| 1977 | Charter 77 reform movement founded in Czechoslovakia |
| 1980 | Polish Solidarity movement formed |
| 1981 | Solidarity outlawed by Communist leaders |
| 1982 | Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev dies |
| 1985 | Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet premier and institutes perestroika and glasnost reforms |
| 1988 | Polish workers strike throughout country |
| 1989 | |
| April | Solidarity legalized in Poland |
| August | Noncommunist prime minister elected in Poland |
| November | Berlin Wall opened |
| November–December | Velvet Revolution ends communism in Czechoslovakia |
| December | Communist dictator of Romania executed |
| 1990 | |
| February | Communist Party defeated in Soviet elections |
| March | Free elections in Hungary |
| May | Boris Yeltsin elected leader of Russian Soviet Republic |
| October | Reunification of Germany |
| November | Paris Accord: arms reductions across Europe |
| 1991 | |
| August | Communist hardliners kidnap Gorbachev and try to overthrow Soviet government |
| December | Soviet Union dissolved |