The Berlin Wall falls
The Cold War ends without a shot in Europe
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The fall was triggered by a confused press briefing but made possible by Gorbachev's decision not to use force to hold Eastern Europe, and by months of demonstrations in Leipzig and elsewhere. Within two years the Soviet Union had dissolved. The period that followed brought rapid EU and NATO enlargement, globalisation, and a widespread assumption that liberal democracy was the natural endpoint — an assumption the last decades have sharply challenged.
For children
For 28 years a wall had split Berlin in two, keeping families apart. One November evening a press conference left people unsure whether the border had opened — and thousands turned up at the wall. The guards gave way, and the wall fell.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org