The Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Berlin Wall statistics video: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall
Who: The Soviet based, Communist government led by Walter Urbricht who controlled East Germany/the German Democratic Republic.
What: A 155km long, 3.6 meters high (average) concrete wall.
When: The construction began on August 13th, 1961 and the fall of the wall was on November 9th, 1989.
Where: The Berlin Wall surprisingly, could be found in Berlin, surrounding the West of Berlin which was Allies territory even though Berlin was deep in Eastern Germany. As the capital of Germany, the city was spilt as well.
Why: The “official”, reason for the Berlin Wall was to keep the West Germany “fascists” from coming into East Germany and disturbing the socialist ways, a horrible excuse in my book; anyone who would feel the need to build a wall like so to keep the citizens trapped, is enough of a dictator for me.
The real need for thousands of tonnes of concrete, barbed wire and armed guards was to keep those in East Germany from escaping to the West. See, from West Berlin, one could easily enough access the Helmstedt-Berlin autobahn (highway) and walk all the way to freedom in West Germany.
The fall of the Berlin wall took place on November 9th 1989, about 5 months after President of the United States; Ronald Reagan gave his famous “Tear down this wall!” speech.
Previous to the destruction of the wall, almost one million Canadian Forces soldiers and their families had been stationed at (NATO) bases in Western Europe. Most in West Germany to defend against a Soviet attack. The fall of the wall allowed all the troops and families to return home to Canada. A segment of the wall was presented to the Canadian people by the German government which is now on permanent display at the Canadian War Museum. The piece of the wall symbolizes the harmony in Europe from the reunited Germany and the victory of the Allies. Plus the graffiti done by the West Germans is pretty cool.
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
