Revolutions of 1989

Fall of Communism redirects here. For the fall of the

Soviet Union, see Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
For the fall of Communism in dierent countries that
were part of the Eastern Bloc, see End of Communism.

Serbia and Montenegro). Serbia was then further split

with the breakaway of the partially recognized state of
Kosovo. Czechoslovakia too was dissolved three years
after the end of communist rule, splitting peacefully into
the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992.[10] The impact
was felt in dozens of Socialist countries. Communism
was abandoned in countries such as Cambodia, Ethiopia,
Mongolia, and South Yemen. The collapse of Communism (and of the Soviet Union) led commentators to declare the end of the Cold War.

The Revolutions of 1989 were part of a revolutionary

wave that resulted in the Fall of Communism in the
Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is sometimes called the Autumn of
Nations,[1][2][3][4][5] a play on the term Springtime of
Nations sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of In the years immediately following 1989, the fall of
1848.
Apartheid system, the end of Chilean Military Dictator[6][7]
The events began in Poland in 1989,
and continued in ship, the democratization of Ghana and Suriname, the
Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and fall of communist party in Italy and San Marino, and the
Romania. One feature common to most of these de- renewal of the Italian political class were recorded.
velopments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil
resistance demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to the pressure for change.[8] Romania was the only Eastern Bloc
country whose people overthrew its Communist regime
violently;[9] however, in Romania itself and in some other
places, there was some violence inicted by the regime
upon the population. The Tiananmen Square protests of
1989 failed to stimulate major political changes in China.
However, powerful images of courageous deance during that protest helped to spark a precipitation of events
in other parts of the globe. The same day June 4, Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in a partially free
election in Poland leading to the peaceful fall of Communism in that country in the summer of 1989. Hungary
physically dismantled its section of the Iron Curtain leading to a mass exodus of East Germans through Hungary
and destabilizing East Germany. This would lead to mass
demonstrations in cities such as Leipzig and subsequently
to the fall of the Berlin Wall, which served as the symbolic gateway to German reunication in 1990.

The adoption of varying forms of market economy immediately resulted in a general decline in living standards,[11]
birth rates and life expectancies in post-Communist
States, together with side eects including the rise of
business oligarchs in countries such as Russia, and highly
disproportionate social and economic development. Political reforms were varied but in only ve countries were
Communist institutions able to keep for themselves a
monopoly on power: China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos,
and Vietnam. Many Communist and Socialist organisations in the West turned their guiding principles over to
social democracy. The European political landscape was
drastically changed, with numerous Eastern Bloc countries joining NATO and stronger European economic and
social integration entailed.
The Revolutions of 1989 also coincided with a massive
wave of international democratization: from a minority
mostly restricted to the First World and India up until the
mid-1980s, the electoral democracy became at least ofcially the political system of about half of the countries
of the world by the early 1990s.

The Soviet Union was dissolved by the end of 1991, resulting in 14 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia,
Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine,
and Uzbekistan) declaring their independence from the
Soviet Union in the course of the years 1990-91 and the
bulk of the country being succeeded by Russia in December 1991. Communism was abandoned in Albania
and Yugoslavia between 1990 and 1992, the latter country having split into ve successor states by 1992: Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later renamed Serbia
and Montenegro, and later still split into two states,

1 Background
1.1 Development of the Communist Bloc
Further information: Eastern Bloc and List of socialist
states
Ideas of Socialism had been gaining momentum among
working class citizens of the world since the 19th century.
These culminated in the early 20th century when several countries and subsequent nations formed their own
1

BACKGROUND

previously pro-Communist populace to lose interest in

the ideology. A Communist presence forever remained
in place however, but reduced from its earlier size.

The fourth congress of the Polish United Workers Party, held in

1963.

Queue waiting to enter a store, a typical view in Poland of 1980s

In the early stages of World War II Nazi Germany invaded and occupied the countries of Eastern Europe, with
the agreement of the USSR. Germany then turned against
and invaded the USSR: the battles of this Eastern Front
were the largest in history. The USSR perforce became a
member of the Allies. The USSR fought the Germans to
a standstill and nally began driving them back, reaching
Berlin before the end of the war. Nazi ideology was violently opposed to Communism, and The Nazis brutally
suppressed the Communist movements in the occupied
countries. The Communists played a large part in the resistance to the Nazis in these countries. As the Soviets
forced the Germans back, they assumed temporary control of these devastated areas. Earlier in the war in conferences at Tehran and Yalta, the allies had agreed that
central and eastern Europe would be in the Soviet sphere
of political inuence.
After World War II the Soviets brought into power various Communist parties who were loyal to Moscow. The
Soviets retained troops throughout the territories they had
occupied. The Cold War saw these states, bound together by the Warsaw Pact, have continuing tensions with
the capitalist west symbolized by NATO. Mao Zedong
established communism in China in 1949.

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a spontaneous

nationwide anti-authoritarian revolt, the Soviet Union inCommunist Parties. Many of the countries involved had vaded Hungary to assert control. In 1968, the USSR rehierarchical structures with monarchic governments and pressed the Prague Spring by organizing the Warsaw Pact
aristocratic social structures with an established nobility. invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Socialism was economically undesirable within the circles of the ruling classes (which had begun to include industrial business leaders), in the late 19th/early 20th cen- 1.2 Emergence of Solidarity
tury states; as such, Communist ideology was repressed
its champions suered persecution while the nation on Main article: Solidarity (Polish trade union)
the whole was discouraged from adopting the mindset.
This had been the practice even in the states which iden- Labour turmoil in Poland during 1980 had led to the fortied as exercising a multi-party system.
mation of the independent trade union, Solidarity, led by
The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw the multi-ethnic So- Lech Wasa, which over time became a political force.
viets overturn a previously nationalist czarist state. The On 13 December 1981, Communist leader Wojciech
Bolsheviks comprised ethnicities of all entities which Jaruzelski started a crack-down on Solidarity, declaring
would compose the Soviet Union throughout its phases. martial law in Poland, suspending the union, and temporarily imprisoning all of its leaders.
During the interwar period, Communism had been on the
rise in many parts of the world (e.g. in the Kingdom
of Yugoslavia, it had grown popular in the urban areas 1.3 Mikhail Gorbachev
throughout the 1920s). This led to a series of purges in
Main articles: Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika, Glasnost
many countries to stie the movement.
Just as Communism had at some stage grown popular and Democratisation in the Soviet Union
throughout the entities of Central and Eastern Europe, its
image had also begun to tarnish at a later time all within
the interwar period. As Socialist activists stepped up
their campaigns against their oppressor regimes, they resorted to violence (including bombings and various other
killings) to achieve their goal: this led large parts of the

Although several Eastern bloc countries had attempted

some abortive, limited economic and political reform
since the 1950s (Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Prague
Spring of 1968), the ascension of reform-minded Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 signaled the trend

3
toward greater liberalization. During the mid-1980s, a
younger generation of Soviet apparatchiks, led by Gorbachev, began advocating fundamental reform in order
to reverse years of Brezhnev stagnation. The Soviet
Union was facing a period of severe economic decline
and needed Western technology and credits to make up
for its increasing backwardness. The costs of maintaining its so-called empire the military, KGB, subsidies
to foreign client states further strained the moribund
Soviet economy.
The rst signs of major reform came in 1986 when Gorbachev launched a policy of glasnost (openness) in the
Soviet Union, and emphasized the need for perestroika
(economic restructuring). By the spring of 1989, the Soviet Union had not only experienced lively media debate,
but had also held its rst multi-candidate elections in the
newly established Congress of Peoples Deputies. Though
glasnost advocated openness and political criticism, at the
time, it was only permitted in accordance with the political views of the Communists. The general public in the
Eastern bloc were still threatened by secret police and political repression.
Moscows largest obstacle to improved political and economic relations with the Western powers remained the
Iron Curtain that existed between East and West. As long
as the specter of Soviet military intervention loomed over
Central, South-East and Eastern Europe, it seemed unlikely that Moscow could attract the Western economic
support needed to nance the countrys restructuring.
Gorbachev urged his Central and South-East European
counterparts to imitate perestroika and glasnost in their
own countries. However, while reformists in Hungary
and Poland were emboldened by the force of liberalization spreading from East to West, other Eastern bloc
countries remained openly skeptical and demonstrated
aversion to reform. Past experiences had demonstrated
that although reform in the Soviet Union was manageable,
the pressure for change in Central and South-East Europe had the potential to become uncontrollable. These
regimes owed their creation and continued survival to
Soviet-style authoritarianism, backed by Soviet military
power and subsidies. Believing Gorbachevs reform initiatives would be short-lived, orthodox Communist rulers
like East Germanys Erich Honecker, Bulgarias Todor
Zhivkov, Czechoslovakias Gustv Husk, and Romanias Nicolae Ceauescu obstinately ignored the calls for
change.[12] When your neighbor puts up new wallpaper,
it doesnt mean you have to too, declared one East German politburo member.[13]

Solidaritys impact grows

2021 March 1981, issue of Wieczr Wrocawia (This Evening

in Wrocaw). Blank spaces remain after the government censor pulled articles from page 1 (right, What happened at
Bydgoszcz?") and from the last page (left, Country-wide strike
alert), leaving only their titles. The printersSolidarity-tradeunion members decided to run the newspaper as is, with blank
spaces intact. The bottom of page 1 of this master copy bears the
hand-written Solidarity conrmation of that decision.

suciently strong to frustrate Jaruzelskis attempts at reform, and nationwide strikes in 1988 forced the government to open a dialogue with Solidarity. On 9 March
1989, both sides agreed to a bicameral legislature called
the National Assembly. The already existing Sejm would
become the lower house. The Senate would be elected by
the people. Traditionally a ceremonial oce, the presidency was given more powers[14] (Polish Round Table
Agreement).
By 1989, the Soviet Union had repealed the Brezhnev
Doctrine in favor of non-intervention in the internal affairs of its Warsaw Pact allies, termed the Sinatra Doctrine in a joking reference to the Frank Sinatra song "My
Way". Poland became the rst Warsaw Pact state country
to break free of Soviet domination. Taking notice from
Poland, Hungary was next to follow.

