the accidental opening of the Berlin Wall
"... historian Mary Elise Sarotte shows that the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, was not, as is commonly believed, the East German government's deliberate concession to outside influence ... Drawing on evidence from archives in multiple countries and languages, along with dozens of interviews with key actors, 'The Collapse' is [an] ... account of the event that brought down the East German Politburo and came to represent the final collapse of the Cold War order"--Provided by publisher.