1989–1991Reputable sourceWell documented
The End of the Cold War
On the timeline · around 1989–1991 ·
What happened
The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 heralded the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe, and in December 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved. The decades-long superpower confrontation ended without the feared nuclear war, leaving the United States as the world's sole superpower.
Why it matters
The Cold War's peaceful end reshaped the entire world order, spread democracy and markets across the former Soviet bloc, and opened the era of American global preeminence that followed.