3 National political movements

3.1 Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Main article: Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
New Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (in oce 13 September 1982 2 November 1987), developed the concept of
Socialism with Chinese characteristics local market economy around 1984, but the policy stalled.[15]

The rst Chinese student demonstrations, which directly

preceded the Beijing protests of 1989, took place in DeMain article: Solidarity (Polish trade union)
cember 1986 in Hefei. The students called for campus
Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persisted solely as elections, the chance to study abroad and greater availan underground organization, supported by the Catholic ability of western pop culture. Their protests took advanChurch. However, by the late 1980s, Solidarity became tage of the loosening political atmosphere and included

NATIONAL POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

rallies against the slow pace of reform. Chairman Hu

Yaobang, a protg of Deng Xiaoping and a leading advocate of reform, was blamed for the protests and forced to
resign as the CCP General Secretary in January 1987. In
the Anti Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign, Hu would
be further denounced.
The Tiananmen Square protests were sparked by the
death of Hu Yaobang on 15 April 1989. By the eve of
Hus state funeral, some 100,000 students had gathered
at Tiananmen square to observe it; however, no leaders
emerged from the Great Hall. The movement lasted for
seven weeks.[16]
Gorbachevs visit to China on 15 May during the protests
brought many foreign news agencies to Beijing, and their
sympathetic portrayals of the protesters helped galvanize
a spirit of liberation among the Central, South-East and
Eastern Europeans who were watching. The Chinese
leadership, particularly Communist Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, having begun earlier than the Soviets
to radically reform the economy, was open to political
reform, but not at the cost of a potential return to the disorder of the Cultural Revolution.
The movement lasted from Hus death on 15 April until
tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989. In
Beijing, the military response to the protest by the PRC
government left many civilians in charge of clearing the
square of the dead and severely injured. The exact number of casualties is not known and many dierent estimates exist.
On 7 July 1989 President Mikhail Gorbachev implicitly
renounced the use of force against other Soviet-bloc nations. Speaking to members of the 23-nation Council
of Europe, Mr. Gorbachev made no direct reference to
the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine, under which Moscow
has asserted the right to use force to prevent a Warsaw
Pact member from leaving the Communist fold, but stated
Any interference in domestic aairs and any attempts to
restrict the sovereignty of states friends, allies or any
others are inadmissible.[17]

3.2

Poland

Main article: History of Poland (194589) Final years

of communist rule (198090)
A wave of strikes hit Poland in April and May 1988, and
a second wave began on 15 August 1988 when a strike
broke out at the July Manifesto coal mine in JastrzbieZdrj, the workers demanding the re-legalisation of
Solidarity. Over the next few days sixteen other mines
went on strike followed by a number of shipyards, including on 22 August the Gdansk Shipyard famous as
the epicentre of the 1980 industrial unrest that spawned
Solidarity.[18] On 31 August 1988 Lech Walesa, the
leader of Solidarity, was invited to Warsaw by the Communist authorities, who had nally agreed to talks.[19] On
18 January 1989 at a stormy session of the Tenth Ple-

Solidarity Chairman Lech Wasa (center) with US President

George H. W. Bush (right) and Barbara Bush (left) in Warsaw,
July 1989.

nary Session of the ruling United Workers Party, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the First Secretary, managed to
get party backing for formal negotiations with Solidarity leading to its future legalisation although this was
achieved only by threatening the resignation of the entire party leadership if thwarted.[20] On 6 February 1989
formal Round Table discussions began in the Hall of
Columns in Warsaw. On 4 April 1989 the historic Round
Table Agreement was signed legalising Solidarity and setting up partly free parliamentary elections to be held on
4 June 1989 (incidentally, the day following the midnight
crackdown on Chinese protesters in Tiananmen Square).
A political earthquake followed. The victory of Solidarity
surpassed all predictions. Solidarity candidates captured
all the seats they were allowed to compete for in the Sejm,
while in the Senate they captured 99 out of the 100 available seats (with the one remaining seat taken by an independent candidate). At the same time, many prominent
Communist candidates failed to gain even the minimum
number of votes required to capture the seats that were
reserved for them.
On 15 August 1989, the Communists two longtime
coalition partners, the United Peoples Party (ZSL) and
the Democratic Party (SD), broke their alliance with
the PZPR and announced their support for Solidarity.
The last Communist Prime Minister of Poland, General
Czeslaw Kiszczak, said he would resign to allow a nonCommunist to form an administration.[21] As Solidarity
was the only other political grouping that could possibly
form a government, it was virtually assured that a Solidarity member would become prime minister. On 19
August 1989, in a stunning watershed moment, Tadeusz
Mazowiecki, an anti-Communist editor, Solidarity supporter, and devout Catholic, was nominated as Prime
Minister of Poland and the Soviet Union voiced no
protest, despite calls from hard-line Romanian dictator
Nicolae Ceauescu for the Warsaw Pact to intervene militarily to save socialism as it had in Prague in 1968.[22]
Five days later, on 24 August 1989, Polands Parliament

3.4

East Germany

ended more than 40 years of one-party rule by making Mazowiecki the countrys rst non-Communist Prime
Minister since the early postwar years. In a tense Parliament, Mazowiecki received 378 votes, with 4 against
and 41 abstentions.[23] On 13 September 1989 a new nonCommunist government was approved by parliament, the
rst of its kind in the Eastern Bloc.[24] On 17 November 1989 the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, Polish founder
of the Cheka and symbol of Communist oppression, was
torn down in Bank Square, Warsaw.[25] On 29 December
1989 the Sejm amended the constitution to change the ofcial name of the country from the Peoples Republic of
Poland to the Republic of Poland. The communist Polish United Workers Party dissolved itself on 29 January
1990 and transformed itself into the Social Democracy
of the Republic of Poland.[26]

5
ment was signed on 18 September. The talks involved
the Communists (MSzMP) and the newly emerging independent political forces Fidesz, the Alliance of Free
Democrats (SzDSz), the Hungarian Democratic Forum
(MDF), the Independent Smallholders Party, the Hungarian Peoples Party, the Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Society, and the Democratic Trade Union of Scientic Workers. At a later stage the League of Free Trade Unions
and the Christian Democratic Peoples Party (KNDP)
were invited.[30] It was at the talks that a number of Hungarys future political leaders emerged, including Lszl
Slyom, Jzsef Antall, Gyrgy Szabad, Pter Tlgyessy
and Viktor Orbn.[31]
On 2 May 1989, the rst visible cracks in the Iron Curtain appeared when Hungary began dismantling its 150
mile long border fence with Austria.[32] This increasingly
destabilized the GDR and Czechoslovakia over the summer and autumn as thousands of their citizens illegally
crossed over to the West through the Hungarian-Austrian
border. On 1 June 1989 the Communist Party admitted that former Prime Minister Imre Nagy, hanged for
treason for his role in the 1956 Hungarian uprising, was
executed illegally after a show trial.[33] On 16 June 1989
Nagy was given a solemn funeral on Budapests largest
square in front of crowds of at least 100,000, followed by
a heros burial.[34]

In 1990, Jaruzelski resigned as Polands president and

was succeeded by Wasa, who won the 1990 presidential elections[26] held in two rounds on 25 November and 9
December. Wasas inauguration as president on 21 December 1990 is thought by many to be the formal end of
the Communist Peoples Republic of Poland and the beginning of the modern Republic of Poland. The Warsaw
Pact was dissolved on 1 July 1991. On 27 October 1991
the rst entirely free Polish parliamentary elections since
1945 took place. This completed Polands transition from
Communist Party rule to a Western-style liberal demo- The Round Table agreement of 18 September encomcratic political system. The last Russian troops left Poland passed six draft laws that covered an overhaul of the
on 18 September 1993.[26]
Constitution, establishment of a Constitutional Court, the
functioning and management of political parties, multiparty elections for National Assembly deputies, the pe3.3 Hungary
nal code and the law on penal procedures (the last two
changes represented an additional separation of the Party
Main article: End of Communism in Hungary (1989)
[35][36]
The electoral system
See also: Removal of Hungarys border fence and from the state apparatus).
was
a
compromise:
about
half
of
the deputies would
Pan-European Picnic
be elected proportionally and half by the majoritarian
system.[37] A weak presidency was also agreed upon, but
Following Polands lead, Hungary was next to switch no consensus was attained on who should elect the presto a non-Communist government. Although Hungary ident (parliament or the people) and when this election
had achieved some lasting economic reforms and lim- should occur (before or after parliamentary elections).
ited political liberalization during the 1980s, major re- On 7 October 1989, the Communist Party at its last
forms only occurred following the replacement of Jnos congress re-established itself as the Hungarian Socialist
Kdr as General Secretary of the Communist Party on Party.[38] In a historic session from 16 to 20 October, the
23 May 1988 with Karoly Grosz.[27] On 24 November parliament adopted legislation providing for multi-party
1988 Mikls Nmeth was appointed Prime Minister. On parliamentary elections and a direct presidential election,
12 January 1989, the Parliament adopted a democracy which took place on March 24, 1990.[39] The legislation
package, which included trade union pluralism; freedom transformed Hungary from a Peoples Republic into the
of association, assembly, and the press; a new electoral Republic of Hungary, guaranteed human and civil rights,
law; and a radical revision of the constitution, among and created an institutional structure that ensured sepaothers.[28] On 29 January 1989, contradicting the ocial ration of powers among the judicial, legislative, and exview of history held for more than 30 years, a member of ecutive branches of government.[40] The Soviet military
the ruling Politburo Imre Pozsgay declared that Hungarys occupation of Hungary, which had persisted since World
1956 rebellion is a popular uprising rather than a foreign- War II, ended on 19 June 1991.
instigated attempt at counterrevolution.[29] Mass demonstrations on 15 March, the National Day, persuaded the
regime to begin negotiations with the emergent nonCommunist political forces. Round Table talks began
on 22 April and continued until the Round Table agree-

