european communist regimes that was decision he took in june and which he announced to the german chancellor helmut kohl at the time and all the events that we remember now the jangling of keys in wenceslas square in prague the the torch is the candlelight the songs and so on all that was nothing but operetta it was political operetta it was froth on the tidal wave of history but it was not the cause of the tidal wave of history the cause i m afraid was much more basic and much more realistic it was the decision as i say of the soviet union no longer to support. those regimes and once the support of moscow had been withdrawn they collapsed so it was not the triumph of people in the streets of berlin or whatever it was instead of just 2 political decision taken by moscow which had the inevitable consequences that we know about ok now you only lighted the human is and fell ok i did as i say this notice that harold was disagreeing with you go ahead errol then washington yeah i r
in the fall of the berlin wall i m joined by my guest john laughlin in paris he is a political scientist and historian in washington we have harold james he s a professor of history and international affairs at princeton university as well as author and editor of a number of books including when the wall came down reactions to german unification and in cork we cross to geoffrey roberts he is emeritus professor of history at university college cork and a member of the royal irish academy all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciated let me go to john and paris 1st i mean 30 it s been 30 years now believe it or not because i remember it so vividly when it happened a few months before i had been living in poland for a number of years and an avid student of eastern european communist affairs at the time john 30 years on what is its meaning because i look at cursory reviews of you know that and commenting on it.
in the fall of the berlin wall i m joined by my guest john laughlin in paris he is a political scientist and historian in washington we have harold james he s a professor of history and international affairs at princeton university as well as author and editor of a number of books including when the wall came down reactions to german unification and in cork we cross to geoffrey roberts he is emeritus professor of history at university college cork and a member of the royal irish academy all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciated let me go to john and paris 1st i mean 30 it s been 30 years now believe it or not because i remember it so vividly when it happened a few months before i had been living in poland for a number of years and an avid student of eastern european communist affairs at the time john 30 years on what is its meaning because i look at cursory reviews of you know that in commenting on it it
for west since i was having chilling fever i didn t have any sense of snakes no smell and most you. would hear. recently she you know sometimes you just used to. live on some of the songs around the circle for research. didn t. push myself into the family in the 580 got to. go. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i m peter lavelle 30 years ago the berlin wall fell the cold war had essentially come to an end the fall of this cold war symbol was heralded as a new spring of nations and the end of communism decades on what is the legacy of this historic event the promises of 1909 been fulfilled. in the fall of the berlin wall i m joined by my guest john laughlin in paris he s a political scientist and historian in washington we have harold james he s a professor of history and international affairs at princeton university as well as author and editor of a number of books including when the wall came down reactions to german unification and in cork we c
nations in eastern europe but that s a kind of a narrative that is very western i suppose but i lived there it was i don t have that same kind of feel for it ok though having said that i m very glad those communist regimes are gone and the wall go ahead john. you know well like you peter i lived through those events very directly like you i was studying eastern european studies at oxford at that point i spent that summer in 1909 in romania and and indeed in september 89 i was in west berlin and was there when the 1st east berlin is arrived in west berlin having driven through czechoslovakia hungry austria and the whole of germany so i have a very strong memory of it as well i would make 2 points the 1st is that none of it would have happened without gorbachev decision to pull the rug on the eastern european communist regimes that was decision he took in june and which he announced to the german chancellor helmut kohl at the time and all. the events that we remember now the ja