What wall separating a German city fell in 1989?

The Berlin Wall, which divided Berlin, fell in 1989. East German authorities opened the border on November 9 after mounting public protests and a confused announcement about new travel rules.

Built beginning in August 1961, the Wall separated West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany. Its purpose was to stop East German citizens from escaping to the West through Berlin, where the border had previously been comparatively easy to cross. The fortified barrier included concrete segments, watchtowers, fences, patrol roads, and a heavily guarded restricted zone.

The Wall's opening became one of the most recognizable moments in the end of the Cold War. Crowds gathered at crossing points, and guards eventually allowed people through. Residents and visitors then began dismantling sections of the barrier, while formal German reunification followed on October 3, 1990.

The Iron Curtain was the broader political and military division between communist Eastern Europe and the West, not a single wall. Hadrian's Wall and the Maginot Line were also different historical fortifications.