20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Thousands cheered the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Monday, watching a trail of 1,000 huge styrofoam dominoes collapse along a one-mile route where the nefarious barrier between communism and the Western world once stood. But there was a very special guest in attendance, too, reports the AP:

"Chancellor Angela Merkel and 78-year-old Gorbachev stood shoulder to shoulder as they crossed a former fortified border crossing point between East and West Berlin to cheers of 'Gorby! Gorby!'

'Looking back, we can see many causes that led to the peaceful revolution, but it still remains a miracle,' German President Horst Koehler told the leaders of all 27 European Union countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Merkel -- Germany's first chancellor to be raised in the former communist East -- called the events of Nov. 9, 1989 an "epic" moment in history.

'For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life,' Merkel told a crowd of tens of thousands packed around the Brandenburg Gate."

World leaders gathering for the celebration included French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Noticeably absent was U.S. President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to attend a memorial for the Fort Hood massacre victims tomorrow but who RSVP'd "no" even before Thursday's tragedy. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attended instead, in a glaring absence of a leader from one of the key countries to have brought down the Iron Curtain. Obama instead sent a video message that was screened at the festivities.

Relive that moment two decades ago with this classic Peter Jennings clip. And enjoy more photos from the festivities here.

(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)