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The Fall of the Berlin Wall

  • Why the wall was put up...

    "Following World War II, tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union intensified. In 1949 Great Britain, France, and the United States unified their individual occupied zones of Germany into the Democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The fourth portion remained under the Soviet Union’s control and became known as the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)."
  • The Wall goes up

    The Wall goes up
    They wanted to make sure everyone stayed so construction workers arrived in East Berlin. While most Berliners were sleeping, these crews began tearing up streets that entered into West Berlin, dug holes to put up concrete posts, and strung barbed wire all across the border between East and West Berlin. Telephone wires between East and West Berlin were also cut. Berliners were shocked when they woke up that morning. No longer could the 600,000 commuters head to West Berlin.
  • Four Power Agreement

    The Four Power AgreementThe Signing of the "Four-Power Agreement," (The U.S., Great Britian, USSR, and France). This was a turing point because the Soviets and East Germans recognized West Berlin’s right to exist, and the West grants de facto recognition to the East German regime. Which meaans they guaraneteed the Western Powers safe passages through the GDR to West Berlin and opened unrestricted transit routes through the GDR for west berliners.
  • Ronald Regan Speech

    Ronald Reagan SpeechThis was a challeneg issued by President Ronald Reagan to leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall. Reagan challenged Gorbachev, who was then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear it down as an emblem of Gorbachev's desire to increase freedom in the Eastern Bloc through glasnost ("transparency") and perestroika ("restructuring").
  • Hungarian Government opens border

    Hungarian Government opens border
    The Hungarian government opens border for East German refugees. More than 13,000 East Germans escape into Austria.
  • Demonstration

    Demonstration
    An estimated one million people attend a pro-democracy demonstration in East Berlin’s main square. Within days, the East German Government resigns. This was a cause from the berlin wall and people getting very upset from the seperation. This effects the eatern german government because five days later, they announce hat visits in West Germany and West Berlin will be permitted and people begin to tear down the wall.
  • The Wall Falls

    The Wall Falls
    Head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. This was a change in history. After years of the wall standing, citizens were able to cross whenever they wanted. Some brought hammers with them to chip away at the wall while others crossed freely into West Berlin.
  • Brandenburg Gate

    Brandenburg Gate
    The Brandenburg Gate is open. Between August 1961 and December 1989, however, it lay marooned just behind the Berlin Wall in Communist East Germany – clearly visible but unreachable from the west side of the city. Today it's the most recognisable symbol of Germany, both as a divided nation in the bleak days of the Cold War and as one of the powerhouses of Europe in its post-1990 reunified state
  • The Wall Today

    The Wall Today
    Today, pieces of the wall can be found all over the world. It continues to be a symbol of hope for people of all over. It once sybmolized a division between western democratic and eatern communist and the inner conflicts of Germany. It divided people between "free" or democratic. However, it now shows the two sides coming together and becoming one again.