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Potsdam Conference
One month after the capitulation of German forces, the Potsdam conference was held South of Berlin between the victorious major powers of France, UK, US, USSR, but in essence was a meeting between the collective West and Stalin. The fate of Europe was decided here, splitting the continent, and Germany, into two zones of control, notably giving half of Berlin to the west and half to the Communists. This division made the German people divided into a multi-state nation. -
The Workers Revolt
Widespread protests and revolt by the working class grip East Germany. The protesters demand better pay, better living and working conditions, along with a reunification of Germany with its western Counterpart. The uprising is brutally suppressed by the Soviets, denying the German people self-determination, and showing them that the so-called "workers dictatorship" promised under Stalin's ideology is but a ruse. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Constructed in 1961, and a symbol of division and tyranny, the Berlin Wall was finally toppled after a somewhat messy announcement by reigning Soviet Authorities issued a stampede of Berliners desperate to break down the barriers which had kept them apart for decades. Soviet guards manning the border were overwhelmed, as the order to allow passage had not officially been given, but nonetheless Gorbachev's actions as Communist Party Secretary had allowed a movement towards new German unification. -
Germany Becomes Whole Again
Ratified a few days earlier by the Bundestag in Berlin, a unification treaty came into full force and officially dissolved the communist Democratic Republic of Germany, integrating it into the Western, liberal Federal Republic of Germany. This completed East Germany's path to democratization, making it a fully sovereign nation in control of its own diplomacy, and with its own armed forces. It would only be a matter of time before other Central/Eastern European nations became free as well.