Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

==Dissolution==
{{further|Revolutions of 1989|Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|January 1991 events in Latvia|Singing Revolution|Soviet OMON assaults on Lithuanian border posts|Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria|European integration}}
[[File:Cold_War_Map_1980.png|thumb|300px|The Cold War in 1980 before the [[Iran–Iraq War]]]]
Soviet control of the Eastern Bloc was first tested by the [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état]] and the [[Tito–Stalin split]] over the direction of the [[People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] (1949) and Chinese participation in the [[Korean War]]. After [[Stalin's death]] in 1953, the Korean War ceased with the [[1954 Geneva Conference]]. In [[Europe]], [[Anti-Sovietism|anti-Soviet sentiment]] provoked the [[East German uprising of 1953]]. [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s 1956 anti-Stalinist speech ''[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences]]'' was a factor in the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]], which the Soviet Union suppressed, and the Sino–Soviet split. The Sino–Soviet split gave [[North Korea]] and [[North Vietnam]] more independence from both and facilitated the [[Albanian–Soviet split]]. The [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] and the failure of the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]] preserved the [[Cuban Revolution]] from [[rollback]] by the United States but Cuban leader [[Fidel Castro]] became increasingly independent of Soviet influence afterwards, most notably during the 1975 [[Cuban intervention in Angola]].<ref name=Piero /> In 1975, the communist victory in former [[French Indochina]] following the end of the [[Vietnam War]] gave the Eastern Bloc renewed confidence after it had been frayed by [[Soviet leader]] [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s 1968 [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invasion of Czechoslovakia]] to suppress the [[Prague Spring]]. This led to the [[People's Republic of Albania]] withdrawing from the [[Warsaw Pact]], briefly aligning with [[Mao Zedong]]'s China until the [[Sino-Albanian split]].

Under the [[Brezhnev Doctrine]], the Soviet Union reserved the right to intervene in other [[List of socialist states|socialist states]]. In response, China moved towards the United States following the [[Sino-Soviet border conflict]] and later [[Chinese economic reform|reformed and liberalized its economy]] while the Eastern Bloc saw the [[Era of Stagnation]] in comparison with the capitalist [[First World]]. The [[Soviet–Afghan War]] (24 December 1979 – 15 February 1989) nominally expanded the Eastern Bloc, but the war proved unwinnable and too costly for the Soviets, challenged in Eastern Europe by the [[civil resistance]] of ''[[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]]''. In the late 1980s, Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] pursued policies of ''[[glasnost]]'' (openness) and ''[[perestroika]]'' (restructuring) to reform the Eastern Bloc and end the Cold War, which brought forth unrest throughout the bloc.

During the mid-to-late 1980s, the weakened Soviet Union gradually stopped interfering in the internal affairs of Eastern Bloc nations and numerous independence movements took place.

[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at the first Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Soviet General Secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], who sought to end the Cold War between the Soviet-led [[Warsaw Pact]] and the United States-led [[NATO]] and its other Western allies, in a meeting with President [[Ronald Reagan]]]]
Following the [[Brezhnev stagnation]], the reform-minded Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in 1985 signaled the trend towards greater liberalization. Gorbachev rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine, which held that Moscow would intervene if socialism were threatened in any state.<ref name="crampton338">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=338}}</ref> He announced what was jokingly called the "[[Sinatra Doctrine]]" after the singer's "My Way" to allow the countries of [[Central and Eastern Europe]] to determine their own internal affairs during this period.

Gorbachev initiated a policy of ''[[glasnost]]'' (openness) in the Soviet Union, and emphasized the need for ''[[perestroika]]'' (economic restructuring). The Soviet Union was struggling economically after the long war in Afghanistan and did not have the resources to control Central and Eastern Europe.