NATIONAL POLITICAL MOVEMENTS

Leipzig on 2 October attracted 10,000 protesters,

Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader Erich Honecker issued a shoot and kill order to the military.[41] Communists prepared a huge police, militia, Stasi, and workcombat troop presence and there were rumors a Tiananmen Square-style massacre was being planned for the following Mondays demonstration on 9 October.[42]
On 6 and 7 October, Mikhail Gorbachev visited East Germany to mark the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, and urged the East German leadership to
accept reform. A famous quote of his is rendered in German as Wer zu spt kommt, den bestraft das Leben (He
who is too late is punished by life). However, Honecker remained opposed to internal reform, with his regime even
going so far as forbidding the circulation of Soviet publications that it viewed as subversive.
In spite of rumours that the Communists were planning
a massacre on 9 October 70,000 citizens demonstrated
in Leipzig that Monday. The authorities on the ground
refused to open re. This victory of the people facing
down the Communists guns encouraged more and more
citizens to take to the streets. The following Monday on
16 October 120,000 people demonstrated on the streets
of Leipzig.

Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, 10 November 1989

3.4

East Germany

Main articles: Die Wende, German reunication and

Peaceful Revolution
On 2 May 1989, Hungary started dismantling its barbed
wire border with Austria, opening a large hole through
the Iron Curtain to the West that was used by a growing number of East Germans. By the end of September
1989, more than 30,000 East Germans had escaped to
the West before the GDR denied travel to Hungary, leaving the CSSR (Czechoslovakia) as the only neighboring
state where East Germans could escape to. Thousands of
East Germans tried to reach the West by occupying the
West German diplomatic facilities in other Central and
Eastern European capitals, notably the Prague Embassy
and the Hungarian Embassy where thousands camped in
the muddy garden from August to November waiting for
German political reform. The GDR closed the border to
the CSSR on 3 October, thereby isolating itself from all
neighbors. Having been shut o from their last chance
for escape, an increasing number of East Germans participated in the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig on 4,
11, and 18 September, each attracting 1,200 to 1,500
demonstrators; many were arrested and beaten. However,
the people refused to be intimidated. The 25 September
demonstration attracted 8,000 demonstrators.
After the fth successive Monday demonstration in

Erich Honecker had hoped that the Soviets would enter

the GDR, as by the Warsaw Pact, and restore the communist government and suppress the civilian protests. By
1990 the Soviet Government deemed it impractical for
the Soviet Union to continue holding its grasp on the
Eastern Bloc, and so it took a neutral stance regarding the
events happening in East Germany. Faced with this ongoing civil unrest, the SED deposed Honecker on 18 October and replaced him with the number-two man in the
regime, Egon Krenz. However, the demonstrations kept
growing on Monday 23 October the Leipzig protesters
numbered 300,000 and remained as large the following
week. The border to Czechoslovakia was opened again
on 1 November, but the Czechoslovak authorities soon let
all East Germans travel directly to West Germany without further bureaucratic ado, thus lifting their part of the
Iron Curtain on 3 November. On 4 November the authorities decided to authorize a demonstration in Berlin
and were faced with the Alexanderplatz demonstration
where half a million citizens converged on the capital demanding freedom in the biggest protest the GDR ever
witnessed. Unable to stem the ensuing ow of refugees
to the West through Czechoslovakia, the East German
authorities eventually caved in to public pressure by allowing East German citizens to enter West Berlin and
West Germany directly, via existing border points, on
9 November 1989, without having properly briefed the
border guards. Triggered by the erratic words of regime
spokesman Gnter Schabowski in a TV press conference,
stating that the planned changes were in eect immediately, without delay, hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity. The guards were
caught by surprise; unwilling to use force, they let the

3.6

Bulgaria

crowds through. Soon new crossing points were forced

open in the Berlin Wall by the people, and sections of
the wall literally torn down as this symbol of oppression
was overwhelmed. The bewildered guards were unaware
of what was happening, and meekly stood by as the East
Germans tore down large chunks of the wall.
On 13 November GDR Prime Minister Willi Stoph and
his entire cabinet resigned. A new government was
formed under a considerably more liberal Communist,
Hans Modrow. On 1 December the Volkskammer removed the SEDs leading role from the constitution of
the GDR. On 3 December Krenz resigned as leader of
the SED; he resigned as head of state three days later. On
7 December Round Table talks opened between the SED
and other political parties. On 16 December 1989 the
SED was dissolved and refounded as the SED-PDS, abandoning Marxism-Leninism and becoming a mainstream
democratic socialist party.
On 15 January 1990 the Stasis headquarters was stormed
by protesters. Modrow became the de facto leader of
East Germany until free elections were held on 18 March
1990the rst held in that part of Germany since 1933.
The SED, renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism,
was heavily defeated. Lothar de Maizire of the East German Christian Democratic Union became Prime Minister on 4 April 1990 on a platform of speedy reunication
with the West. The two Germanies were reunied on 3
October 1990.
The Kremlins willingness to abandon such a strategically
vital ally marked a dramatic shift by the Soviet superpower and a fundamental paradigm change in international relations, which until 1989 had been dominated by
the East-West divide running through Berlin itself. The
last Russian troops left the territory of the former GDR,
now part of a reunited Federal Republic of Germany on
1 September 1994.

3.5

Czechoslovakia

7
government. On 17 November 1989 (Friday), riot police
suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague,
although controversy continues over whether anyone died
that night. That event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from 19 November to late December. By 20
November the number of peaceful protesters assembled
in Prague had swelled from 200,000 the previous day
to an estimated half-million. Five days later, the Letn
Square held 800,000 protesters.[43] On 24 November,
the entire Communist Party leadership, including general secretary Milo Jake, resigned. A two-hour general
strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was successfully held on 27 November.
With the collapse of other Communist governments,
and increasing street protests, the Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia announced on 28 November 1989 that
it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party
state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed
from the border with West Germany and Austria in early
December. On 10 December, President Gustv Husk
appointed the rst largely non-Communist government
in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander
Dubek was elected speaker of the federal parliament
on 28 December and Vclav Havel the President of
Czechoslovakia on 29 December 1989. In June 1990
Czechoslovakia held its rst democratic elections since
1946. On 27 June 1991 the last Soviet troops were withdrawn from Czechoslovakia.[44]

3.6 Bulgaria
In October and November 1989 demonstrations on ecological issues were staged in Soa, where demands for political reform were also voiced. The demonstrations were
suppressed, but on 10 November 1989 the day after the
Berlin Wall was breached Bulgarias long-serving leader
Todor Zhivkov was ousted by his Politburo. He was succeeded by a considerably more liberal Communist, former foreign minister Petar Mladenov. Moscow apparently approved the leadership change, as Zhivkov had
been opposed to Gorbachevs policies. The new regime
immediately repealed restrictions on free speech and assembly, which led to the rst mass demonstration on 17
November, as well as the formation of anti-communist
movements. Nine of them united as the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) on 7 December.[45] The UDF was
not satised with Zhivkovs ouster, and demanded additional democratic reforms, most importantly the removal of the constitutionally mandated leading role of the
Bulgarian Communist Party.

Bowing to the inevitable, Mladenov announced on 11

December 1989 that the Communist Party would abandon its monopoly on power, and that multiparty elections
Main article: Velvet Revolution
would be held the following year. In February 1990, the
Bulgarian legislature deleted the portion of the constituThe Velvet Revolution was a non-violent revolution in tion about the leading role of the Communist Party.
Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist Eventually, it was decided that a round table on the PolProtests beneath the monument in Prague's Wenceslas Square.

4 MALTA SUMMIT

ish model would be held in 1990 and elections held by

June 1990. The round table took place from 3 January
to 14 May 1990, at which an agreement was reached on
the transition to democracy. The Communist Party abandoned Marxism-Leninism in April 1990 and renamed itself as the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In June 1990 the rst
free elections since 1931 were held, won by the Bulgarian
Socialist Party.

