Thread by @TODreamsProject

1. On this day 30 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down. So here’s a little Canadian story about the wee supporting role we played.

(pic: University of Minnesota Institute of Advanced Studies)

2. As the Wall came crumbling down, there were some major questions to be answered. Basically: what happens next? And as luck would have it, those questions would begin to be answered in the powerhouse capital of the world… Ottawa.

3. Canada had played an active role in West Germany for decades. Thousands of Canadian troops were stationed there. The Canadian defence budget paid to build schools and housing and skating rinks.

But the role Canada played next was really just a total fluke...

(pics: NATO)

4. There happened to be a major international conference scheduled to take place in Ottawa 4 months after the fall of the Wall.

So when the Wall fell, it suddenly took on a new importance: the first time all the countries involved would meet face-to-face.

(pic: Wikimedia)

5. It was called the Open Skies Conference. It was held to discuss an aerial surveillance deal between the Soviets & the West — giving everyone the right to check up on what everyone else was up to.

An attempt to, y’know, avoid World War III.

(pic: NATO)

6. It was already a fascinating historical event: the first big meeting during that strange period when the Soviet Union had begun to fall apart, but still existed.

A tense & delicate situation that Canada’s Foreign Minister, Joe Clark, did what he could to smooth over...

7. But now there was even more going on.

At the same time that the Open Skies Conference was being held in public, there was a second, secret set of meetings happening. Ones that would decide Germany's future.

(pic: Bundesregierung / Schambeck)

8. Berlin had been split into four sections run by the Soviets, Britain, France & the U.S.

The first three all wanted Germany to remain divided — frightened by the idea of a big, strong, united Germany.

Only the U.S. thought the country should be reunified.

(pic: Wikimedia)

9. Canada, led by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, agreed. We were, in fact, the first NATO ally to publicly declare support for the idea of a unified Germany.

(pic: Wikimedia)

10. So Canada did what Canada does: act as a middle power, facilitating discussions, encouraging all six countries — the two Germanys and the four occupying powers — to have serious talks while they were in town.

11. That snowy week in February, officials from all six countries secretly met in locations around Ottawa, foreign ministers quietly slipping in and out of embassies.

It was, according to at least one account, like something out of a spy novel.

12. During breakfast one day at the German embassy, a deal was finally struck. The two Germanys would have an equal say over their future — equal partners in negotiations.

The Two Plus Four Agreement paved the way for Germany to be unified. And to join NATO.

(pics: Wikimedia)

13. But! The Soviet foreign minister missed breakfast!

So they took their handwritten treaty & headed straight to the old train station in Ottawa where the Open Skies Conference was being held, to find him.

(Today, it's the temporary new home of the Canadian Senate.)

14. Eduard Shevardnadze — the White Fox, they called him — was not at all thrilled. “Everything was moving too quickly for him,” as one official later remembered.

But after a bunch of pressure from the other five countries & a long phone call to Moscow, he agreed.

15. When the foreign ministers of all six counties posed for a photo at the conference, no one knew why — but it was because they had just agreed on a truly historic deal.

(And it's a photo I can't find for the life of me: so here's one of them meeting in Germany instead.)

16. It was just the first step. The details were hammered out over the next few months. But by October, it was all settled. Germany was officially reunified.

And Berlin celebrated once again.

17. Nearly 20 years later, the old Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney met the old German chancellor Helmut Kohl to have lunch at a spot overlooking the Brandenburg Gate, right where the Berlin Wall had once divided the country.

18. “Helmut,” Mulroney asked, watching all the people moving freely from one side of the gate to the other, “in all our years of talking about this, did you ever think you would see it?”

19. Kohl didn't reply, so Mulroney turned to look at him. There were tears streaming down the chancellor's face.

20. And today, if you head to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, you’ll find an artifact that used to stand inside the old train station where the conference was held — and before that, stood in the heart of Berlin, an international symbol of hatred and division…

21. A segment of the Berlin Wall, given to Canada as a thank you for the small role we played when that vile wall finally came crashing down.

Thanks so much for reading! And especially to everyone who supported the Toronto Dream Project's Grand Tour of Europe — this is one of the stories I discovered while researching for that trip.

You can learn more about it here: torontodreamsproject.blogspot.com/2019/08/annouc…