Communism is defined as a political and economic doctrine whose aim is to abolish private property and for-profit enterprises and to replace them with public property. and control of industry, agriculture, and resources (“communism”). The product of this government is supposed to be a society free of class classifications based on wealth, property and political power. The Soviet Union was the first country to test these government strategies, and the regime soon collapsed. The inevitable collapse of communism led to the fall of the Berlin Wall; This started the domino effect of freedom that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. On Sunday, August 13, 1962, the government of East Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall (“Berlin Wall”). The Berlin Wall was built to divide post-World War II communist-led East Germany and democratic West Germany. That day, Berlin families were awakened by military machines, barbed wire and armed guards. Families who had crossed the new border the night before to visit friends and/or family found themselves facing a wall and closed public transportation systems (“Berlin Wall”). For them, this meant that they would no longer be able to return home and be with their families for as long as this division of the country lasted. As the day progressed, some East German government officials feared that citizens would start an uprising. However, contrary to their fears, the streets of East Berlin remained eerily quiet. Nearly thirty years after that day, the wall still separated friends and family only miles apart. The wall was a physical division between the two superpowers of the time: the East controlled by the communist regime in the Soviet Union...... middle of paper...... Web. March 30, 2014. “Communism.” Gale Student Resources in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Student Resources in Context. Internet. April 1, 2014. “The fall of the Berlin Wall: 1989.” World Events, 2013. Np: np, 2013. N. pag. Gale Student Resources. Internet. March 26, 2014. “The Fall of the Soviet Union.” Gale Encyclopedia of United States History: War. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Student Resources in Context. Internet. April 6, 2014.Hoeppler, Christopher. “Russian demography: the role of the collapse of the Soviet Union.” » Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Humanities 10 (2011): n. page. Print."Reagan Quotes." American experience. Np, and Web. April 10, 2014. “The Fall of the Soviet Union: December 26, 1991.” World Events: Milestones throughout history. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Flight. 2: Asia and Oceania. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2013. Student Resources in Context. Internet. April 7. 2014.