3.7

Romania

Main article: Romanian Revolution

After having survived the Braov Rebellion in 1987,

swarming alongside them. The rioters forced open the

doors of the Central Committee building in an attempt to
capture Ceauescu and his wife, Elena, coming within a
few meters of the couple. However, they managed to escape via a helicopter waiting for them on the roof of the
building. The revolution resulted in 1,104 deaths. Unlike
its kindred parties in the Warsaw Pact, the PCR simply
melted away; no present-day Romanian party claiming to
be its successor has ever been elected to the legislature
since the change of system.
Although elation followed the ight of the Ceauescus,
uncertainty surrounded their fate. On Christmas Day,
Romanian television showed the Ceauescus facing a
hasty trial, and then undergoing summary execution. An
interim National Salvation Front Council led by Ion Iliescu took over and announced elections for April 1990
the rst free elections held in Romania since 1937. However, they were postponed until 20 May 1990.

4 Malta Summit
Revolutionaries on the streets during the Romanian Revolution of
1989

Nicolae Ceauescu was re-elected for another ve years

as leader of the Romanian Communist Party in November 1989, signalling that he intended to ride out the antiCommunist uprisings sweeping the rest of Europe. As
Ceauescu prepared to go on a state visit to Iran, his
Securitate ordered the arrest and exile of a local Hungarian Calvinist minister, Lszl Tks, on 16 December,
for sermons oending the regime. Tks was seized, but
only after serious rioting erupted. Timioara was the rst
city to react, on 16 December, and civil unrest continued
for 5 days.
Returning from Iran, Ceauescu ordered a mass rally
in his support outside Communist Party headquarters in
Bucharest on 21 December. However, to his shock, the
crowd booed and jeered him as he spoke. Years of
repressed dissatisfaction boiled to the surface throughout the Romanian populace and even among elements
in Ceauescus own government, and the demonstrations
spread throughout the country.
At rst the security forces obeyed Ceauescus orders to
shoot protesters. However, on the morning of 22 December, the Romanian military suddenly changed sides.
This came after it was announced that defense minister Vasile Milea had committed suicide after being unmasked as a traitor. Believing Milea had actually been
murdered, the rank-and-le soldiers went over virtually
en masse to the revolution.[46] Army tanks began moving towards the Central Committee building with crowds

Mikhail Gorbachev and President George Bush on board the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, Marsaxlokk Harbour.

The Malta Summit consisted of a meeting between

U.S. President George H. W. Bush and U.S.S.R. leader
Mikhail Gorbachev, taking place between 23 December 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin
Wall, a meeting which contributed to the end of the Cold
War partially as a result of the broader pro-democracy
movement. It was their second meeting following a meeting that included then President Ronald Reagan, in New
York in December 1988. News reports of the time[47] referred to the Malta Summit as the most important since
1945, when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
Soviet premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin
D. Roosevelt agreed on a post-war plan for Europe at the
Yalta Conference.

Election chronology in Central 6 Albania and Yugoslavia

and Eastern Europe 19891991
6.1 Breakup of Yugoslavia

Between the spring of 1989 and the spring of 1991 every Communist or former communist Central and Eastern European country, and in the case of the USSR and
Yugoslavia every constituent republic, held competitive
parliamentary elections for the rst time in many decades.
Some elections were only partly free, others fully democratic. The chronology below gives the details of these
historic elections; the date is the rst day of voting as
several elections were spilt over several days for run-o
contests:
Poland 4 June 1989
Turkmenistan 7 January 1990
Uzbekistan 18 February 1990
Lithuania 24 February 1990
Moldova- 25 February 1990
Kyrgyzstan 25 February 1990
Tajikistan 25 February 1990
Belarus 3 March 1990
Russia 4 March 1990
Ukraine 4 March 1990
East Germany 18 March 1990
Estonia 18 March 1990
Latvia 18 March 1990
Hungary 25 March 1990
Kazakhstan 25 March 1990
Slovenia 8 April 1990
Croatia 24 April 1990
Romania 20 May 1990
Armenia 20 May 1990
Czechoslovakia 8 June 1990
Bulgaria 10 June 1990
Azerbaijan 30 September 1990
Georgia 28 October 1990
Macedonia 11 November 1990
Bosnia and Herzegovina 18 November 1990
Serbia 8 December 1990
Montenegro 9 December 1990
Albania 7 April 1991

Main articles: Breakup of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav Wars

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was not a
part of the Warsaw Pact but pursued its own version of
Communism under Josip Broz Tito. It was a multiethnic state which Tito was able to maintain through a
doctrine of "Brotherhood and unity", but tensions between ethnicities began to escalate with the so-called
Croatian Spring of 197071, a movement for greater
Croatian autonomy, which was suppressed. In 1974
there followed constitutional changes, and the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution devolved some of the federal powers
to the constituent republics and provinces. After Titos
death in 1980 ethnic tensions grew, rst in Albanianmajority SAP Kosovo with the 1981 protests in Kosovo.
In late 1980s Serbian leader Slobodan Miloevi used the
Kosovo crisis to stoke up Serb nationalism and attempt
to consolidate and dominate the country, which alienated
the other ethnic groups.
Parallel to the same process, SR Slovenia witnessed a policy of gradual liberalization since 1984, somewhat similar to the Soviet Perestroika. This provoked tensions
between the League of Communists of Slovenia on one
side, and the central Yugoslav Party and the federal army
on the other side. By the late 1980s, many civil society groups were pushing towards democratization, while
widening the space for cultural plurality. In 1987 and
1988, a series of clashes between the emerging civil society and the Communist regime culminated with the socalled Slovene Spring, a mass movement for democratic
reforms. The Committee for the Defence of Human
Rights was established as the platform of all major nonCommunist political movements. By early 1989, several anti-Communist political parties were already openly
functioning, challenging the hegemony of the Slovenian
Communists. Soon, the Slovenian Communists, pressured by their own civil society, came into conict with
the Serbian Communist leadership.
In January 1990, an extraordinary Congress of the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia was called in order
to settle the disputes among its constituent parties. Faced
with being completely outnumbered, the Slovenian and
Croatian Communists walked out of the Congress on 23
January 1990, thus eectively bringing to an end the Yugoslav Communist Party. Both parties of the two western
republics negotiated free multi-party elections with their
own opposition movements.
On 8 April 1990, the democratic and anti-Yugoslav
DEMOS coalition won the elections in Slovenia, while
on 24 April 1990 the Croatian elections witnessed the
landslide victory of the nationalist Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ) led by Franjo Tuman. The results were

10

much more balanced in Bosnia and Herzegovina and

Macedonia in November 1990, while the parliamentary
and presidential elections of December 1990 in Serbia
and Montenegro consolidated the power of Miloevi and
his supporters. Free elections on the level of the federation were never carried out.
The Slovenian and Croatian leaderships started preparing
plans for secession from the federation, while the Serbs of
Croatia organized the so-called Log Revolution, an insurrection that would lead to the creation of the breakaway
region of SAO Krajina. In the Slovenian independence
referendum on 23 December 1990, 88.5% of residents
voted for independence.[48] In the Croatian independence
referendum, on 2 May 1991, 93.24% voted for independence.

DISSOLUTION OF THE SOVIET UNION

volts started in Shkodra and spread in other cities. Eventually, the existing regime introduced some liberalization, including measures in 1990 providing for freedom to
travel abroad. Eorts were begun to improve ties with the
outside world. March 1991 electionsthe rst free elections in Albania since 1923, and only the third free elections in the countrys historyleft the former Communists in power, but a general strike and urban opposition
led to the formation of a coalition cabinet including nonCommunists. Albanias former Communists were routed
in elections held in March 1992, amid economic collapse
and social unrest.

7 Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The escalating ethnic and national tensions were exacerbated by the drive for independence and led to the following Yugoslav wars:
War in Slovenia (1991)
Croatian War of Independence (19911995)
Bosnian War (19921995)
Kosovo War (19981999), including the NATO
bombing of Yugoslavia.
In addition, the insurgency in the Preevo Valley (1999
2001) and the insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001) are also often discussed in the same Tanks in Moscow's Red Square during the 1991 coup attempt
context.[49][50][51]
Main article: Dissolution of the Soviet Union

6.2

Fall of Communism in Albania

On 1 July 1991, the Warsaw Pact was ocially dissolved

at a meeting in Prague. At a summit later that same
Main article: Fall of Communism in Albania
In the Socialist Peoples Republic of Albania, Enver month, Gorbachev and Bush declared a USSoviet strategic partnership, decisively marking the end of the Cold
War. President Bush declared that USSoviet cooperation during the 199091 Gulf War had laid the groundwork for a partnership in resolving bilateral and world
problems.
As the Soviet Union rapidly withdrew its forces from
Central and Southeast Europe, the spillover from the
1989 upheavals began reverberating throughout the Soviet Union itself. Agitation for self-determination led
to rst Lithuania, and then Estonia, Latvia and Armenia declaring independence. However, the Soviet central
government demanded the revocation of the declarations
and threatened military action and economic sanctions.
The Fall of Enver Hoxhas Statue in central Tirana

Disaection in other Soviet republics, such as Georgia

and Azerbaijan, was countered by promises of greater decentralization. More open elections led to the election of
candidates opposed to Communist Party rule.

