1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall: the wall not only divided Berlin, it was a powerful symbol of the cold war. When it came crashing down 20 years ago, it literally changed the map of the world.

• Author: Whitney, Craig R.
• Position: TIMES PAST

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For several hours on the night of Nov. 9, 1989, an East German border guard named Harold Jaeger hesitated. With astonishment, he had watched a Communist official say on TV that East Germans were now free to travel without getting special permission.

He had no idea what was going on. In the almost three decades since the Berlin Wall had gone up in 1961, Jaeger had stood guard there. "That wall was my life," he recalled in an interview. "I'd defended it for 28 years."

But shortly after 11 p.m., in the absence of instructions from superiors and in the face of a growing crowd, Jaeger gave the order to open the gates at his checkpoint.

"I did not free Europe, or release my people, or any of that nonsense," Jaeger insisted. "It was that crowd in front of me and the hopeless confusion of my leadership that opened those gates."

So began the end of the Cold War, the struggle between democracy and Communism that largely defined the world between 1945 and 1991. The pre-eminent symbol of that struggle, and the painful division of post-World War II Europe, was the Berlin Wall--a 96-mile barrier dotted with 302 sentry towers and gun emplacements, topped with razor wire, and protected by minefields.

THE IRON CURTAIN

When the gates finally opened, crowds poured through from East Berlin to freedom. It wasn't clear at the time, but the end of Soviet domination of much of Europe--and the end of the Soviet Union itself--was soon to follow, leaving the United States as the sole global superpower.

The Cold War began after the end of World War II in 1945. It's known as the "Cold War" because it never turned hot (though at times, like the Cuban Missile Crisis, it came close). The U.S. and the Soviet Union and their allies knew that any serious escalation of tensions could lead to a nuclear conflict in which millions might die.

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During World War II, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, along with Britain and France, had fought as allies against Nazi Germany. As German forces retreated, Soviet troops advanced and ended up in control of most of Eastern Europe and Germany by the time the war ended in 1945. A year later, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned that an "iron curtain" had descended, dividing Eastern and Western Europe.

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Behind it, Communist governments took power in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Germany was partitioned into democratic West Germany and Communist East Germany. Berlin was located in East Germany, but because U.S., British, and French forces had captured West Berlin in 1945, the city was divided into democratic (West) and Communist (East) halves (see map, p. 18).

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Between 1949 and 1961, 1.6 million people--10 percent of the population fled the political repression and stagnant state-controlled economy of East Germany. The easiest escape mute was a subway ride from East Berlin to West Berlin, and by 1961, more than 10,000 East Germans were leaving every month.

To halt the hemorrhaging, on August 13, the Soviets and the East Germans began building a concrete wall that slashed through Berlin, and soon imprisoned its 16 million people. East German guards were ordered to shoot anyone trying to get over the Wall, with more than 130 people killed trying to escape in the next three decades--in addition to the 1,200 who died trying to escape to the West from elsewhere in East Germany.

The Wall divided Berlin, literally and figuratively, running through buildings and separating families. People had to stand on rooftops or climb street...