The fall of the Berlin Wall
On the night of 9 November 1989 East German authorities opened the border crossings after a garbled press announcement, and crowds poured through. The Wall that had divided the city since 1961 came down, and Germany was reunified less than a year later.
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What happened
Built overnight in August 1961 to stop East Germans fleeing to the West, the Berlin Wall cut the city in two for 28 years. At least 140 people were killed trying to cross it. By 1989, however, reform in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, the opening of Hungary's border with Austria, and mass protests in Leipzig and East Berlin had put the East German regime under enormous pressure.
On the evening of 9 November 1989, Politburo spokesman Günter Schabowski announced new travel rules at a press conference. Asked when they took effect, he shuffled his notes and said 'immediately, without delay'. Tens of thousands of East Berliners rushed to the checkpoints. Overwhelmed border guards at Bornholmer Strasse opened the gates shortly before midnight.
That night strangers embraced, people danced on the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, and souvenir hunters began chipping it apart. Communist governments across Central and Eastern Europe fell within weeks. On 3 October 1990, less than a year later, Germany was reunified.
Around the same time
- South Africa's first free election, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1994
- The Hong Kong handover, Hong Kong, 1997
- Apollo 11 launches to the Moon, Cape Canaveral, USA, 1969
- The Egyptian revolution, Cairo, Egypt, 2011
Earlier: Apollo 11 launches to the Moon, 1969 · Later: South Africa's first free election, 1994
Further reading
Encyclopedia article: Fall of the Berlin Wall (en.wikipedia.org)