and even crashing stolen military vehicles through the wall oh yeah but for the thousands that succeeded in crossing hundreds died in the attempt that's because successful attempts led to more drastic additions to the wall what started off as barbed wire and cinder blocks evolved into 12-foot walls a well-lit sandy death strip 300 watch towers armed guards attack dogs anti-tank obstacles as well as occasionally land mines motion-censored machine guns and sharks with freaking laser beams attached to their heads okay maybe not the last one but you get the idea and for 30 years the city continued to be divided west germany would continue to thrive and east germany would admittedly become the most advanced nation in the eastern bloc which is the equivalent of saying you're the sexiest creator in a history youtuber collaboration but east berlin did come up with the ample mon the cutest looking pedestrian traffic symbol ever look at him going about not caring about the stasi secret police monitoring his every move and now he's like stop comrade embrace global socialism during the rest of the 60s and 70s the us and soviets engaged in proxy wars in asia the middle east africa and latin america but in germany the two superpowers were content to let things stay the same partially because of all the nukes partially because it felt like a wall was better than a war and partially because all the other places weren't why but for the same reason that they don't like soccer americans grew tired of a game where you play forever and still have no one win so in 1980 they elected former actor ronald reagan no no no not him yeah there you go generals i want us to build a strategic defense initiative so we can put missiles and lasers in space to beat the ruskies mr president i'm pretty sure that's impossible oh yeah what do you call this that man's playing galaga oh do you have any jelly beans and on the other side of the possible nuclear holocaust the soviet union selected mikhail gorbachev who unlike his predecessors sought real reforms the most noteworthy were perestroika or the restructuring of the economy and glasnost or an openness in the government okay i set up this box to provide more transparency and let the people question their government let's see what we got what is banana oh it's good question good question how does this person not know what a banana is no one behind the iron curtain has actually had a banana i think is food or possibly small breed of dog you put this in here didn't you duh so what is banana gorbachev also had a decidedly more loose hand on the nations in the eastern bloc when poland had free elections for the first time and voted out most of the communists gorbachev was like that's cool and when hungry said it was taking down its electrified barbed wire fence with the west and then having a pan-european picnic and inviting east germans and giving them food and deutsche marks in directions to the now barely guarded border gorbachev said sounds great the cracks in the iron curtain were showing but to many in east berlin having to cross over two or three different countries to see their friends and family in west berlin well that just sounded like freedom with extra steps so a newly reform-minded east german government set out to gradually ease travel restrictions on november 9th 1989 they released a press statement that probably could have used another round of proofreading stasi officials would appreciate it if such kicking and whaling would be kept to a minimum during abductions next item east germans will be able to apply at borders for a visa to travel to west berlin and finally wait what when does this go into effect doesn't quite say here as far as i know it takes effect immediately without delay hold on one moment yes sir i'm stationed down here at the brandenburg gate are you sure the new policy starts today i think so why is anyone there yeah we got a couple east berliners flooded into their neighboring city hugging friends family and fellow germans for the first time in decades what the hell is that the wall would be torn down the next year the nation itself would be brought together and by 1991 the rest of the eastern bloc the soviet union itself and the cold war would come to an end so this is banana ah why you stop oh i know you want people to watch the next video on the project mad playlist about the cold war conflict between glorious soviet union and capitalist pigs or maybe watch other video by propaganda minister drone of history ooh or join the collective by supporting channel on patreon da banana is good skin is a little chewy but overall is good

Channel: Drawn of History

Views: 101,209

Keywords: berlin, cold war berlin, berlin wall, berlin airlift, berlin blockade, drawn of history, mrbettsclass, cold war, jfk, why was the berlin wall built, why did the berlin wall, why did the berlin wall fall, perestroika, glasnost, checkpoint charlie, potsdam conference, partition of germany, stalin, eastern bloc, education, animated history, cold war oversimplified, stasi, ampelmann, funny history, soviet union, ussr, pan-european picnic, when did the berlin wall fall, project mad

Id: _GEo9iJdmbQ

Length: 13min 58sec (838 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 23 2021