Mikhail Gorbachev's Disavowal Of The Berlin Wall

During the year of 1989, there was a press conference discussing the new travel regulations issued by the government to show an easier way to travel from the West Berlin through the Berlin Wall. Schabowski had received a copy of the regulations and hadn’t read them carefully. One reported asked when East German citizens could begin to take advantage of these new travel rules and a response from Schabowski stated ‘from now.’ In the evening, Reuters incorrectly reported that East German citizens could cross into West Germany by any border patrol crossing and television programs reported that the Berlin Wall is open. Within several minutes, hundreds of thousands of Berliners, both East and West Germany, began converging on the Berlin Wall. Without …show more content…
He believed that economic change could rejuvenate the Soviet System, which Gorbachev introduced social and economic reforms in the Soviet Union that granted more political freedom while rebuilding the economy. As changes began to occur in the Soviet Union, Communist leaders in Eastern Europe were forced to consider these reforms in their own countries. Gorbachev and his belief that Communist governments everywhere needed to pursue towards these similar changes. For the East European Communist leaders, Gorbachev’s disavowal of the Brezhnev Doctrine which meant that the leaders could no longer count on his support to stop as with countries that had begun to press for change. The East European Communist regimes faced a challenge in the West, from the United States and NATO allies. That led the Soviets and their allies to increase their military spending as President Ronald Regan embarked an increase of military capacity. Regan used the media to challenge once more the Soviets and the East Europeans to democratize. Another third challenge from the East European regimes was from the growing economic crisis in the region to seek a way to foster