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Fall of the Berlin Wall
November 9, 1989· Event· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
On November 9, 1989, East Germany opened the Berlin Wall, and crowds began tearing down the Cold War's best-known symbol.
See it on the History map →What happened
East Germany built the wall in 1961 to stop its citizens fleeing west; at least 140 people died at the Berlin Wall, most while trying to escape. In 1989, with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev refusing to intervene, Hungary opened its border and mass protests swept East Germany. On November 9 an official, Günter Schabowski, mistakenly announced that new travel rules applied 'immediately'. Crowds surged to the checkpoints and guards let them through. Germany reunified on October 3, 1990.
Why it matters
It ended Europe's division, led to German reunification within a year, and signaled the end of Soviet control of Eastern Europe.
How we know
Live TV footage, Schabowski's filmed press conference, East German government and Stasi (secret police) records, and many eyewitness accounts. Sections of the wall survive as memorials.
Still debated
How much credit belongs to Gorbachev, Reagan, ordinary protesters or plain bureaucratic error is still argued.
Connections (2)
▸Fall of the Berlin Wall helped bring about the Collapse of the Soviet UnionMostly agreed
The connection
The Wall's fall showed the Soviet Union would no longer use force to hold its empire. Within months, Communist governments across Eastern Europe fell, Germany reunified, and Soviet republics such as Lithuania declared independence. Stripped of its buffer zone and its prestige, the USSR itself broke apart two years later.
When and how
Berlin, November 1989; Lithuania declared independence March 1990; Germany reunified October 1990; the USSR dissolved December 1991.
How sure are we?
Soviet records show leaders saw the loss of Eastern Europe as a turning point, and the republics' independence moves followed it closely.
Debates and open questions
Whether the Wall's fall caused the Soviet collapse, or was a symptom of a decline already under way, is debated.
▸Fall of the Berlin Wall opened the way to an enlarged European UnionMostly agreed
The connection
With Europe's division over, a reunited Germany anchored itself in Europe: Chancellor Helmut Kohl agreed with France to deepen integration, leading to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and the euro. Former Communist countries applied to join, and in 2004 ten states entered, eight of them ex-Communist, with Romania and Bulgaria following in 2007.
When and how
Maastricht, Netherlands, signed February 1992; the 2004 enlargement; leaders Helmut Kohl, François Mitterrand and Jacques Delors.
How sure are we?
Treaties, membership records and leaders' memoirs link reunification to deeper integration; historians broadly accept the connection.
Debates and open questions
Whether France traded its support for reunification in exchange for German agreement to the euro, as often claimed, is debated.