A fumbled press conference opened the Berlin Wall, and a day later Germans began tearing i

historyWikipedia1989 · Berlin, Germany

A fumbled press conference opened the Berlin Wall, and a day later Germans began tearing i

the gist

On 10 November 1989, a day after the Berlin Wall was opened, Germans began to tear it down. The opening itself had been an accident. At a press conference on 9 November, East German official Günter Schabowski, handed a note about new travel rules, said they took effect 'immediately', and crowds gathered at border crossings that night. Border guards, with no orders, eventually let people through, and the scenes were broadcast live around the world. In the following days thousands crossed and souvenir hunters chipped at the concrete. The wall had stood since 1961 and many people had died trying to cross it.

how it works

East Germany had decided to ease travel rules, but the spokesman announced them early and without details. People took him at his word and went to the checkpoints, and guards without orders could not hold back the crowd.

so what

A fumbled announcement helped end the division of Germany, which reunited less than a year later in October 1990. The fall was part of the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule across Eastern Europe.

the bigger pattern

Regimes often collapse when a small trigger meets a crowd ready to act, as in the 1917 Russian and 1789 French revolutions, where events moved faster than leaders planned. The East German state fell within a year of the wall opening.

fun fact

Hungary had opened its border to Austria in the summer, letting thousands of East Germans leave.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