The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, on 9 November.
East Germany built the wall in August 1961 to stop large numbers of its citizens from leaving for West Berlin and West Germany. The barrier became a powerful symbol of the division between the communist Eastern Bloc and the Western-aligned countries during the Cold War.
On 9 November 1989, an East German official’s confusing announcement suggested that border-crossing rules were effective immediately. Crowds gathered at checkpoints, and guards eventually opened the crossings. Berliners then climbed onto and chipped away at the wall. Formal German reunification followed on 3 October 1990, less than a year after the wall’s fall.