Hoxha, who led Albania for four decades, died on 11

April 1985. His successor, Ramiz Alia, began to gradu- Glasnost had inadvertently released the long-suppressed
ally open up the regime from above. In 1989, the rst re- national sentiments of all peoples within the borders of

7.1

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

11

the multinational Soviet state. These nationalist move- in to reestablish order.

ments were further strengthened by the rapid deterioration of the Soviet economy, whose ramshackle foundations were exposed with the removal of Communist dis- 7.1 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
cipline. Gorbachevs reforms had failed to improve the
economy, with the old Soviet command structure completely breaking down. One by one, the constituent republics created their own economic systems and voted to
subordinate Soviet laws to local laws. In 1990, the Communist Party was forced to surrender its seven-decade
monopoly of political power when the Supreme Soviet rescinded the clause in the Soviet Constitution that guaranteed its sole authority to rule. Gorbachevs policies caused
the Communist Party to loose its grip over the media. Details of the Soviet Unions past was quickly becoming declassied. This caused many to distrust the 'old system'
and push for greater autonomy and independence.
After a referendum conrmed the preservation of the Soviet Union but in a looser form, a group of Soviet hardliners represented by Vice-President Gennadi Yanayev
launched a coup attempting to overthrow Gorbachev in
August 1991. Boris Yeltsin, then president of the Russian
SFSR, rallied the people and much of the army against
the coup and the eort collapsed. Although restored to
power, Gorbachevs authority had been irreparably undermined. In September, the Baltic states were granted
independence. Later that month, Gorbachev resigned as
leader of the Communist Party, and the Supreme Soviet
indenitely suspended all party activities on Soviet soil.
Over the next three months, one republic after another
declared independence, mostly out of fear of another
coup. Also during this time, Russia began taking over
what remained of the Soviet government, including the
Kremlin. The penultimate step came on 1 December, when voters in the second most powerful republic,
Ukraine, overwhelmingly voted to secede from the Soviet
Union in a referendum. This ended any realistic chance
of keeping the Soviet Union together. On 8 December,
Yeltsin met with his counterparts from Ukraine and Belarus and signed the Belavezha Accords, declaring that the
Soviet Union had ceased to exist. Gorbachev denounced
this as illegal, but he had long since lost any ability to inuence events outside of Moscow.
Two weeks later, 11 of the remaining 12 republicsall
except Georgiasigned the Alma-Ata Protocol, which
conrmed the Soviet Union had been eectively dissolved and replaced by a new voluntary association, the
Commonwealth of Independent States. Bowing to the inevitable, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president on 25
December, and the Supreme Soviet dissolved itself the
next day. By the end of 1991, the few Soviet institutions that hadn't been taken over by Russia had dissolved.
The Soviet Union was ocially disbanded, breaking up
into fteen constituent parts, thereby ending the worlds
largest and most inuential Socialist state, and leaving
China to that position. A constitutional crisis dissolved
into violence in Moscow as the Russian Army was called

Baltic Way was a human chain of approximately two million

people dedicated to liberating the Baltic Republics from the USSR.

Main article: Singing Revolution

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania implemented democratic
reforms and achieved independence from the Soviet
Union.
The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name
for events between 1987 and 1991 that led to the
restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania.[52][53] The term was coined by an Estonian
activist and artist, Heinz Valk, in an article published
a week after the 1011 June 1988 spontaneous mass
night-singing demonstrations at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.[54] Lithuania declared its independence on
11 March 1990. On 30 March, Estonia announced the
start of a transitional period to independence, and Latvia
followed suit a few days later. These declarations were
met with force from the Soviet Union in early 1991, in
confrontations known as "The Barricades" in Latvia and
the January Events in Lithuania. The Baltic states contended that their incorporation into the Soviet Union had
been illegal under both international law and their own
law, and they were reasserting an independence that still
legally existed.
Soon after the launching of the August coup, Estonia and
Latvia declared full independence. By the time the coup
was foiled, the USSR was no longer unied enough to
mount a forceful resistance, and it recognized the independence of the Baltic states on 6 September.

7.2 Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova

In Belarus, a new postcommunist leader Alexander
Lukashenko has obtained power. After a short period he
increased his power as a result of referendums (1995
1996) and has been criticized for repressing political opposition ever since.

12

Moldova Participated in the War of Transnistria between Moldova and Russian-connected forces. Communists came back to power in a 2001 election under
Vladimir Voronin, but faced civil unrest in 2009 over accusation of rigged elections.
Ukraine Ukraine declared its independence in August 1991. Presidencies of former Communists Leonid
Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma were followed by the
Orange Revolution in 2004, in which Ukrainians elected
Viktor Yushchenko (also former member of CPSU).

7.3

Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan

DISSOLUTION OF THE SOVIET UNION

ulist nationalist Elchibey. However, Elchibey planned

to end Moscows advantage in the harvesting of Azeri
oil and build much stronger links with Turkey and Europe, and as a result was overthrown by former Communists in a coup backed by Russia and Iran (which
viewed the new country as a compelling threat, with territorial ambitions within Iranian borders and also being
a strong economic rival).[55] Mutallibov rose to power,
but he was soon destabilized and eventually ousted due
to popular frustration with his perceived incompetence,
corruption and improper handling of the war with Armenia. Azerbaijani KGB and Azerbaijani SSR leader
Heydar Aliyev captured power and remained president
until he transferred the presidency to his son in 2003.
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and has largely dened the fates of
both countries. However, unlike Armenia, which remains
a strong Russian ally, Azerbaijan has begun, since Russias 2008 war with Georgia, to foster better relations with
Turkey and other Western nations, while lessening ties
with Russia.[56]

7.4 Chechnya

Photos of the 9 April 1989 victims of the Tbilisi Massacre on a

billboard in Tbilisi.

Georgia and the North Caucasus have been marred by

ethnic and sectarian violence since the collapse of the
USSR. In April 1989 the Soviet Army massacred demonstrators in Tbilisi. By November 1989, the Georgian
SSR ocially condemned the Russian invasion in 1921
and continuing genocidal occupation. Democracy activist Zviad Gamsakhurdia served as president from 1991
to 1992. Russia aided break-away republics in wars in
South Ossetia and Abkhazia during the early 1990s, conicts that have periodically reemerged, and Russia has accused Georgia of supporting Chechen rebels during the
Chechen wars. A coup d'tat installed former Communist leader Eduard Shevardnadze as President of Georgia
until the Rose Revolution in 2003.
In Armenia, the independence struggle included violence.
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia became increasingly militarized (with the ascendancy of Kocharian, a former
president of Nagorno-Karabakh, often viewed as a milestone), while elections have since been increasingly controversial, and government corruption became more rife.
After Kocharyan, notably, Serzh Sargsyan ascended to
power. Sargsyan is often noted as the founder of the
Armenian and Karabakh militaries and was, in the past,
defense minister and national security minister.
In Azerbaijan the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party won
rst elections with the self-described pro-Western, pop-

Chechen women praying in Grozny, December 1994.

In Chechnya, using tactics partly copied from the Baltics,

Anti-Communist coalition forces led by former Soviet
general Dzhokhar Dudayev staged a largely bloodless
revolution, and ended up forcing the resignation of the
Communist republican president. Dudayev was elected
in a landslide in the following election and in November 1991 he proclaimed Checheno-Ingushetia's independence as the Republic of Ichkeria. Ingushetia voted to
leave the union with Chechnya, and was allowed to do
so (thus it became the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria).
Due to his desire to exclude Moscow from all oil deals,
Yeltsin backed a failed coup against him in 1993. In 1994,
Chechnya, with only marginal recognition (one country:
Georgia, which was revoked soon after the coup landing
Shevardnadze in power), was invaded by Russia, spurring
the First Chechen War. The Chechens, with considerable
assistance from the populations of both former-Soviet
countries and from Sunni Muslim countries repelled this

13
invasion and a peace treaty was signed in 1997. However, Chechnya became increasingly anarchic, largely due
to the both political and physical destruction of the state
during the invasion, and general Shamil Basaev, having
evaded all control by the central government, conducted
raids into neighboring Dagestan, which Russia used as
pretext for reinvading Ichkeria. Ichkeria was then reincorporated into Russia as Chechnya again, though ghting continues.

7.5

8 Other events
8.1 Communist and Socialist countries
See also: List of socialist states
Reforms in the Soviet Union and its allied countries also
saw dramatic changes to Communist and Socialist states
outside of Europe.

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, 8.1.1 Africa

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Angola The ruling MPLA government abandoned Marxism-Leninism in 1991 and agreed to
the Bicesse Accords in the same year, however the
Angolan Civil War between the MPLA and the conservative UNITA continued for another decade.
Benin Mathieu Krkou's regime was pressured to
abandon Marxism-Leninism in 1990.
Congo-Brazzaville Denis Sassou Nguesso's
regime was pressured to abandon MarxismLeninism in 1991. The nation had elections in
1992.

A depiction of the Jeltoqsan events on Republic Square in Almaty.

In Kazakhstan, the independence struggle began with the

Jeltoqsan uprising in 1986. Former Communist leader
Nursultan Nazarbayev has been in power since 1990
when he started serving as President of Kazakh SSR.

Ethiopia A new constitution was implemented

in 1987 and, following the withdrawal of Soviet
and Cuban assistance, the Communist military junta
Derg led by Mengistu Haile Mariam was defeated by
the rebel EPRDF in the Ethiopian Civil War and ed
in 1991.
Madagascar Socialist President Didier Ratsiraka
was ousted.

In Kyrgyzstan, former Communist leader Askar Akayev

retained power until the Tulip Revolution in 2005.

Mali Moussa Traor was ousted, Mali adopted a

new constitution and held multi-party elections.

