Fall of Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall key dates

Erected in 1961 to divide Berlin; fell 9 November 1989

Gorbachev's rise

11 March 1985 - Soviet reformer Gorbachev rose to General Secretary of the Communist Party

Perestroika

Gorbachev's restructuring - breaks with the past to fix low productivity, absenteeism from work and poor quality of goods

Sinatra Doctrine

Permitted Eastern bloc satellite states to "go their own way"

Glasnost

Openness - encouraged transparency in government e.g. multicandidate elections between members of government, a freer press and open government bureaucracy

Effect of glasnost in East Germany and Russia

Dissent could be voiced in East Germany; free elections in June 1991 allowed Boris Yeltsin to become President of Russia, eventually signing the Belovezha Accords to dissolve the union

Democratic zeitgeist in Eastern Europe

Hungary opened its borders with Austria in 1988; Poland held its first free elections in June 1989 - both accepting glasnost

Tiananmen Square connection

Honecker's Politburo members such as Egon Krenz had expressed solidarity with the Tiananmen Square massacre

Gorbachev quote to East Germany

"Life punishes those who come too late" - at the 40th anniversary of the East German state, seen as criticising the slow pace of change in East Germany

Protesters' chant

"Gorby!" - East Germans encouraged to demand change

Leipzig protests

9 October 1989 - 70,000 people took part in a candlelit parade to call for change after mass arrests and beatings of protestors by East German police that month

Outcome of Leipzig protests

German police did not react and Gorbachev ordered Soviet troops to remain in their barracks, resulting in Honecker's removal as leader; during the summer East Germans had demanded greater freedom against Honecker

Short-term cause of the Wall's fall

9 November press conference - East German Politburo spokesman Gunter Schabowski, having not read his briefing notes, declared a new law promising greater ease of travel between West and East Germany came into effect "immediately. Without delay"

Immediate aftermath

The Berlin Wall was dismantled with picks and hammers - marked the beginning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Cultural marker of the era

1991 Scorpions song "Winds of Change"