The Berlin Wall: How The Cold War Affected The World

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The cold war affected many countries all over the globe, even though there was no direct military casualties, it lasted half a century and changed many parts of the world. One of the countries that were affected tremendously was Germany. “The Berlin Wall symbolized what the cold war represented to many, as a clash between good and evil” (HistoryLearningSite.co.uk). The cold war was a period of time that occurred shortly after World War II, and Germany was politically, socially, and economically devastated. The allies occupied Germany and other nations to start recovering these devastated countries. Germany was split into East Germany and West Germany, and this dividing also symbolized the cold war. East Germany was occupied by the Soviets, …show more content…
Around the time of the cold war, women were often raped and abused. “Historians believe around two million German women were raped after Soviet and Allied forces defeated Hitler’s army in the spring of 1945” (Westervelt). Women were even forced to sign statements denying the rapes had occurred in East Germany at the time. Most of these incidents occurred in the East side by the Soviet soldiers. Today in Germany women have a lot more freedom, and certainly more protection against terrible incidents such as the rape that went on in earlier times. There has been a huge improvement overall in Germany’s efforts to set an equal boundary between men and women. More and more women are embarking on higher education, as well as higher job positions. Almost 70 percent of women in Germany are employed today, which is an outstanding leap from what the percentage used to be. However, women still have to deal with disadvantages such as getting paid about 23 percent less than men. Both men and women are choosing traditional and typical men and women studies, for example many women are choosing to study education and men choosing to study