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Any division of a country is going to be arbitrary to some extent, but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- an artificial border-- while north south is due to

Any division of a country is going to be arbitrary to some extent, but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- an artificial border-- while north south is due to culture, a difference more of choice than edict.

jacquesm 9y ago
> but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- No, East-West was because of the border running North-South through Germany intersecting with the main motorway from Hannover to Berlin at Helmstedt. The Berlin Wall was an interior division separating two parts of Berlin, 'West Berlin' and 'East Berlin', but to get to West Berlin by road you had to cross through a large chunk of East Germany first, and then you'd enter West-Berlin through yet another border crossing. The road from Helmstedt to West-Berlin was known as the 'corridor'. West Berlin was best thought of as an island within East Germany with the Berlin wall circling West Berlin.