The Berlin Wall did not appear out of nowhere. It was the last move in a four-year crisis that began on 27 November 1958, when Nikita Khrushchev gave the West six months to get out of Berlin – and which ended with American and Soviet tanks facing each other, guns loaded, at Checkpoint Charlie.

Eight years before the Berlin Wall, East German workers rose against their own government. On 17 June 1953 a strike on Stalinallee became a national revolt of a million people – and Soviet tanks crushed it in an afternoon. The story of June 17, why it failed, and where to find it in Berlin today.

For 28 years, crossing the Berlin Wall meant checkpoints, paperwork and the forced exchange of money – and for West Berliners, years when the gates were shut entirely. How the border crossings worked, the Passierscheinabkommen day-pass agreements, the Palace of Tears, and how to visit the crossing sites today.

East Germany’s Ministry for State Security ran the densest surveillance network in history – 91,000 officers, 170,000 informants, files on six million people. How the Stasi worked, how it fell, and how to visit the Stasi Museum and Hohenschoenhausen prison today.

On 15 August 1961, a 19-year-old East German guard leapt over the barbed wire on Bernauer Strasse. The photo became the Cold War’s most famous image. Here is the full story – and where to stand on the exact spot today.

For 11 months Allied planes landed in Berlin every 90 seconds, defeating the Soviet blockade. The Berlin Airlift story, and where to find its traces at Tempelhof today.

Three Cold War spy exchanges made the Glienicke Bridge between Berlin and Potsdam famous, inspiring Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies. The real story, plus visiting tips.

Berlin’s ghost stations: for 28 years, Western trains rolled through sealed, guarded platforms in the East without stopping. See all 15 and visit them today.