Revolutions of 1989

The Revolutions of 1989 or the Fall of Communism were a series of revolutions against communist and socialist governments around the world, especially in Europe. It caused the end of the Cold War, saw the end of most communist states and the United States becoming the world's only superpower. It also caused the end of the Soviet Union due to the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. After the revolutions, the only remaining communist countries were China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam, however people in these countries did hold protests against the government (like the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China) and there were many reforms after 1991 (like "đổi mới" in Vietnam, which was similar to Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union, "glasnost" and "perestroika").
End of communism and socialism by country.
Outside Europe.
Outside Europe, communist and socialist governments in Africa, Asia and the Middle East also lost power in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as did the short-lived People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada in 1983 (after the Americans invaded Grenada).
Breakup of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
Soviet Union.
All of the republics of the Soviet Union except for Lithuania fully left the Soviet Union at some point in 1991; Lithuania left in 1990, making it the first to declare independence.