In Tajikistan, former Communist leader Rahmon

Nabiyev retained power, which led to the civil war in
Tajikistan. Emomalii Rahmon has succeeded Nabiyev
and has retained power since 1992.

Mozambique The Mozambican Civil War between

the socialist FRELIMO and the RENAMO conservatives was ended via treaty in 1992. FRELIMO
subsequently abandoned socialism and with the support of the U.N., held multiparty elections.

In Turkmenistan, former Communist leader Saparmurat

Niyazov retained power until his death 2006 and has been
criticized as one of the worlds most totalitarian and repressive leaders, maintaining his own cult of personality.
In Uzbekistan, former Communist leader Islam Karimov
retained power and has been criticized for repressing the
political opposition ever since.

7.6

Post-Soviet conicts

Somalia Rebelling Somalis overthrew Siad Barre's

Communist military junta during the Somali Revolution. Somalia has been in a constant state of civil
war ever since.
Tanzania The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party
cut down its Socialist ideology and foreign donors
pressured the government to allow multiparty elections in 1995.

Russia was involved in a number of conicts, including 8.1.2 Middle East

the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the War of Transnistria, the
19911992 South Ossetia War, the First Chechen War,
Afghanistan Soviet occupation ended and the
the War in Abkhazia (19921993), the OssetianIngush
Communist government under Mohammad Naconict, and the Crimea conict in Ukraine.
jibullah fell to the Mujahideen in 1992.

14

8 OTHER EVENTS

South Yemen Abandoned Marxism-Leninism in

1990; it reunied with the more capitalist North
Yemen that year, though this later led to a civil war.
Syria Syria participated in the Madrid Conference
of 1991 and met its Cold War enemy Israel in peace
negotiations.
8.1.3

Asia

Mongolia The 1990 Democratic Revolution in

Mongolia saw a gradual moved to allow free
multi-party elections and the writing of the new
constitution. The Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party retained its majority in the 1990 elections,
but lost the 1996 elections.
North Korea Kim Il-sung died in 1994, passing
power to his son Kim Jong-il. Unprecedented oods
and the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the
North Korean famine, which resulted in the deaths
of an estimated 2.5 million to 3 million North Koreans. All references to Marxism-Leninism were replaced by Juche in 1992, thus signifying an apparent
downplaying of the role of Communism in North
Korea.
Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam has
undertaken Doi Moi reforms since 1986, liberalizing certain sectors of the economy in a manner similar to China. Vietnam is still a single-party Communist state.
8.1.4 Latin America

Sanjaasrengiin Zorig calms the crowd in Skhbaatar Square

during the 1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia

Burma The 8888 Uprising in 1988 saw the demise

of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, but failed
to bring democracy, although Marxism was abandoned. The country was led by a military government under the State Peace and Development Council until 2011, following 2010 elections viewed by
many Western countries as fraudulent.

Cuba The end of Soviet subsidies led to the Special

Period. An unsuccessful protest was held in 1994.
Nicaragua Daniel Ortega's Sandinista lost the
multi-party elections in 1990, and the National Opposition Union won.
Panama - Opposition to Manuel Antonio Noriegas
dictatorship grew. There was a coup attempt against
him. On December 20, 1989, the US launched
Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama.

Cambodia The Vietnam-supported government, 8.2 Other countries

which had been in power since the fall of the
Khmer Rouge, lost power following UN-sponsored Many Soviet-supported political parties and militant
groups around the world suered from demoralization
elections in 1993.
and loss of nancing.
China The Communist Party of China began implementing liberalizing economic reforms during
Austria The Communist Party of Austria lost its
the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping. However, the
East German nancing and 250 million euros in aspro-democracy protests of 1989 were crushed by the
sets.
military.
Belgium The Communist Party of Belgium was
Laos Remained Communist under the Lao Peodivided to two parties in 1989.
ples Revolutionary Party. Laos was forced to ask
France and Japan for emergency assistance, and also
Finland The Finnish Peoples Democratic League
to ask the World Bank and the Asian Development
was dissolved in 1990 and the bankrupt Communist
Bank for aid. Finally, in 1989, Kaisn visited BeiParty of Finland collapsed in 1992, and absorbed to
jing to conrm the restoration of friendly relations,
the Left Alliance.
and to secure Chinese aid.
France The collapse of the Eastern Bloc came as
India Indian economic reforms were launched in
a shock to the French Communist Party. The crisis
1991.
is called la mutation.

8.2

Other countries

West Germany The Red Army Faction lost its

long-term supporter, the Stasi, after the Berlin Wall
fell.[57]
Greece The Organisation of Marxist-Leninist
Communists of Greece was dissolved in 1993 and
merged into the Movement for a United Communist
Party of Greece.
Ireland The Communist Party of Ireland declined
signicantly.
Italy The collapse caused the Italian Communist
Party to reform itself, creating two new groups, the
larger Democratic Party of the Left and the smaller
Communist Refoundation Party. The disappearance of the Communist party in part led to profound
changes within the Italian political party system in
19921994.
Japan The Japanese Communist Party issued a
statement titled We welcome the end of a great historical evil of imperialism and hegemonism.

15
account of the schism here: <http://pcij.org/imag/
SpecialReport/left.html>
Peru The Shining Path, responsible for killing tens
of thousands people, shrunk in the 1990s.
Sweden The Communist Association of Norrkping was dissolved in 1990 and Kommunistiska
Frbundet Marxist-Leninisterna ceased to function as nationwide party.
The pro-Albanian
Kommunistiska Partiet i Sverige and the Maoist
Communist Workers Party of Sweden were
dissolved in 1993.
The main leftist party,
Vnsterpartiet kommunisterna, VPK (Left Party
Communists), abandoned the Communist part of
its name, and became simply Vnsterpartiet (Left
Party).
Turkey The Communist Labour Party of Turkey
was split.
United Kingdom The Communist Party of Great
Britain was dissolved.

Malaysia The Malayan Communist Party laid

down its arms in 1989, ending the Communist In- Concurrently, many anti-Communist authoritarian states,
surgency War that had lasted decades.
formerly supported by the US, gradually saw a transition
to democracy.
Mexico The Mexican Communist Party and a
number of other Communist parties were dissolved
Brazil had the rst democratic presidential election
in 1989 and absorbed rst into the Mexican Socialsince 1960 due to reforms started a few years earlier.
ist Party and then into the Party of the Democratic
Revolution.
Chile The military junta under Augusto Pinochet
Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherwas pressured to implement democratic elections,
lands was dissolved in 1991 and absorbed to the
which saw Chiles democratization in 1990.
GreenLeft.
El Salvador The Salvadoran Civil War ended in
Norway The Communist Party of Norway
1992 following the Chapultepec Peace Accords.
changed their pro-Soviet line.
The rebel FMLN movement became a legal political party and participated in subsequent elections.
Palestinian Territories The Palestine Liberation
Organization lost one of its most important diplo Panama The Manuel Noriega regime was overmatic patrons, due to the deterioration of the Sothrown by the US invasion in 1989 as a result of his
viet Union, and Arafats failing relationship with
suppression of elections, drug-tracking activities
Moscow.
and the killing of a US serviceman.
Philippines - The Communist Party of the Philippines experienced criticism and the debates that ensued between the leading party cadres resulted to
the expulsion of advocates of left and right opportunism notably forming the so-called rejectionists and rearmist factions. Those who armed
the Maoist orthodoxy was called the Rearmists,
or RA, while those who rejected the document
were called Rejectionists or RJ. In July 1993, the
Komiteng Rehiyon ng Manila-Rizal (KRMR), one
of the Rejectionists, declared its autonomy from
the central leadership. Within a few months, several of the Partys regional formations and bureaus
followed suit, permanently formalizing and deepening the schism. See a comprehensive third-party

Paraguay The dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner

came to an end when he was deposed in a military
coup d'tat. In 1992, the countrys new constitution
established a democratic system of government.
South Korea The June Democracy Movement's
protests led to the fall of the Chun Doo-hwan government in 1987, and the countrys rst democratic
elections. In 2000, North and South Korea agreed
in principle to work towards peaceful reunication
in the future.
South Africa Negotiations were started in 1990
to end the Apartheid system. Nelson Mandela was
elected as the President of South Africa in 1994.

16

11

IDEOLOGICAL CONTINUATION OF COMMUNISM

Taiwan The nationalist Kuomintang party that In a 2007 paper Oleh Havrylyshyn categorized the speed
had ruled under strict martial law since the end of of reforms in the Soviet Bloc:[61]
the Chinese Civil War introduced democratizing reforms.
Sustained Big-Bang (fastest): Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia
United States Following the end of the Cold War,
the United States became the worlds main super Advance Start/Steady Progress: Croatia, Hungary,
power, growing even more in world inuence as a
Slovenia
result. The United States ceased to support many
of the Right-wing military regimes it had during
Aborted Big-Bang: Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia,
the Cold War, pressing for more nations to adopt
Kyrgyzstan, Russia
democratic policies.
Gradual Reforms: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Romania

Political reforms

Limited Reforms (slowest): Belarus, Uzbekistan,

Turkmenistan

Main article: Decommunization

The 2004 enlargement of the European Union included
the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Decommunization is a process of overcoming the legaPoland,
Slovakia, and Slovenia. The 2007 enlargement of
cies of the Communist state establishments, culture, and
the
European
Union included Romania and Bulgaria, and
psychology in the post-Communist states.
Croatia joined the EU in 2013. The same countries have
Decommunization was largely limited or non-existent. also become NATO members.
Communist parties were not outlawed and their members were not brought to trial. Just a few places even Chinese economic liberalization started since 1978 have
attempted to exclude members of communist secret ser- helped lift millions of people out of poverty, bringing the
vices from decision-making. In a number of countries the poverty rate down from 53% of the population in the Mao
Communist party simply changed its name and continued era to 12% in 1981. Dengs economic reforms are still
being followed by the CPC today and by 2001 the poverty
to function.[58]
rate became only 6% of the population.[64]
In several European countries, however, endorsing or attempting to justify crimes committed by Nazi or Com- Economic liberalization in Vietnam was initiated in 1986,
munist regimes will be punishable by up to 3 years of following the Chinese example.
imprisonment.[59]
Economic liberalization in India was initiated in 1991.

