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Beginning of the Berlin Wall
The border between East and West Berlin is closed and barbed wire and fencing is erected; concrete appears two days later. The wall would eventually grow to be a 96-mile barrier encircling West Berlin. -
After much negotiation, an agreement is reached allowing West Berliners to visit relatives in East Berlin on a limited basis.
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Leonid Brézhnev
The Soviet Union was governed by Leonid Brézhnev, an authoritarian leader that took his country to the cusp of power and economic influence. Even still, and in a quite ironic fashion, Brezhnev also was an indecisive leader and megalomaniac that took his country to the brink of economic collapse. Excessive spending on arms, corruption and an increasingly inefficient and bureaucratic Soviet system were just some of the factors that arose in this time of economic standstill. -
The Four-Power Agreement on Berlin was signed
The accord led to eased travel restrictions from West Germany to West Berlin as well as an opening of trade and diplomatic ties between East Germany and West Germany -
Period: to
A second wall is built behind the original wall deeper inside East German territory, including touch-sensitive fencing with weapons mounted to fire at anyone touching the fence.
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An escalation of Eastern European reform movements
They begun in the 1970s, culminates in an agreement between the Communist Polish government and striking Gdansk shipyard workers led by electrician Lech Walesa. The workers ended their strike and the government guaranteed the workers' right to form independent trade unions as well as to strike. This leads to the rise of the anticommunist Solidarity movement. -
Dead of Leonid Brézhnev
Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982 and was succeeded by Yuri Andropov. -
Yuri Andropov
Advanced in age Andropov and with fragile health, his government only prolonged the economic standstill that was headed toward decline. -
Dead of Yuri Andropov
Andropov died in 1984 and was succeeded by Konstantin Cherenkov. -
Konstantin Cherenkov
A very similar politician who died just one year later. -
Dead of Konstantin Cherenkov
By this time, the economic decline was already in march and was at a very advanced stage. The 1985 elections that brought Mijail Gorbachov to power came too late. -
Mijail Gorbachov
Gorbachov was a reformist leader that the founded his politics on two great pillars called Perestroika and Glasnos. Perestroika proposed the restructuring of the economy and the other being Glasnost, a proposal to create a free political system with openness and transparency. Despite these reformist efforts, the Soviet economy continued to decline and the countries of the Communist Bloc began showing discontent, eventually leading to a series of social movements. -
Began the fall of the Communist Bloc
The Solidarity movement nominated Tadeusz Mazowiecki as the new Prime Minister, resulting in a win and, as a result, putting an end to more than 40 years of a communist government. The Soviet Union decided not to intervene and, thus, began the fall of the Communist Bloc in an irreversible domino effect. -
The Round table Agreement
The Round table Agreement is signed in Poland, legalizing independent trade unions and calling the first partially democratic elections in June. -
The Eastern German government officially announced that the citizens of Berlin could travel between the east and west without any major problems.
The people of Berlin spontaneously began hording the checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, demanding immediate permission to cross. Upon finally achieving said permission, a great fervor of celebration of the newly gained liberty ensued. That very evening the people of Berlin, having gathered in masses, brought whatever tools they had and began dismantling the wall. -
Free elections were held in Eastern Europe for the first time since its inception
The old communist regime (the Social Democratic Party) lost the elections in a landslide, giving way to a new government headed by Lothar de Maizière who immediately began discussions with Eastern Germany to begin a reunification process.
