NOVEMBER 9, 1989.

NOVEMBER 9, 1989. November 9 is the anniversary of what was one of the most important events of my adult lifetime, the fall of the Berlin Wall, leading to freedom for Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War. Millions of people were liberated. It was important enough that many historians refer to The Short Twentieth Century, beginning in 1914 and ending in 1991. And yet, the anniversary will be little marked outside of Eastern Europe. There was comparatively little celebration at the end of the Cold War–again, outside of Eastern Europe. Timothy Garton Ash has an article today (link via Realclearpolitics) about the anniversary tomorrow which asks: “So why has this epochal event, considered by many historians to mark the end of the ‘short 20th century’ (1914-1991), faded so rapidly from lived experience?” Ash ventures the answer that perhaps the event is ignored because it represented an end rather than a beginning.