How does the fall of Berlin Wall affect Europe and Russia?

Question

What happened to Europe and Russia after it fell

Answer 1

To those who died trying to cross it, the Wall was real. It was real, too, as a monstrous barrier for the citizens of Berlin in their everyday lives. But, for others, the Wall was a symbol. Symbolic of the hostility and fear of one half of Europe for the other; and of the systematic suppression of human rights and hopes.

When the Wall finally fell, it was just one 1989’s miracles in Europe (including Russia). In itself, the fall of the Wall affected relatively few people. But its fall was a symbol of what became possible after that ecstatic day. In brief: -

o Germany reunified, peacefully.
o Russia readmitted, in friendship, to the European family.
o Communist rule a memory for Russia and the captive peoples of Europe.
o Free elections everywhere, with the chance to vote for more than just one party.
o Free market capitalism everywhere, with both its benefits and its hardships.
o Expansion of the European Economic Community.
o Potential for closer knit European political unity.
o Massive reductions in defense budgets.
o No more Warsaw Pact.
o A changed role for NATO too: peacekeeping and anti-terrorism now, not full scale war.
o The ethnic and religious hatreds of the Balkans uncorked.
o But, elsewhere, peaceful lives without fear of attack from neighbors.

Answer 2

It didn't. Europe and Russia CAUSED the Berlin Wall to fall (the former, by actively plotting, the latter, by standing by and not doing anything to prevent it from happening). The fall of the wall was the end of the process, not the beginning...