The Berlin Wall wasn’t always the wall that people think of, it went through many different phases before becoming the large concrete wall that many people know from when it fell. The wall was first constructed on November 17th, 1961, but before that, the East German military began putting up fences made out of wood and barbed wire to prepare for the coming wall. The first concrete structures were erected on November 17th but were renovated many times in the wall's 28-year history. According to Leo Schmidt “Built in 1961 at lightning speed, the border fortifications at the sector border in Berlin may have fulfilled their immediate purpose of stopping the flow of those deserting the GDR, but they were not designed with longevity in mind” (Schmidt 67). The wall had to be renovated, and this occurred in the late 1960s. The wall was once again renovated in the 1970s after the discovery of an Achilles heel in the wall, it could be destroyed “with simple tools, without requiring immense effort or time” (Schmidt 70). This was obviously a big problem because the purpose of the wall was for border security. This resulted in a list of requirements for the new wall to be created, this list required the walls to be at least 3 meters high, the structures to be made to last longer, cost-effective maintenance, and prefabricated materials. This became the Berlin Wall that is so well known today.
Sources/Citations: Schmidt, Leo. “The Architecture and Message of the ‘Wall,’ 1961-1989.” German Politics & Society, vol. 29, no. 2, Aug. 2011, pp. 57–77. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3167/gps.2011.290205.