Internet search giant Google has marked the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall with a doodle that includes a YouTube video on its homepage.
The Berlin Wall was a barrier that existed between 1961 and 1989 that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany.
The wall was the abiding symbol of the Cold War and between 1961 and 1989 more than 5,000 people attempted to escape over the wall, resulting in an estimated 100 deaths.
In 1989 radical political changes began to sweep through the Eastern Bloc of countries dominated by Russia, resulting in the erosion of power of communist governments in Poland and Hungary.
After several weeks of civil unrest the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.
Jubilant East and West German citizens met on the wall and began dismantling it.
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Contrary to popular belief the wall’s actual demolition didn’t properly begin until the summer of 1990 and was completed in 1992.
The fall of the Wall marked the first critical step towards German reunification, which formally concluded less than a year later on 3 October 1990.
The Google doodle that adorns the front page of Google.com where the Google logo normally resides shows how portions of the Berlin Wall have travelled across the world as an enduring symbol and reminder of the human race’s pursuit of freedom, happiness and dignity.
The video shows how parts of the wall now exist in London, Seoul, Cape Town, Madrid, Moscow, Buenes Aires, Budapest, Mountain View, Strasbourg, Washington DC, Brussels, New York and Berlin itself.
