Falling Like It's 1989

The End of History: 1989 is a year of iconic images, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Tiananmen Square crackdown. A Soviet observer at the time noted an impression of general collapse, while other countries saw the year's events as part of the struggle for democracy. In hindsight, the wall seems to have fallen in a day, but a dizzyingly paced year shows that many symbolic moments led up to the wall's fall. Above, East Berliners perch on the wall, with the Brandenburg Gate in the background, on Nov. 11, 1989.

GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images

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