Collapse of Communism

Revolutions of 1989
Part of the Cold War
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
Date	9 March 1989 – 27 April 1992 (3 years, 1 month, 2 weeks and 4 days)
Location	Europe (especially Central Europe, then South-East and Eastern Europe) China Russia Communist countries in other parts of Europe and the world
Causes	Political repression Religious persecution Poverty and corruption State murder
Goals	Democracy National self-determination Free elections Right to recall of elected officials Political freedoms Human rights Labour rights
Methods	Protests, various
Result	Dismantling of the planned economies and privatisation of publicly owned industry Transfer of power to capitalist governments in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Albania End of the Cold War German reunification Violent transfer of power to a capitalist government in Romania End of the Soviet Union as a superpower Breakup of the Soviet Union New states created from former Soviet Union Formation of the Russian Federation (major cause) Beginning of the first Post-Soviet conflicts Breakup of Czechoslovakia Breakup of Yugoslavia and the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars Violent suppression of the Chinese democracy movement Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact Withdrawal of Soviet military troops from Afghanistan Collapse of Communism in Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Somalia and Yemen The North Korean famine Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia ends Yemeni unification Integration of most former Warsaw Pact members into NATO and the European Union. Intensification of the process of European integration The Congress Party in India adopts neoliberal reforms in 1991 Economic liberalization begins in China and Vietnam Skepticism about Communism all over the world associated with decreasing support for Communist and left-wing parties, especially in Europe Expansion of the Internet into the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe The spread of American culture, Western culture, and capitalism to previously sealed-off Communist countries, such as the entry of McDonald's into Russia and China in 1990. Normalization of the bilateral relations between Indonesia and China, which previously had suspended since 1967.
Parties to the civil conflict
Citizens of Eastern Bloc nations
Also known as: Fall of Communism, Fall of Stalinism, Collapse of Communism, Collapse of Socialism, Fall of Socialism, Autumn of Nations, Fall of Nations, European Spring

The Revolutions of 1989 were part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term "Spring of Nations" sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848.

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 states and colonies formed their own communist parties. Many of the countries involved had hierarchical structures with monarchic governments, and social structures with an established nobility. Socialism was undesirable within the circles of the ruling classes (which had begun to include industrial business leaders) in the late 19th/early 20th century states; as such, communism was repressed. Its champions suffered persecution while people were discouraged from adopting it. This had been the practice even in states which identified as exercising a multi-party system.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw the first communist state in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), when the Bolsheviks overthrew the Romanov dynasty.

During the period between the world wars, communism had been on the rise in many parts of the world, especially in towns and cities. This led to a series of purges in many countries to stifle the movement. Violent resistance to this repression led to a decrease in support for communism in Central and Eastern Europe.