The Berlin Wall’s fall marks an unparalleled historical event.

The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 marked the end of the Cold War and of totalitarianism over democracy. The Wall physically and symbolically divided Berlin for almost thirty years, as well as the difference that divided the Western world from Eastern Bloc, the latter under the jew of the Soviet Union. Instead of merely the physical destruction of a construction, the Wall’s fall was a triumph for freedom, togetherness and the world cry for human rights. By looking at the historical background, the events leading up to the fall, then the actual historic event itself, and the continuity of the effect today we have some basis for understanding its importance.

Building the Berlin Wall: A Synopsis of Events

After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones under administration of one of the Allied powers (UK, France, the US or the USSR). Even though Berlin was a town split into East and West Germany under Soviet rule, it was divided in the same fashion. From the ideological dissimilarities of the Soviet Union and Allied Western forces shortly emerged the Cold War—a period of military buildup, espionage, and proxy was. These differences led to what Winston Churchill whimsically described as the ‘Iron Curtain,’ which became also a real one, separating Europe.

By the late 1950s East Germany was under Soviet control, but it was also unhappy with the repressive policies and dismal economic conditions, and a population exodus began. On August 13, 1961, Soviet officials responded with the building of a reinforced barrier now known as the Berlin Wall, a barrier on which were rolling blocks of concrete, barbed wire, guard towers and across Berlin stretching about 27 miles. This wall stopped the mass migration in the separation of East from West Berlin, but uprooted families and friends created by the wall.

Very rapidly the Berlin Wall became a highly symbolic embodiment of the split between capitalist West and communist East. Such a depiction was a prodigious reminder of the lethargy of liberty imposed on the Eastern Bloc, including physical isolation of course but also the restriction of human freedom.

The road to change: social and political pressures

In the 1980’s a tsunami of changes would in time undermine Eastern Bloc foundations. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took over as leader of Soviet Union, and instituted the glasnost (openness) and the perestroika (restructuring) programs, designed to modernise the Soviet system via measures of openness and slim market reforms. Gorbachev’s ideas concerning economical and liberal reforms began to influence East German and other Eastern Bloc people who started to demand comparable liberties.

At the meantime, Solidarity movement of Lech Wałęsa challenged the communist government in Poland for reform. The Polish labour struggles and the final semi-free elections in Poland in 1989 sent a signal in Eastern Europe that change was possible. Hungary, too, was under way with reforms, and so began to tear down their sector of the Iron Curtain, so signally that they opened their border with Austria in May 1989. Such was the workload for the East German leadership that it was under intense pressure.

Rising Protests in East Germany

Dissatisfaction with East Germany’s leader, Erich Honecker, grew as people in the state watched their neighbours gain freedoms and as they themselves saw their finances decline. The weekly demonstrations, sometimes known as the “Monday Demonstrations,” were held from Leipzig, and in early 1989 they were calling for reforms, freedom of movement and free elections. Official efforts to quell these demonstrations, however, had little effect: not until October 1989 had their count grown to hundreds of thousands.

The country’s authoritarian policies were further focused upon by its sharpened attention by media coverage which drew international attention. But Gorbachev had made it plain that the Soviet Union was not about to interfere in its satellite governments’ internal affairs. This was the ‘Sinatra Doctrine’, or, more precisely, an indication that they [East Germans] would not get the backing of the Soviets if they used force to squelch their population. The East German government was finding itself more and more locked out from dealing with the increasing need for reform.

November 9, 1989: Celebrated Day of Confusion

The Berlin Wall’s actual fall was nearly accidental, tracked by public discontent, political error and uncertainty. The evening of November 9, 1989 became notorious when East German official Günter Schabowski, in the course of an ill-fated press conference, falsely announced that East Germans would be able to travel into West Germany. But when reporters asked when the new policy would take effect, Schabowski said “immediate, without delay” because he wasn’t familiar with the specifics of it.

News spread quickly and within hours hundreds of East Berliners had shown up at the Wall, begging to be let through. In the end the overloaded border guards opened the gates no orders and with no guidance. No ideas were forthcoming as to what to do. Phrases that were hopeful falling from lips, triumphant falling from shoulders, jubilant falling from eyes: East and West Berliners embraced one another in scenes of euphoria, laughter, tears, as they swamped across the checkpoints. People chipped away bits, climbing the Wall, and destroyed it with their own hands, berating it with a joyful gesture of protest.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was declared worldwide — not just the end of decades of Cold War tension, but also Germany’s reunion. A flood of relief as people understood they entered a new age of freedom and togetherness in this momentous evening; celebrations.

Consequences and the path to German reunification

And on October 3, 1990 Germany was formally reunited, after the fall of the Berlin Wall opened that path. This reunion was a difficult process integrating two quite distinct political, economic, and social systems. As West Germany, major expenditures were required on East Germany’s infrastructure and economy to get the national currency back into use on the ground there, which became the West German Deutsche Mark.

Germany’s reunion was a pillar of the more general Eastern Bloc fall. But immediately after the fall of the Wall, other Eastern European nations began turning toward independence from Soviet influence. In 1991, the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union itself broke up, so world politics was changed and changed.

Berlin Wall Legacy: Fall’s Effects

For the Berlin Wall fell, changing history forever and reminding us with a powerful force of the power of nonviolent action that people have to freedom. That underlined how simple it is to overcome what seems to be insurmount obstacles. The fall of the Wall has become, with its pieces kept in museums all over as symbols of both division and reconciliation, an emblem of unification, democracy and hope.

Learning the human cost of tyranny, and the human spirit’s resilience, is a legacy of the fall of the Berlin Wall. From ideology to religion to political conflict, the “Walls” in between people have a poetic counter weight in the memory of November 9, 1989, when a city and a globe did what seemed impossible: removed a wall that we all thought was insurmountable.

In summary

The fall of the Berlin Wall wasn’t just a political achievement; it was a sign of change being fueled by people, and so were the ideals of freedom and togetherness that infuse every revolution, in any place in the planet. Then, this event has also become a call to arms for those seeking freedom and a warning story of separation. The fall of the Wall still holds out as a symbol of hope: even the most entrenched obstacles, if tenacity can be mustered than they too can be removed.