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For nearly three decades, the Berlin Wall symbolized the Iron Curtain that separated East from West. But by 1989, the Wall was starting to crumble -- and by the end of the year it would collapse.
 
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| It began with a bold vote in the Hungarian parliament. It ended with the bloody overthrow of Romania's communist dictator. Relive 1989, the year the Iron Curtain lifted. (Flash plugin required) |
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| More than a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, reformers in Hungary challenged the Kremlin in a series of risky moves. It was the first crack in the Iron Curtain. |
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| Many had hoped for decades that the Berlin Wall would fall. But when it finally did, hardly anyone was prepared for it. CNN Berlin anchor Bettina Luscher, who covered the story in 1989, remembers.
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| The shifting ground of the last years of the Cold War resulted in years of near chaos in the politics and economy of Russia.
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TIME: Freedom!
November 20, 1989
Pravda: The Gordian knot has been cut
November 11, 1989
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Though some pieces of the Berlin Wall were saved as mementos or sold as souvenirs, most of the rest, some 900,000 tons of concrete, was pulverized for use in road construction.
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