Endings: The Fall
The Berlin Wall is popularly regarded as the most important symbol of the physical and ideological division between East and West during the Cold War (Briggs, J. 2010, Chicco, M, Schnabel, O. online, Slusser, R. 1978.), and its collapse on the 9th November 1989, is similarly “regarded as the symbol of the end of the Cold War” (Briggs, J. 2010), and marked the beginning of the demise of Communism, that became non-existent across Europe within two years. The structure became obsolete following revolutions in Eastern European countries, especially in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, whose borders were consequently opened, allowing East Germans to flee the Soviet controlled country to seek political asylum. (Vadney, T. 1998) Despite this fundamental shift that created an opening between East and West Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, nor the German Democratic Republic acted on stemming the flood of refugees from East Germany, and as a result, the obsolete Berlin Wall that had divided the city and the East and Western blocs in Europe for 28 years was opened by East German citizens on the night of November 9, 1989, and set off a series of events which would end the 46 year Cold War. University Professor Hogan argues that the opening of the Berlin Wall “set the stage for the reunification of Germany and the end of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe”. Hogan supports the popular argument that the fall of the Berlin Wall “accelerated the deterioration of the Soviet empire” (Hertle, H. 2001). The US Department of State corroborates with the information in these sources, providing an American perspective on the effect of the fall of the Wall that had divided a city and a continent:
“The collapse of the Berlin Wall was the culminating point of the revolutionary changes sweeping east Central Europe in 1989. Throughout the Soviet bloc, reformers assumed power and ended more than 40 years of dictatorial communist rule.” (US Department of State, online)
It is clear that the fall of the Berlin Wall served as an epicentre for a wave of movements that followed, which directly led to the end of the Cold War. The reopening of Berlin borders at the Brandenburg Gate was documented in the New York Times, in the month following the fall of the wall:
“Leaders of the two Germanys reopened the Brandenburg Gate today, breaching a barrier that more than any other had come to symbolise the division of the nation…. The reopening of the two-century-old landmark [Brandenburg Gate] offered symbolic confirmation that the German nation was again seeking to become whole.” (cited in Chicco, M, Schnabel, O.)
This source supports the notion that the Fall of the Berlin wall was fundamental in the process of the reunification of Germany. Many thousands of people left East Germany and the Communist system through these newly opened borders. East and West Germany and Berlin were reunified in 1990 after the de-construction of the Wall, and the Communist Soviet Union collapsed in the following year of 1991, signalling the conclusive end of this extended ideological conflict between Capitalism and Communism. These two historic events were largely an effect of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, strongly suggesting that the Cold War conflict was inherently linked to events in Berlin.
“The collapse of the Berlin Wall was the culminating point of the revolutionary changes sweeping east Central Europe in 1989. Throughout the Soviet bloc, reformers assumed power and ended more than 40 years of dictatorial communist rule.” (US Department of State, online)
It is clear that the fall of the Berlin Wall served as an epicentre for a wave of movements that followed, which directly led to the end of the Cold War. The reopening of Berlin borders at the Brandenburg Gate was documented in the New York Times, in the month following the fall of the wall:
“Leaders of the two Germanys reopened the Brandenburg Gate today, breaching a barrier that more than any other had come to symbolise the division of the nation…. The reopening of the two-century-old landmark [Brandenburg Gate] offered symbolic confirmation that the German nation was again seeking to become whole.” (cited in Chicco, M, Schnabel, O.)
This source supports the notion that the Fall of the Berlin wall was fundamental in the process of the reunification of Germany. Many thousands of people left East Germany and the Communist system through these newly opened borders. East and West Germany and Berlin were reunified in 1990 after the de-construction of the Wall, and the Communist Soviet Union collapsed in the following year of 1991, signalling the conclusive end of this extended ideological conflict between Capitalism and Communism. These two historic events were largely an effect of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, strongly suggesting that the Cold War conflict was inherently linked to events in Berlin.