The opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 — a miscommunication that became revolution — and the symbol around which the end of the Cold War, the collapse of European communism, and the reunification of Germany crystallized.
The Berlin Wall fell because of a press conference mistake. An East German spokesman, reading a policy he didn't understand, announced that travel restrictions were being lifted 'immediately, without delay.' He meant they would go into effect the next day with applications. Thousands of East Germans showed up at the checkpoints that night. The guards, receiving no orders, eventually stood aside. The accident became an event that changed the world. What the accident reveals is how fragile the structures holding the Cold War in place had already become.