When did the Berlin Wall fall?

The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989 — a date that ranks among the most consequential in modern history. The specific circumstances of that evening were almost farcically accidental, but the forces that brought the Wall down had been building for years.

The Wall had been built on August 13, 1961, when East German workers began erecting barbed wire fences and concrete barriers to stop the hemorrhage of citizens fleeing to the West. Over the following years, it evolved into an elaborate system of concrete walls, watchtowers, guard dogs, anti-vehicle trenches, and a 'death strip' with automatic firing devices. At least 140 people died attempting to cross it. The Wall became the Cold War's most visceral symbol — a physical embodiment of the divide between freedom and repression.

By November 1989, the communist systems of Eastern Europe were crumbling. Poland had held semi-free elections. Hungary had opened its border with Austria. Mass protests in East Germany — the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig and other cities — were growing exponentially. The hardline leader Erich Honecker had been replaced by the more moderate Egon Krenz. The East German government was desperately trying to manage change without losing control.

On the evening of November 9, government spokesperson Gunter Schabowski held a press conference to announce new travel regulations that would allow East Germans to apply for travel permits. When Italian journalist Riccardo Ehrman asked when the regulations took effect, Schabowski — who had not been fully briefed — shuffled through his papers and said, 'Immediately, without delay.' The statement, broadcast on West German television (which most East Berliners watched), was interpreted as meaning the border was open.

Thousands of East Berliners surged to the checkpoints. Border guards, lacking orders and unwilling to fire on their own citizens, eventually opened the gates. By midnight, tens of thousands were crossing freely. Berliners from both sides climbed atop the Wall, celebrating, embracing, and attacking the concrete with hammers. Champagne flowed. Strangers hugged. The Wall that had divided a city, a nation, and a world was being demolished by the people it had imprisoned.

The physical demolition continued for months — official demolition began in June 1990, and the last section was removed in November 1991. Germany was officially reunified on October 3, 1990. But the Wall's fall — that single, extraordinary evening — marked the moment when the Cold War's division of Europe began to end.