Political Atlas

How Power Is Arranged
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Event

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Independence, Partition and State Formation

The opening of the Berlin Wall on the night of 9 November 1989, after an East German official mistakenly announced during a televised press conference that new travel rules allowing free passage to the West would take effect immediately. Tens of thousands of East Berliners crossed into West Berlin that night as border guards, receiving no contrary orders, let them through, and the wall that had divided the city since 1961 was soon dismantled by hand. The event became the defining image of the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe and led directly to German reunification less than a year later.

Facts
Year
1989 1
Event Date
1989-11-09 1
Location
Berlin, then divided between the Federal Republic of Germany (West Berlin) and the German Democratic Republic (East Berlin); crowds first crossed at checkpoints including Bornholmer Strasse on the night of November 9, 1989. 1
Origin Year
1989 2
Connections

Influenced

German Reunification, Events

The wall's opening on 9 November 1989 removed the practical and symbolic barrier to reunification, completed less than a year later.

Source Berlin Wall (Britannica)

Shaped

Germany, Countries
Source Berlin Wall (Britannica)
In the Other Atlases

Found In

Germany

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Berlin Wall (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source
2. Fall of the Berlin Wall (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section, first sentence
    The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989 during the Peaceful Revolution, marking the beginning of the destruction of the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded.
  • Lead section, opening paragraph
    The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989 during the Peaceful Revolution, marking the beginning of the destruction of the figurative Iron Curtain.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.