Revolutions of 1989

Revolutions of 1989
Part of the Cold War
Clockwise from top-left: Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989 Demonstration in Prague during the Velvet Revolution, November 1989 Tanks and Miliția in Bucharest during the Romanian revolution, December 1989 Tanks in Moscow during the Soviet coup attempt, August 1991
Date	21 April 1988 – 26 December 1991 (3 years, 8 months and 5 days)
Location	Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia
Caused by	Political repression Totalitarianism Authoritarianism Democratization Nationalism Religious persecution Austerity Economic crises and consumerist pressure[1][2] Anti-communism
Methods	Reform Mass protests Civil unrest Riots War
Resulted in	End of most communist states End of the Cold War Spread of liberal democracy End of the Soviet Union as a superpower and its dissolution on 26 December 1991 Collapse of the one-party state regimes, democratic centralism, planned economy Socio-economic reforms in China, Laos, and Vietnam Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, Comecon, and Eastern Bloc Formation of the Russian Federation and the independence of 15 states from the former Soviet Union Transfer of power to multi-party governments in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Mongolia, and Albania Fall of old system of economy in other communist countries, transition from a state-run economic model to a private one in the former Eastern Bloc countries; dismantling of the command economies and privatization of state-owned enterprise; the spread of capitalist and free-market economy system after economic crises in former communist countries Establishment of a non-communist government in Cambodia Many communist parties and their politicians recast themselves into adherents of social democracy or democratic socialism The rise of populism and neutral forces German reunification Yemeni unification Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Breakup of Yugoslavia and start of the Yugoslav Wars Skepticism about communism all over the world associated with decreasing support for various communist and left-wing parties, especially in Europe and Asia, the collapse of communist-dominated governments in Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, and South Yemen The spread of Western culture and capitalism to previously sealed-off communist countries, including Russia and Eastern Europe Expansion of Western media and Internet in former socialist and communist countries Failure of Soviet forces in Afghanistan and fall of communist Afghan state Emigration of Soviet and Eastern Bloc Jews to Israel Suppression of the Chinese democracy movement and the rise of China's anti-Western sentiments Start of the Special Period in Cuba Attenuation of the socio-economy of North Korea and abandonment of Marxism–Leninism in favor of Juche Weakening of communist movements and increase in criticism of Marxism More improvement in conflicts in international relations Creation and expansion of the European Union Former Soviet Bloc countries in Eastern Europe join NATO The United States becomes the world's sole superpower The rise of Islamic extremism and its attacks all over the world Renewed tensions between the Western world and Russia in the 21st century

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Political revolution
By class Bourgeois Communist Counter-revolutionary Democratic Proletarian
By other characteristic Colour From above Nonviolent Passive Permanent Social Wave
Methods Boycott Civil disorder Civil war Class conflict Contentious politics Coup d'état Demonstration Human chain Direct action Guerrilla warfare Insurgency Mass mobilization Mutiny Protest Rebellion Resistance Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Riot Samizdat Strike action Tax resistance Terror
Examples English Atlantic American Brabant Liège French Haitian Spanish American Serbian Greek 1820 1830 July Belgian Texas 1848 Italian states February German Hungarian Eureka Bulgarian unification Philippine Iranian First Second Young Turk Mexican Chinese Xinhai Communist Cultural 1917–1923 Russian German Siamese Spanish August Guatemalan Hungarian (1956) Cuban Rwandan Nicaraguan Argentine Carnation Saur People Power 1989 Yogurt Velvet Romanian Singing Bolivarian Bulldozer Rose Orange Tulip Kyrgyz Arab Spring Tunisian Egyptian Yemeni Euromaidan Second Arab Spring Sudanese
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History of the Soviet Union
Background Communism Bolshevism World revolution Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Bolshevik split Bolshevik Party Russian Empire World War I February Revolution
1917–1927: Establishment October Revolution Russian Civil War Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Red Terror War communism New Economic Policy Treaty on the Creation of the USSR National delimitation Death and funeral of Lenin
1927–1953: Stalinism Socialism in one country Collectivization Soviet famine of 1932–1933 Holodomor Kazakhstan famine of 1932–1933 Industrialization Cultural Revolution Great Purge Moscow trials World War II Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact Great Patriotic War Operation Barbarossa Occupation of the Baltic states Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina Battle of Berlin Soviet invasion of Manchuria Soviet deportations Soviet famine of 1946–1947 Cold War Berlin Blockade Korean War First Indochina War Death and funeral of Stalin
1953–1964: Khrushchev Thaw East German uprising of 1953 Virgin Lands campaign 1954 transfer of Crimea Khrushchev Thaw De-Stalinization ""On the Cult of Personality" We will bury you 1956 Georgian demonstrations Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Wage reforms Peaceful coexistence Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution Sino-Soviet split Space program Cuban Missile Crisis
1964–1982: Era of Stagnation Brezhnev Doctrine Era of Stagnation 50th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide protests Six-Day War Détente Vietnam War Laotian Civil War Operation Menu Cambodian Civil War Fall of Saigon Yom Kippur War Prague Spring Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Wars in Africa Angolan War of Independence Angolan Civil War Mozambican War of Independence Mozambican Civil War South African Border War Rhodesian Bush War Cambodian–Vietnamese War Soviet–Afghan War 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic boycotts 1980 Olympic boycott 1984 Olympic boycott Polish strike Death and funeral of Brezhnev
1982–1991: Decline and collapse Invasion of Grenada Glasnost Perestroika Chernobyl disaster Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Singing Revolution Estonian Sovereignty Declaration Baltic Way Lithuanian independence Economic blockade Latvian independence Revolutions of 1989 Pan-European Picnic Peaceful Revolution Fall of the Berlin Wall Velvet Revolution End of communist rule in Hungary Romanian Revolution German reunification Dissolution of the Soviet Union Jeltoqsan First Nagorno-Karabakh War April 9 tragedy Black January Osh riots War of Laws Dushanbe riots January Events The Barricades Referendum New Union Treaty August Coup Ukrainian revolution independence declaration referendum Belovezha Accords Alma-Ata Protocol
Soviet leadership Lenin Stalin Malenkov Khrushchev Brezhnev Andropov Chernenko Gorbachev List of troikas
Related topics Culture Economy Education Geography History Leadership Politics Soviet Empire Russia Soviet republics Post-Soviet states
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The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism,^[3] were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. This revolutionary wave is sometimes referred to as the Autumn of Nations,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. The Revolutions of 1989 were a key factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union—one of the two global superpowers—and in the abandonment of communist regimes in many parts of the world, some of which were violently overthrown. These events drastically altered the world's balance of power, marking the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold War era.

