The fall of the Berlin Wall

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  • The fall of the Berlin Wall
    • The fall
      • 1. Since 1989 summer, demands for change had been building in E. Germany, resulting in public demonstrations in many E. German cities, especially Leipizig
      • 2. E. German leader (Eric Honecker), received now assurances from Gorbachev that he would support any attempt to deal with the protests using force, he resigned and was replaced by more moderate Egon Krenz
      • 3. Growth of democracy in Hungary meant E. Germans could now travel to W. Germany through Czechoslovakia and Hungary
      • 4. On 9 November, the E. German government announced that E. Germans could now travel to W. Germany
      • 5. Crowds of jubilant East and West Germans now began to chip away at the wall leading to its collapse
    • Significance of the fall of Berlin Wall for Germany
      • German reunification: E. Germans ceased to exist and became part of united Germany in 1990, with Berlin as its capital
      • Soviet Union withdrew its troops from what was E. Germany
      • British, French and US troops remained in western Germany
    • Significance on superpower relations
      • End of Warsaw Pact Jul 1991
      • Withdraw of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe from 1990 onwards
      • NATO continued to exist but expanded to include many former members of the Warsaw Pact including Poland and Hungary
      • Gave further momentum to the 'thaw' in the Cold War
      • The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Agreement (1990) set limits on non-nuclear forces deployed in Europe
      • At the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START - 1991), the USA and USSR agreed to reduce nuclear warhead by about a third, with an additional undertaking to reduce them further

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