The Soviet Union had to recgonize that they had to cede control of Eastern Europe, which allowed for each country to govern themselves. East and West Germany were still occupied by the four allied powers, but the fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for the reunification of Germany.
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The Berlin Wall symbolizes the Iron Curtain. When the wall and the Iron Curtain came down, Eastern Europe became free, with nothing prohibiting travel. Once the Soviet Union realized that their communism regimes could not survive without barriers keeping in people, the Soviet Union gave up control of Eastern Europe and each country was allowed to run their own type of democratic government.