The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Read the reading below to learn how and when the Berlin Wall finally fell.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union.  His leadership marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.  He realized that the Soviet Union’s economy had suffered greatly because of military spending.  He began a series of political and economic reforms, both to restructure the economy and allow for more openness.  To restore the Soviet’s economy, Gorbachev decided to reduce Soviet military and economic support for other communist nations.  He began to break apart the Soviet “empire” in Eastern Europe.  By 1989, people in many Eastern European countries were enjoying greater political and civil freedoms, and most were no longer under Soviet control.

In East Germany, travel restrictions began to be lifted.  Faced with a flood of people leaving their country, East Germany’s government opened its border.  In November 1989 pro-democracy advocates began tearing down the wall.  

 In the days and weeks that followed, people came to the wall with sledgehammers in order to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts of it in the process. These people were nicknamed "Mauerspechte" (wall woodpeckers).  The Berlin Wall was officially taken down in June 1990 and the world saw it as the end of the Cold War.  By October 1990, Germany was once again reunited and free from Communist rule.

"The Fall of the Berlin Wall" NBC Newscoverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRPP2WXX0U