Berlin Wall fall

Cold War's end

The fall of the Berlin Wall refers to the opening of the barrier dividing East and West Berlin on November 9, 1989, when East Germany lifted travel restrictions and crowds began dismantling the wall.

The event symbolizes the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe: Where were you when the Berlin Wall fell?

Related

Stasi · border guards · European integration · free movement · Peace · West Germany · Hope · Soviet Union · NATO · Warsaw Pact · Checkpoint Charlie · Brandenburg Gate · hammer and chisel · border crossing · celebration · David Hasselhoff

Opposites
political barrier status

Berlin Wall fallborder closure

Barring passage between countries

freedom vs. oppression trajectory

Berlin Wall fallKristallnacht

1938 anti-Jewish pogrom

Stalin's purges · Berlin Blockade

mode of political change

Berlin Wall fallevolutionary change

Inherited trait shifts over generations

perestroika · negotiated settlement · slow thaw

Family

Berlin, wall, fall, walls, walled, walling, falls, fallen, falling

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated G