The Cold War laid its effects on many countries and nations, however, for some parts of the world the end of the cold war had a much greater effect. Of all the countries and nations that were left with an everlasting impression of the Cold War, Germany was left with much more. The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall directly altered the make-up of society and government structure as well as the attitudes towards the government in the last five decades.
             The end of the Cold War brought the fall of the Berlin Wall. This in term reunited communist East Germany and capitalist West Germany. This has forced the Germans to adapt to a much more difficult lifestyle. The end of the Cold War has since brought a significant social and political change to a once powerful nation. Germany gained back the respect and dignity it hadn't seen since before World War Two.
             Berlin, Germany today is the fifteenth largest city in the world, the fourth largest in Europe (Heaps, 1990, Pg. 1). Berlin has 3,350,000 people living in twenty boroughs (Galante, 1965, Pg. vii)." After the Second World War, Berlin became what was termed by diplomats "a hot spot" in the Cold War between communist USSR and the democratic west" (Heaps, 1990, Pg. 1). Berlin was so greatly affected by the Cold War because of its dense population and vulnerability after World War Two. In August 1961 a barrier of concrete and barbed wire was put up that divided Berlin." The hideous communist wall extended more than 28 miles in a north-south direction. The "Wall of Shame" as citizens of West Berlin called it, was unlike any barriers in history. The purpose of the wall was to keep people in rather than out" (Heaps, 1990, Pg. 1). The entire make-up of society in Germany, even more specifically in Berlin, was severed due to the barrier.
             In 1945 control of Greater Berlin was partitioned. Greater Berlin became a "special area" for joint four-power control. Twelve boroughs became the western sec...