The Revolutions of 1989

A rapid series of changes that ended communist one-party rule across Central and Eastern Europe.

Background

Economic stagnation, growing dissent and the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union weakened the system. Gorbachev signalled that Moscow would no longer use force to keep allied governments in power.

Course of events

Poland held partly free elections in June 1989, and Hungary opened its border with Austria in May, allowing thousands of East Germans to leave. Mass demonstrations in Leipzig and elsewhere pushed the East German government to open the Berlin Wall on 9 November. Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania followed within weeks.

Legacy

Germany was reunified on 3 October 1990, and the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991. Former communist states began difficult transitions to market economies and multiparty politics.