The start of the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc can be attributed to [[1989 Polish parliamentary election|June 1989 Polish parliamentary election]], to the [[Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria|opening of a border gate]] between [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]] at the [[Pan-European Picnic]] on 19 August 1989, and to the fact that the Hungarian Government granted 108 GDR citizens permission to cross the [[Iron Curtain]]. These citizens had stayed in the [[Embassy of Germany, Budapest|Embassy of Western Germany in Budapest]].<ref>[https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/schwerpunkte-der-bundesregierung/deutsche-einheit/ungarn-laesst-108-ddr-buerger-ausreisen-459164 ''Ungarn lässt 108 DDR-Bürger ausreisen'']</ref> This permission became publicly known. Nine days later, 1,400 had come to the Embassy, on 2 September there were 3,500 and on 4 September 4,700 GDR citizens.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/schwerpunkte-der-bundesregierung/deutsche-einheit/fluechtlinge-stroemen-weiter-nach-ungarn-459148 |title=Flüchtlinge strömen weiter nach Ungarn |language=de |publisher=Die Bundesregierung  |date=4 September 1989 |access-date=15 January 2025}}</ref> At the evening of 9 September 1989, Hungary opened its border to Austria for all GDR citizens.

On 3 October 1990 [[German reunification|East Germany reunited with West Germany]] following the November 1989 [[fall of the Berlin Wall]]. Unlike previous Soviet leaders in [[East German uprising of 1953|1953]], [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956]] and [[Prague Spring|1968]], Gorbachev refused to use force to end the [[Revolutions of 1989|1989 Revolutions]] against [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] rule in Eastern Europe. The [[fall of the Berlin Wall]] and [[Warsaw Pact#End of the Cold War|end of the Warsaw Pact]] spread [[Nationalism|nationalist]] and [[Liberalism|liberal]] ideals throughout the Soviet Union. In 1991, Conservative communist elites launched a [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt]], which hastened the end of Marxist–Leninist rule in Eastern Europe. However, the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests]] in [[China]] were violently repressed by the communist government there, which maintained its grip on power.

In 1989, [[Revolutions of 1989|a wave of revolutions]], sometimes called the "Autumn of Nations",{{Cn|date=August 2024}} swept across the Eastern Bloc.<ref name="Szafarz-221">E. Szafarz, "The Legal Framework for Political Cooperation in Europe" in ''The Changing Political Structure of Europe: Aspects of International Law'', Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. {{ISBN|0-7923-1379-8}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=oGGSGhFbCDEC&dq=%22Autumn+of+Nations%22&pg=PA221 p.221].</ref>

Major reforms occurred in [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]] following the replacement of [[János Kádár]] as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1988.<ref name="crampton381">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=381}}</ref> In [[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]] in April 1989, the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] organization was legalized and allowed to participate in parliamentary elections. In the [[1989 Polish parliamentary election|elections on 4 June 1989]], it captured 99% of available parliamentary seats.<ref name="crampton392">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=392}}</ref>
[[File:Oliver Mark - Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, Pöcking 2006.jpg|thumb|[[Otto von Habsburg]], who played a leading role in opening the Iron Curtain]]
The opening of the [[Iron Curtain]] between Austria and Hungary at the [[Pan-European Picnic]] on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a chain reaction, at the end of which there was [[German reunification|East Germany]] and the [[Eastern Bloc#dissolution|Eastern Bloc had disintegrated]].
Extensive advertising for the planned picnic was made by posters and flyers among the GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the [[Paneuropean Union]], which was then headed by [[Karl von Habsburg]], distributed thousands of brochures inviting them to a picnic near the border at [[Sopron]].<ref>Hilde Szabo: ''Die Berliner Mauer begann im Burgenland zu bröckeln'' (The Berlin Wall began to crumble in Burgenland – German), in [[Wiener Zeitung]] 16 August 1999; Otmar Lahodynsky: ''Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall'' (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: ''Profil'' 9 August 2014.</ref><ref>Ludwig Greven "Und dann ging das Tor auf", in Die Zeit, 19 August 2014.</ref>
It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the time before the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. After the picnic, which was based on an idea by [[Otto von Habsburg]] to test the reaction of the [[USSR]] and [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] to an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary.<ref>Miklós Németh in Interview, Austrian TV – ORF "Report", 25 June 2019.</ref> Hungary was then no longer prepared to keep its borders completely closed or to commit its border troops to use force of arms. [[Erich Honecker]] dictated to the Daily Mirror for the Paneuropa Picnic: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West". The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. Thus the bracket of the Eastern Bloc was broken.<ref>Otmar Lahodynsky "Eiserner Vorhang: Picknick an der Grenze" (Iron curtain: picnic at the border – German), in Profil 13 June 2019.</ref><ref>Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.</ref><ref>Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009).</ref>
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R1220-401, Erich Honecker (cropped).jpg|thumb|232x232px|[[Erich Honecker]]]]
[[File:Cold War border changes.png|thumb|left|270px|Changes in national boundaries after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc]]
On 9 November 1989, following mass protests in [[East Germany]] and the relaxing of border restrictions in Czechoslovakia, tens of thousands of Eastern Berliners flooded checkpoints along the Berlin Wall and crossed into West Berlin.<ref name="crampton394">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|pp=394–5}}</ref> Parts of the wall were torn down, leading to the [[reunification of Germany]] on 3 October 1990; around this time, most of the remains of the wall were torn down. In [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], the day after the mass crossings through the Berlin Wall, the leader [[Todor Zhivkov]] was ousted by his Politburo and replaced with [[Petar Mladenov]].<ref name="crampton395">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|pp=395–6}}</ref>

