Fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago celebrated in today's Google Doodle

On 9 November 1989, a pivotal event in world history was marked — the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 30th anniversary of this day with a powerful doodle that has been illustrated by Berlin-based artist Max Guther.

The Berlin Wall was erected on 13 August 1961. Made of barbed wire and concrete, the wall divided East and West Berlin for 28 years. The fall of the wall also triggered a series of events that led to the reunion of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall was a peaceful revolution that signaled the simultaneous end of the Cold War and the beginning of German reunification.

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“Winds of change were blowing across Europe as new leadership in Russia, Poland, and Hungary had high hopes in East Germany for an end to 28 years of strict travel restrictions. During a government press conference, an official spokesman’s hasty statement gave reporters and TV viewers the mistaken impression that East Germany would be allowing free travel between East and West Berlin,” Google writes in its blog .

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Within hours of this announcement, a massive crowd gathered at the Berlin Wall. And a little before midnight, the officer in charge of the Bornholmer Street checkpoint defied his superiors and gave the order to open the gate.