On the night of November 9, 1989, massive crowds surged toward the Berlin Wall, drawn by an announcement that caught the world by surprise: East Germans could now move freely to the West. The Wall—infamous symbol of divided Cold War Europe—seemed to be falling. But the opening of the gates that night was not planned by the East German ruling regime—nor was it the result of a bargain between either Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It was an accident. In The Collapse, prize-winning historian Mary Elise Sarotte reveals how a perfect storm of decisions made by daring underground revolutionaries, disgruntled Stasi officers, and dictatorial party bosses sparked an unexpected series of events culminating in the chaotic fall of the Wall. With a novelist’s eye for character and detail, she brings to vivid life a story that sweeps across Budapest, Prague, Dresden, and Leipzig and up to the armed checkpoints in Berlin. We meet the revolutionaries Roland Jahn, Aram Radomski, and Siggi Schefke, risking it all to smuggle the truth across the Iron Curtain; the hapless Politburo member Günter Schabowski, mistakenly suggesting that the Wall is open to a press conference full of foreign journalists, including NBC’s Tom Brokaw; and Stasi officer Harald Jäger, holding the fort at the crucial border crossing that night. Soon, Brokaw starts broadcasting live from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, where the crowds are exulting in the euphoria of newfound freedom—and the dictators are plotting to restore control. Drawing on new archival sources and dozens of interviews, The Collapse offers the definitive account of the night that brought down the Berlin Wall.

More than two decades after the Wall's collapse, this book brings together leading authorities who offer a fresh look at how leaders in four vital centers of world politics--the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and China--viewed the world in the aftermath of this momentous event. Jeffrey Engel contributes a chronological narrative of this tumultuous period, followed by substantive essays by Melvyn Leffler on the United States, Chen Jian on China, James Sheehan on Germany and Europe, and William Taubman and Svetlana Savranskaya on the Soviet Union.

A revelatory history of the commemoration of the Berlin Wall and its significance in defining contemporary German national identity.

This series provides a quick-read introduction to key events in history. This volume looks at the removal of the Berlin Wall.

William F. Buckley Jr. reflects on the event that marked the fall of Communism in Europe The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was the turning point in the struggle against Communism in Eastern Europe. The culmination of popular uprisings in Hungary, Poland, and East Germany, the Wall's fall led inexorably to revolutions in Czechoslovakia and Romania, the reunification of Germany, and, ultimately, the disintegration of the Soviet Union itself. In this book, American conservative pioneer and National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. explains how and why the Cold War ended as it did-and what lessons we can draw from the experience. Writing with his legendary wit and insight, he brings to life Communism's last gasp, showing how Reagan's hard-nosed foreign policy and Gorbachev's reforms undermined Warsaw Pact dictators, emboldened dissidents, and finally made the dream of freedom a reality in Eastern Europe. Written by one of America's most erudite and influential political thinkers and writer. Includes a new foreword by Henry Kissinger marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall Hailed as "eloquent [and] immensely readable" (Baltimore Sun), this account "celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit and the will to achieve freedom" (Publishers Weekly). Sure to delight conservatives, annoy liberals, and enlighten everyone who reads it, The Fall of the Berlin Wall is William F. Buckley Jr. at his inimitable best.

Based on a hit podcast series, this book tells the unbelievable true story of an escape tunnel under the Berlin Wall--the people who built it, the spy who betrayed it, and the media event it inspired. In September 1961, at the height of the Cold War, 22-year-old Joachim Rudolph escaped from East Germany, one of the world's most brutal regimes. He'd risked everything to do it. Then, a few months later, working with a group of students, he picked up a spade... and tunneled back in. The goal was to tunnel into the East to help people escape. They spend months digging, hauling up carts of dirt in a tunnel ventilated by stove pipes. But the odds are against them: a Stasi agent infiltrates their group and on their first attempt, and dozens of escapees and some of the diggers are arrested and imprisoned. Despite the risk of prison and death, a month later, Joachim and the other try again and hit more bad luck: the tunnel springs a leak. After several attempts, run-ins with a spy and secret police, and some unlikely financial aid from an American TV network, they finally break through into the East, and free 29 people. This is the story of their great escape, the NBC documentary crew that filmed it, and the U.S. government's attempts to block the film from ever seeing the light of day. But more than anything, this is the story of what people will do to be free.

Articles from the archives of "The New York Times" and the author's first-hand account of an historic moment in European history relate the division of Berlin after World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Using the Berlin Wall as the focus, traces the history of the Cold War, from the Russian Revolution in 1917 through World War II, and finally to the destruction of the Wall.

There is perhaps no greater symbol of both political oppression and the human spirit of the twentieth century than the Berlin Wall. Built during the height of the Cold War in 1961, the Wall was meant to both stop the number of citizens trying to leave East Germany for the freedoms and opportunities of the West and to prevent people spreading the ideals of democracy from coming in. In the 28 years the Wall stood, it is estimated over 1,000 people were killed trying to escape into West Berlin. In the end, the Wall fell without a shot being fired. As Mikhail Gorbachev was laying the foundations for the peaceful dismantling of the Soviet Union, the people of East Berlin and East Germany began demanding their city and country be freed from Soviet occupation. Finally, in November 1989, the Wall was torn down and Germany was once again reunited. This is the story of the dark rise and the eventual uplifting triumph over the Wall that split not only a city and nation, but friends and families.

"Eloquent . . . immensely readable . . . the saga of the victory of capitalism over the brutal and irrational fraud that was state socialism." —The Baltimore Sun "Buckley's lucid account celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit and the will to achieve freedom." —Publishers Weekly "This is a small masterpiece of the narrative tradition. The Fall of the Berlin Wall keep[s] readers turning the page." —National Review "[A] great narrative of democratic survival and democratic victory." —The Washington Times The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was the turning point in the struggle against Communism in Eastern Europe. In The Fall of the Berlin Wall, renowned author and conservative pioneer William F. Buckley Jr. explains why the wall was built, reveals its devastating impact on the lives of people on both sides, and provides a riveting account of the events that led to the wall's destruction and the end of the Cold War.