In [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], following protests of an estimated half-million Czechs and Slovaks demanding freedoms and a [[general strike]], the authorities, which had allowed travel to the West, abolished provisions guaranteeing the ruling Communist Party its leading role.<ref name="crampton398">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=398}}</ref> President [[Gustáv Husák]] appointed the first largely non-Communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948 and resigned in what was called the [[Velvet Revolution]].<ref name="crampton398"/>

Since 1971, [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] had [[July Theses|reversed]] the program of [[De-Stalinization in Romania|de-Stalinization]]. Following growing [[Romanian Revolution|public protests]], dictator [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] ordered a [[Romanian Revolution|mass rally]] in his support outside Communist Party headquarters in [[Bucharest]], but mass protests against Ceaușescu proceeded.<ref name="crampton399">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=399}}</ref> The Romanian military sided with protesters and turned on Ceaușescu. They [[Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu|executed him]] after a brief trial three days later.<ref name="crampton400">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=400}}</ref>

Even before the Eastern Bloc's last years, all of the countries in the Warsaw Pact did not always act as a unified bloc. For instance, the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia]] was [[Ceaușescu's speech of 21 August 1968|condemned]] by [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]], which refused to take part in it. [[People's Republic of Albania|Albania]] withdrew from the Pact, and the Eastern Bloc altogether, in response to the invasion. In [[Cambodia]], [[communist rule]] ended in 1989 and monarchy was restored in 1993.

The only surviving communist states are China, Vietnam, Cuba, and Laos. Their state-socialist experience was more in line with [[decolonization]] from the [[Global North]] and [[anti-imperialism]] towards the West instead of the [[Red Army]] occupation of the former Eastern Bloc. The five states all adopted [[economic reform]]s to varying degrees. China and Vietnam are usually described as more [[state capitalist]] than the more traditionalist Cuba and Laos. The exception is North Korea, where all references to Marxism–Leninism in its nationalist ideology of [[Juche]] were gradually eliminated. This was previously the case in [[Kazakhstan]] until 2022, [[Uzbekistan]] until 2016, [[Turkmenistan]] until 2006, [[Kyrgyzstan]] [[Tulip Revolution|until 2005]], [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] [[Rose Revolution|until 2003]], [[Armenia]] until 1998, [[Moldova]] until 1997, [[Ukrainia]] and [[Belarus]] until 1994, [[Tajikistan]] until 1992. All presidents of [[post-Soviet Russia]] were members of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] ([[Boris Yeltsin]] before 1990, [[Vladimir Putin]] and [[Dmitry Medvedev]] before 1991). Azerbaijan is an [[authoritarian]] [[dominant-party state]] and North Korea is a [[totalitarian]] [[one-party state]] led by the [[Monarchy|heirs]] of their Eastern Bloc leaders, yet both have officially eliminated mentions of communism from their constitutions.