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The fall of the Wall was the end of an empire. 9/11 was the end of the pride of an empire in many ways, and possibly could have been the harbinger for the eventual collapse of the United States.
For us as Americans, 9-11. If I was a German or european the fall of the Berlin Wall. You can't really compare the two. They were both signifiant on a global scale.
I agree with SD4020. From an American perspetive, 9/11 had a far more profound impact, where as the fall of the Berlin Wall was mainly a momentous event for Germans and Europeans. However, both certainly had profound worldwide implications, most likely equal but in different ways.
The fall of the Berlin wall marked the end of the Cold War and the end of the possiblity of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). The Soviet Union could have destroyed the US in less than an hour and could still attempt to do so today (Not likely). The attacks on us by Al Queda could never destroy us so I'm going with the former.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall changed the world much, much more. While it was just one event in the fall of the Soviet Empire, it was a major milestone and one that signaled the collapse of the old order. The whole collapse of the Soviet Bloc in the late 80s/early 90s was a huge period that really re-arranged much of the map of Europe(and Asia)--created new nation-states, redrew borders, and led to some of the inter-ethnic conflicts of the region in the 90s. As well as the later transitions of much of Eastern Europe starting to orient more towards Western Europe and away from Russia(former Warsaw Pact countries joining the European Union or NATO)--which has had a huge effect on Russia's own foreign policy and government as they attempt to reassert themselves in the surrounding region. It had a huge effect on former Communist client states as well--Cuba had a economic meltdown after they lost Soviet aid and places like Vietnam began to orient more towards an outward facing capitalist economy. The US economy suffered a recession as defense spending in the early 90s was cutback with the end of the Cold War.
The main thing about 9/11 wasn't the event itself--which was a huge tragedy for the USA--but really what the US government's reaction to it was. It's been the start of a long-lasting war against a nebolous enemy that has effected us and our allies--along with the Middle East--but it's not on the scale of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
The fall of the Berlin Wall. More descriptivly - the fall of the Soviet Union. The reason being that one- the end of a major world power and the cold war between the two powers, begat the other - the rise in Islamic radicalism and terrorism, as these islamic countries lost the abilities to counter and benifit from one side or the other. 9/11 in itself was not a major turning point in this, it was simply a notable terrorist event to be recorded side by side with all the other terrorist events from the last two or three decades.
Terrorism itself (Islamic nuts, or other political extremests - as there are actually many more instances of terrorism in south and central america) is not in itself a strategic threat to the west and the rest of the world. This means that they do not have abilities to criple the fundemental activities of our nation. In spite of the terrible realities of a downed plane, a collapsed skyscrapper, 1,000's of lives lost, life goes on as before. The Soviet Union was a strategic threat however.
The events of 9/11, when put in perspective, did not really change our policies towards the world and/or the middle east, as, once again, it was simply the culmination of the previous decade of radical islamic-based terrorism that grew at the end of the cold war. We continue to encourage (with limited success) democracy in these countries, we have had and still continue to have a few limited but lengthy military engagements, we have added policies that keep us on guard. Nothing new really. In reality, our fundamental foreign policies since the end of WW2 still exist unchanged, whatever political party is in power, except without the strategic threat of the Soviet Union.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall changed the world much, much more. While it was just one event in the fall of the Soviet Empire, it was a major milestone and one that signaled the collapse of the old order. The whole collapse of the Soviet Bloc in the late 80s/early 90s was a huge period that really re-arranged much of the map of Europe(and Asia)--created new nation-states, redrew borders, and led to some of the inter-ethnic conflicts of the region in the 90s. As well as the later transitions of much of Eastern Europe starting to orient more towards Western Europe and away from Russia(former Warsaw Pact countries joining the European Union or NATO)--which has had a huge effect on Russia's own foreign policy and government as they attempt to reassert themselves in the surrounding region. It had a huge effect on former Communist client states as well--Cuba had a economic meltdown after they lost Soviet aid and places like Vietnam began to orient more towards an outward facing capitalist economy. The US economy suffered a recession as defense spending in the early 90s was cutback with the end of the Cold War.
The main thing about 9/11 wasn't the event itself--which was a huge tragedy for the USA--but really what the US government's reaction to it was. It's been the start of a long-lasting war against a nebolous enemy that has effected us and our allies--along with the Middle East--but it's not on the scale of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
I think this sums it up pretty well. The conflicts with the Middle East have been around longer than 9/11, but nothing on the scale we have had the last 10 years. I think the main effect of 9/11 is the way the US government has used the events, kind of like a modern-day burning of the Reichstag. I don't mean they are similar events at all, but the way the government has used it as a rally call on an enemy that can never be defeated.
The fall of the Berlin Wall, signaling the collapse of the eastern bloc, was much more significant than 9/11. That said, 9/11 did trigger the longest war in U.S. history, which we're still fighting and which I, along with many others of my generation of Americans, have spent my entire adult life fighting. I don't think of 9/11 as being a huge turning point for world history. I detested the "death of irony" and "nothhing will ever be the same" comments that were being made in the aftermath of the attack, but when I look back on it .. that event impacted my life personally more than any other historical event. My life was launched in a completely different direction as a result of it, whereas the collapse of the Berlin Wall was more something I observed happening to other people, not to me.
The fall of the wall ended a cold war. 9/11 started one. They differed from each other, in impact, only to the extent that the beginning of a war differs from the end of it.
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