In Pictures: Remembering The Berlin Wall 30 Years On

December 1961: An armoured truck cleans away debris after the East German government ordered construction work to strengthen the border crossing at Heinrich-Heine-Strasse (aka Checkpoint Delta) on the Berlin Wall. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — December 1961: An armoured truck cleans away debris following construction work to strengthen the border crossing at Heinrich-Heine-Strasse (aka Checkpoint Delta). (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Berlin Wall: key facts

When was the Berlin Wall built?

The Berlin Wall was constructed in August 1961 after East German communists were given approval by Moscow to close the border between East and West Germany and build a physical barrier.

Why was the Berlin Wall built?

The Berlin Wall was constructed to stop people from East Germany moving to the west at the height of the Cold War. Prior to the wall's existence, one in six people had been fleeing the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR), many in search of work and a better life.

The border installations around West Berlin zig-zagged for 163 kilometres, or just over 100 miles. "It turned the usual function of walls – to keep people out – on its head; this wall was solely to keep its citizens in," writes Professor Patrick Major for HistoryExtra.

When did the Berlin Wall fall?

The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, following a press conference in which East German politician Günter Schabowski suggested that people would be "immediately" able to apply for passports to travel to the west.

"By midnight tens of thousands of East Berliners had swamped the border checkpoints whose Stasi guards realised that the game was up," writes Professor Patrick Major.