10

Economic reforms

Harvard University Professor Richard B. Freeman has

called the eect of reforms The Great Doubling. He
calculated that the size of the global workforce doubled
from 1.46 billion workers to 2.93 billion workers.[65][66]
An immediate eect was a reduced ratio of capital to labor. In the long, term China, India, and the former Soviet
bloc will save and invest and contribute to the expansion
of the world capital stock.[66]

Enterprises in Socialist countries had little or no interest

in producing what customers wanted because of prevailing shortages of goods and services.[60] In the early 1990s,
a popular refrain stated that there is no precedent for
moving from Socialism to capitalism.[61] Only the over- Chinas rapid growth has led some people to predict a
60-year-old people remembered how a market economy "Chinese Century".[67][68][69]
worked. It was not hard to imagine Central, Southeast
and Eastern Europe staying poor for decades.[62]
There was a temporary fall of output in ocial econ- 11 Ideological
continuation of
omy and increase in unocial economy.[60] Countries
communism
implemented dierent reform programs such as the
Balcerowicz Plan in Poland. Eventually the ocial econFurther information: Decommunization in Russia,
omy began to grow.[60]
In 2004 Polish Nobel Peace Prize winner and President Putinism, Neo-Stalinism and Human rights in Russia
Lech Wasa described a transition from capitalism to
Communism as heating up an aquarium with sh to get
sh soup. He said that reversing communism to capitalism was challenging, but We can already see some little
sh swimming in our aquarium.[63]

Compared with the eorts of the other former constituents of the Soviet bloc and the Soviet Union,
decommunization in Russia has been restricted to halfmeasures, if conducted at all.[70] As of 2008, nearly

17
we are now in danger of integrating the resulting monster into our world. It may not be called Communism
anymore, but it retained many of its dangerous characteristics... Until the Nuremberg-style tribunal passes its
judgment on all the crimes committed by Communism,
it is not dead and the war is not over.[75]

12 Interpretations
The events caught many by surprise. Predictions of
the Soviet Unions impending demise had been often
dismissed.[76]
Bartlomiej Kaminskis book The Collapse Of State Socialism argued that the state Socialist system has a lethal paradox: policy actions designed to improve performance
only accelerate its decay.[77]
By the end of 1989, revolts had spread from one capital to another, ousting the regimes imposed on Central,
South-East and Eastern Europe after World War II. Even
the isolationist Stalinist regime in Albania was unable to
stem the tide. Gorbachevs abrogation of the Brezhnev
Doctrine was perhaps the key factor that enabled the popular uprisings to succeed. Once it became evident that the
feared Red Army would not intervene to crush dissent,
the Central, South-East and Eastern European regimes
Five double-headed Russian coat-of-arms eagles (below) sub- were exposed as vulnerable in the face of popular uprisstituting the former state emblem of the Soviet Union and the ings against the one-party system and power of secret poCCCP letters (above) in the facade of the Grand Kremlin Palace lice.
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

half of Russians view Stalin positively, and many support restoration of his monuments dismantled in the
past.[71][72] Neo-Stalinist material such as describing
Stalins mass murder campaigns as entirely rational has
been pushed into Russian textbooks.[73]

Coit D. Blacker wrote in 1990 that the Soviet leadership

appeared to have believed that whatever loss of authority
the Soviet Union might suer in Central and South-East
Europe would be more than oset by a net increase in its
inuence in western Europe.[78] Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Gorbachev ever intended for the complete dismantling of Communism and the Warsaw Pact. Rather,
Gorbachev assumed that the Communist parties of Central and South-East Europe could be reformed in a similar way to the reforms he hoped to achieve in the CPSU.
Just as perestroika was aimed at making the Soviet Union
more ecient economically and politically, Gorbachev
believed that the Comecon and Warsaw Pact could be reformed into more eective entities. However, Alexander
Yakovlev, a close advisor to Gorbachev, would later state
that it would have been absurd to keep the system in
Central and South-East Europe. Yakovlev had come to
the conclusion that the Soviet-dominated Comecon could
not work on non-market principles and that the Warsaw
Pact had no relevance to real life.[13]

In 1992, President Yeltsins government invited Vladimir

Bukovsky to serve as an expert to testify at the CPSU
trial by Constitutional Court of Russia, where the Communists were suing Yeltsin for banning their party. The
respondents case was that the CPSU itself had been an
unconstitutional organization. To prepare for his testimony, Bukovsky requested and was granted access to a
large number of documents from Soviet archives (then reorganized into TsKhSD). Using a small handheld scanner
and a laptop computer, he managed to secretly scan many
documents (some with high security clearance), including KGB reports to the Central Committee, and smuggle
the les to the West.[74] The event that many expected
would be another Nuremberg Trial and the beginnings
of reconciliation with the Communist past, ended up in
half-measures: while the CPSU was found unconstitu- 13 Remembrance
tional, the Communists were allowed to form new parties
in the future. Bukovsky expressed his deep disappoint- 13.1 Organizations
ment with this in his writings and interviews: Having
Memorial Memorial is an international historifailed to nish o conclusively the Communist system,

18

13 REMEMBRANCE
cal and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording
and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian aspect of the past, but also monitors human rights in
post-Soviet states at the present time, for example in
Chechnya.[79]

13.2

Events

German Unity Day in Germany A national holiday

commemorating the anniversary of German reunication in 1990
Statehood Day in Slovenia Commemorates the
countrys declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
Independence and Unity Day in Slovenia Commemorates the countrys independence referendum.
Day of National Unity in Georgia is a public holiday commemorating victims of the 9 April tragedy
National Day in Hungary
Constitution Day in Romania Commemorates the
1991 Romanian Constitution that enshrined the return to democracy after the fall of the Communist
regime.
Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day in the
Slovak Republic
Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day in the
Czech Republic
Restoration of Independence Day in Latvia Commemorates the 1990 declaration restoring the countrys independence.

13.3

Places

This list is incomplete; you can help by

expanding it.

Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, Germany

DDR Museum in Berlin, Germany
Stasi Museum in the old headquarters
Gdask Shipyard in Poland
Museum of Communism, Poland
Museum of Communism, Czech Republic
Memorial to the Victims of Communism in the
Czech Republic
Lennon Wall in the Czech Republic

House of Terror in Hungary

Memento Park in Hungary
Memorial of Rebirth in Romania
Sighet Memorial Museum in the old prison in
Sighetu Marmaiei, Romania
Museum of Socialist Art in Bulgaria
Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
Museum of Occupations (Estonia)
Museum of Occupation (Lithuania)
Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius, Lithuania
Grtas Park in Lithuania
Museum of Victims of Communism in Moldova
Museum of Victims of Occupational Regimes
Prison on Lontskoho in Lviv, Ukraine
Museum of Soviet occupation in Kiev, Ukraine
Museum of Soviet Occupation in Tbilisi, Georgia
Dawn of Liberty in Kazakhstan A monument dedicated to Jeltoqsan
Global Museum on Communism

13.4 Other
This list is incomplete; you can help by
expanding it.

The Soviet Story An award-winning documentary

lm about the Soviet Union.
The Singing Revolution A documentary lm about
the Singing Revolution.
Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism
A book and a documentary lm based on the book
Lenins Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
A Pulitzer Prize-awarded book
A Political Tragedy in Six Acts the biography of
dissident Vclav Havel
Right Here, Right Now (Jesus Jones song) An international hit written by Mike Edwards and performed by his rock band Jesus Jones, released in
September 1990
Wind of Change (song) A hit song by the German heavy-metal band Scorpions that celebrates
Perestroyka and the fall of communism in Central
and Eastern Europe

19

14

See also

Arab Spring
Atlantic Revolutions
Baltic Tiger
Breakup of Yugoslavia
Carpat Tiger
Chinese democracy movement
Civil resistance
Color revolutions
Commonwealth of Independent States
Enlargement of NATO
Enlargement of the European Union
Euromaidan
History of Solidarity
Jn arnogursk
January Events
JBTZ-trial
Jeans Revolution
Orange Revolution
Overthrow of Slobodan Miloevi
People Power Revolution
Polish Round Table Agreement
Reagan Doctrine
Revolutions of 1820
Revolutions of 1830
Revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 191723
Rose Revolution
Yugoslav Wars

15 References
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20

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REFERENCES

[17] Markham, James M. (7 July 1989). Gorbachev spurns

the use of force in Eastern Europe. The New York Times.

[42] Fulbrook, Mary. History of Germany, 19182000: the

divided nation. Text page 256 ignored (help)

[18] Walesa 1991, p. 151.

[43] Demonstrace na letne pred 25 lety urychlily kapitulaci komunistu (in cz), CZ newspaper = Denik.