The Revolutions of 1989 started in Poland^[9][10] with a Polish strike on 21 April 1988 when 5000 workers of Stalowa Wola Steelworks organized a meeting, during which they demanded end of repressions of Solidarity activists, and 20,000 złoty salary increase.^[11] The Revolutions ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991.^[12] From Poland, the revolutionary trend continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. On 4 June 1989, Poland's Solidarity trade union won an overwhelming victory in partially free elections, leading to the peaceful fall of communism in Poland. Also in June 1989, Hungary began dismantling its section of the physical Iron Curtain. In August 1989, the opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, in which the Eastern Bloc disintegrated. This led to mass demonstrations in cities of East Germany such as Leipzig and subsequently to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, which served as the symbolic gateway to German reunification in 1990. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance, demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to pressure for change.^[13] Romania was the only country in which citizens and opposition forces used violence to overthrow its communist regime,^[14] although Romania was politically isolated from the rest of the Eastern Bloc.

The Soviet Union itself became a multi-party semi-presidential republic from March 1990 and held its first presidential election, marking a drastic change as part of its reform program. The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, resulting in seven new countries which had declared their independence from the Soviet Union over the course of the year, while the Baltic states regained their independence in September 1991 along with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The rest of the Soviet Union, which constituted the bulk of the area, continued with the establishment of the Russian Federation. Albania and Yugoslavia abandoned communism between 1990 and 1992, by which time Yugoslavia had split into five new countries. Czechoslovakia dissolved three years after the end of communist rule, splitting peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.^[15] North Korea abandoned Marxism–Leninism in 1992.^[16] The Cold War is considered to have "officially" ended on 3 December 1989 during the Malta Summit between the Soviet and American leaders.^[17] However, many historians argue that the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991 was the end of the Cold War.^[18]

The impact of these events were felt in many third world socialist states throughout the world. Concurrently with events in Poland, protests in Tiananmen Square (April–June 1989) failed to stimulate major political changes in Mainland China, but influential images of resistance during that protest helped to precipitate events in other parts of the globe. Three Asian countries, namely Afghanistan, Cambodia^[19] and Mongolia, had abandoned communism by 1992–1993, either through reform or conflict. Eight countries in Africa or its environs also abandoned it, namely Ethiopia, Angola, Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique, Somalia, as well as South Yemen, unified with North Yemen. Political reforms varied, but in only five countries were Marxist-Leninist communist parties able to retain a monopoly on power; namely China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. Vietnam, Laos, and China made economic reforms in the following years to adopt some forms of market economy under market socialism. The European political landscape changed drastically, with several former Eastern Bloc countries joining NATO and the European Union, resulting in stronger economic and social integration with Western Europe and North America. Many communist and socialist organisations in the West turned their guiding principles over to social democracy and democratic socialism. In contrast, and somewhat later, in South America, a pink tide began in Venezuela in 1999 and shaped politics in the other parts of the continent through the early 2000s. Meanwhile, in certain countries the aftermath of these revolutions resulted in conflict and wars, including various post-Soviet conflicts that remain frozen to this day as well as large-scale wars, most notably the Yugoslav Wars which led to the Bosnian genocide in 1995.^[20][21]