The Cold War started in the closing moments of World War II in 1945. This was a brutal time for the United States, Germany and many surrounding European Countries. "World events were dominated by a great struggle between the democratic and capitalist countries of the west, led by the United States, and the Communist nations, led by the Soviet Union " (Kort). It was a time where two of the greatest military powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, came to battle, but also a moment where they faced a struggle between opposing ideologies and ways of life. The Cold War left a great impact on Germany, dividing Berlin in two with the Berlin Wall. The wall managed to stay up for twenty-eight years until it collapsed in 1989. When the Berlin Wall fell it changed the everyday life of people in both West and East Germany, by cultural and social cohesion, unemployment, lowered birth rate, and lowered life expectancy and heightened the mortality rate. People from East Berlin and West Berlin felt like the life on the opposite side of the wall was completely different. The Easterners who came from the communist side lived with scarce goods and supplies, as the Westerners who were a little more prosperous; when the two joined they were filled with an abundance of resources (Schmemann 64). Not only was the environment and landscape different because of the two sides joining, it also raised the levels of unemployment and competition. This created depression and insecurity among all the people and even long-term instability (Kleinert 1712).
Cohesion comes from the social, cultural and political alliance within a society and is one of the fundamental requirements for a healthy population and relationship among citizens. With the creating and destroying of the Berlin Wall, studies show that over time the physical separation has caused a genetic divergence. "By separating the population it created distinct socio-cultural groups because it initiated the divergent experiences.