[19] Walesa 1991, p. 157.

[20] Walesa 1991, p. 174.
[21] Tagliabue, John (15 August 1989). Polands premier offering to yeld to non-Communist. The New York Times.
[22] Apple Jr, R. W. (20 August 1989). A New orbit:
Polands Break Leads Europe And Communism To a
Threshold. The New York Times.
[23] Tagliabue, John (25 August 1989). Opening new era,
Poles pick leader. The New York Times.
[24] Tagliabue, John (13 September 1989). Poles Approve
Solidarity-Led Cabinet. The New York Times.
[25] Across Eastern Europe, Remembering the Curtains
Fall. Wall Street Journal. April 24, 2009.
[26] Polska. Historia, Internetowa encyklopedia PWN [PWN
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[27] Kamm, Henry (23 May 1988). HUNGARIAN PARTY
REPLACES KADAR WITH HIS PREMIER. The New
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[28] Hungary Eases Dissent Curbs. The New York Times. 12
January 1989.
[29] Hungary, in Turnabout, Declares 56 Rebellion a Popular
Uprising. The New York Times. 29 January 1989.

[44] 20 Years After Soviet Soldiers Left the Czech Republic,

Russians Move In. The Wall Street Journal. June 28,
2011.
[45] History of the UDF(Bulgarian)
[46] Cornel, Ban (Nov 2012). Sovereign Debt, Austerity, and
Regime Change: The Case of Nicolae Ceausescus Romania. East European Politics & Societies. p. 34. Retrieved
Feb 23, 2015.
[47] N/A (Dec 3, 1989). 1989: Malta Summit Ends Cold
War. BBC News. BBC News. Retrieved Feb 23, 2015.
[48] REFERENDUM BRIEFING NO 3
[49] Judah, Tim (17 February 2011). Yugoslavia: 1918
2003. BBC. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
[50] Naimark (2003), p. xvii
[51] Rogel (2004), pp. 9192
[52]

Thomson, Clare (1992). The Singing Revolution: A

Political Journey through the Baltic States. London:
Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-3459-1.

[53] Ginkel, John (September 2002). Identity Construction in

Latvias Singing Revolution": Why inter-ethnic conict
failed to occur. Nationalities Papers 30 (3): 403433.
doi:10.1080/0090599022000011697.

[30] Falk, p. 147

[31] Bayer, Jzsef (2003), The Process of Political System
Change in Hungary (PDF), Schriftenreihe des Europa Institutes Budapest, HU: Europa Institut, p. 180.

[54] Between Utopia and Disillusionment By Henri Vogt; p 26

ISBN 1-57181-895-2
[55] Curtis, Glenn E. (1995). Azerbaijan: A Country Study.

[32] Stokes, G (1993), The Walls Came Tumbling Down,

Oxford University Press, p. 131.

[56] Nagorno-Karabakh prole. BBC News. BBC. Retrieved

18 February 2015.

[33] Hungarian Party Assails Nagys Execution. The New

York Times. 1 June 1989.

[57] Schmeidel, John. My Enemys Enemy: Twenty Years of

Co-operation between West Germanys Red Army Faction and the GDR Ministry for State Security. Intelligence
and National Security 8, no. 4 (October 1993): 5972.

[34] Kamm, Henry (17 June 1989). Hungarian Who Led 56

Revolt Is Buried as a Hero. The New York Times.
[35] Heenan, p. 13
[36] De Nevers, p. 130
[37] Elster, p.66
[38] Kamm, Henry (8 October 1989). Communist party in
Hungary votes for radical shift. The New York Times.
[39] Hungary Purges Stalinism From Its Constitution. The
New York Times. 19 October 1989.
[40] Hungary legalizes opposition groups. The New York
Times. 20 October 1989.
[41] Pritchard, =Rosalind MO. Reconstructing education: East
German schools and universities after unication. p. 10.

[58] After Socialism: where hope for individual liberty lies.

Svetozar Pejovich.
[59] Is Holocaust denial against the law? Anne Frank House
[60] Anders Aslund (1 December 2000). The Myth of Output
Collapse after Communism.
[61] Oleh Havrylyshyn (9 November 2007). Fifteen Years of
Transformation in the Post-Communist World (PDF).
[62] The world after 1989: Walls in the mind.
Economist. 5 November 2009.

The

[63] Nobel Peace Prize winner predicts optimism for the

Satofuture under the banner of Our Lady"".
dayscatholic.com. 2004-11-12. Retrieved 2013-10-01.

21

[64] Fighting Poverty: Findings and Lessons from Chinas Success (World Bank). Retrieved 10 August 2006.
[65] The Great Doubling: The Challenge of the New Global
Labor Market (PDF). Retrieved 2013-11-16.
[66] Richard Freeman (2008). The new global labor market (PDF). University of WisconsinMadison Institute
for Research on Poverty.
[67] China set to be largest economy. BBC News. 22 May
2006.
[68] Elliott, Michael (22 January 2007). The Chinese Century. TIME Magazine.
[69] Fishman, Ted C. (4 July 2004). The Chinese Century.
The New York Times. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
[70] Karl W. Ryavec. Russian Bureaucracy: Power and Pathology, 2003, Rowman & Littleeld, ISBN 0-8476-9503-4,
page 13
[71] The Glamorous Tyrant: The Cult of Stalin Experiences
a Rebirth, by Mikhail Pozdnyaev, Novye Izvestia
[72] | 55
. Kavkaz-uzel.ru (2012-10-14). Retrieved on 2013-08-12.
[73] Stalins mass murders were 'entirely rational' says new
Russian textbook praising tyrant. The Daily Mail. 23
April 2010
[74] Many of these scanned documents are available as the
Soviet Archives (INFO-RUSS)

Roberts, Adam (1991). Civil Resistance in the East

European and Soviet Revolutions. Cambridge, MA:
Albert Einstein Institution. ISBN 1-880813-04-1.
Roberts, Adam; Garton Ash, Timothy, eds. (2009).
Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the
Present. Oxford: University Press. ISBN 978-0-19955201-6. Contains chapters on the Soviet Union
(Mark Kramer), Czechoslovakia (Kieran Williams),
Poland (Alexander Smolar), Baltic States (Mark R.
Beissinger), China (Merle Goldman), and East Germany (Charles Maier).
Sebestyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The
Fall of the Soviet Empire. Phoenix. ISBN 978-07538-2709-3.
Sarotte, Mary Elise (2014). The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall. Basic Books.
ISBN 978-0-465-06494-6.
Walesa, Lech (1991). The Struggle and the Triumph:
An Autobiography. Arcade. ISBN 1-55970-221-4.
Wilson, James Graham (2014). The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachevs Adaptability, Reagans Engagement, and the End of the Cold War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-5229-5.

17 External links

[75] The Cold War and the War Against Terror By Jamie
Glazov (FrontPageMagazine) 1 July 2002

The History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in

Eastern Europe, GMU.

[76] Cummins, Ian (23 December 1995). The Great MeltDown. The Australian.

Syndrome of Socialism, RU: Narod. Some of aspects

of state national economy evolution in the system of
the international economic order.

[77] The Collapse of State Socialism Foreign Aairs

[78] Coit D. Blacker. The Collapse of Soviet Power in Europe. Foreign Aairs. 1990.
[79] Memorial website. Memo.ru. Retrieved 2013-10-01.

16

Further reading

Garton Ash, Timothy (5 November 2009). 1989!".

The New York Review of Books 56 (17).
Leer, Melvyn P.; Westad, Odd Arne, eds. (2010).
The Cambridge History of the Cold War. III. Endings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-83721-7.
Lvesque, Jacques (1997). The Enigma of 1989:
The USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe.
University of California Press. p. 275. ISBN 9780-520-20631-1.

A look at the collapse of Eastern European Communism two decades later

Post-socialist countries, History of the public
sphere (annotated bibliography), SSRC.
Kloss, Oliver (2005), Revolutio ex nihilo? Zur
methodologischen Kritik des soziologischen Modells spontaner Kooperation und zur Erklrung der
Revolution von 1989 in der DDR, in Timmermann,
Heiner, Agenda DDR-Forschung. Ergebnisse, Probleme, Kontroversen, Dokumente und Schriften der
Europischen Akademie Otzenhausen 112, Muenster: LIT, pp. 36379, ISBN 3-8258-6909-1 +
Ergnzender Anhang A F.
Video of the revolutions in 1989
Revolutions footage on YouTube

22

18

18
18.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Revolutions of 1989 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989?oldid=676923649 Contributors: Rickyrab, GCarty,

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Drill, 23haveblue, Qasaur, BattyBot, Iloverussia, DemirBajraktarevic, Dog Whipper, Khazar2, Charles Essie, Mogism, Lugia2453, GregNGM, KingQueenPrince, Xwoodsterchinx, Popcultureman, Hashhash10, Patroit22, Hward4116SS, Jodosma, Haephrati, Thevideodrome,
My name is not dave, Inanygivenhole, McRyach, Chipperdude15, SKMcG, 1990sguy, Communist-USSR, Monkbot, Filedelinkerbot,
Jss199, Golf, Lucasdealmeidasm, Briwinus, Sigehelmus, Smlqwerty, Sourec, Leftcry, Oranges Juicy, EpicOrange, Sundayclose, PatchyP,
Patton.loop, Sco096, Srednuas Lenoroc, LVHynes, Dutral and Anonymous: 346

18.2

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18.3

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23

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