NCERT Book Class 12 Political Science (Contemporary World Politics) Chapter 1 The End of Bipolarity

Chapter 1
The End of Bipolarity

Overview
The Berlin Wall, which had been
built at the height of the Cold
War and was its greatest symbol,
was toppled by the people in
1989. This dramatic event was
followed by an equally dramatic
and historic chain of events that
led to the collapse of the ‘second
world’ and the end of the Cold
War. Germany, divided after the
Second World War, was unified.
One after another, the eight East
European countries that were
part of the Soviet bloc replaced
their communist governments in
response to mass demonstrations.
The Soviet Union stood by as the
Cold War began to end, not by
The Berlin Wall
military means but as a result
symbolised the division
of mass actions by ordinary men between the capitalist
and women. Eventually the Soviet and the communist
Union itself disintegrated. In this world. Built in 1961
chapter, we discuss the meaning, to separate East Berlin from West Berlin, this more than
150 kilometre long wall stood for 28 years and was finally
the causes and the consequences
broken by the people on 9 November 1989. This marked the
of the disintegration of the ‘second unification of the two parts of Germany and the beginning of
world’. We also discuss what the end of the communist bloc. The pictures here depict:
happened to that part of the world 1. People making a tiny hole in the wall
2. A section of the wall opened to allow free movement
after the collapse of communist
3. The Berlin Wall as it stood before 1989
regimes and how India relates to Credit: 1. and 2. Frederik Ramm,
these countries now. www.remote.org/frederik/culture/berlin
3. www.cs.utah.edu

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