Prof. Alan McDougall, Department of History, spoke to CTV NewsChannel about the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
McDougall said the wall’s destruction happened quickly – almost accidentally — but the event marked the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.
“This was part of a wider, almost domino-like collapse of Communist regimes in the autumn of 1989 and the most dramatic symbol that communism was dying.”
McDougall has conducted extensive research in communist East Germany, particularly on the surprising political and social history of football (soccer) in the region. His upcoming book, Contested Fields: A Global History of Modern Football, examines football’s role in shaping political and cultural developments over the last 150 years.