While the revolutions of 1989 appeared to erupt quite suddenly, long-standing, structural weaknesses in the Communist system had, in some ways, made revolt inevitable. East Bloc economies never really recovered from the economic catastrophe of the 1970s. State spending on outdated industries and extensive welfare systems led to massive indebtedness to Western banks and undermined economic growth, while limits on personal and political freedoms fueled a growing sense of injustice (see "State and Society in the East Bloc").

Solidarity and the Polish people led the way to revolution. In 1988, widespread strikes, raging inflation, and the outlawed Solidarity’s refusal to cooperate with the military government had brought Poland to the brink of economic collapse. Poland’s Communist leaders offered to negotiate with Solidarity if the outlawed union’s leaders could get the strikers back to work and resolve the political stalemate and the economic crisis. The subsequent agreement in April 1989 legalized Solidarity and declared that a large minority of representatives to the Polish parliament would be chosen by free elections that June. Still guaranteed a parliamentary majority and expecting to win many of the contested seats, the Communists believed that their rule was guaranteed for four years and that Solidarity would keep the workers in line.

Lacking access to the state-run media, Solidarity succeeded nonetheless in mobilizing the country and winning all but one of the contested seats in an overwhelming victory. Moreover, many angry voters crossed off the names of unopposed party candidates, so that the Communist Party failed to win the majority its leaders had anticipated. Solidarity members jubilantly entered the Polish parliament, and a dangerous stalemate quickly developed. But Lech Wałęsa, a gifted politician who always repudiated violence, adroitly obtained a majority by securing the allegiance of two minor pro-communist parties that had been part of the coalition government after World War II. In August 1989, Tadeusz Mazowiecki (Ta-DAY-ush MAH-zoe-vee-ETS-key) (1927–2013), the editor of one of Solidarity’s weekly newspapers, was sworn in as Poland’s new noncommunist prime minister.

In its first year and a half, the new Solidarity government cautiously introduced revolutionary political changes, moving slowly in order to avoid confrontation with the army or the Soviet Union. In economics, however, the Solidarity government was radical from the beginning. It applied economic shock therapy, an intense dose of neoliberal policy designed to make a clean break with state planning and move quickly to market mechanisms and private property.

Hungary followed Poland. In May 1988, in an effort to retain power by granting modest political concessions, the party replaced Hungary’s Communist Party boss János Kádár (KAH-dahr) with a reform-minded Communist. But opposition groups rejected piecemeal progress, and in the summer of 1989, the Hungarian Communist Party agreed to hold free elections the following March, believing, quite mistakenly, that they could defeat the opposition in the upcoming elections.

In an effort to strengthen their support at home, the Hungarians opened their border to East Germans and tore down the barbed wire curtain separating Hungary from Austria. Tens of thousands of dissatisfied East German “vacationers” then poured into Hungary, crossed into Austria as refugees, and continued on to immediate resettlement in West Germany.

The flight of East Germans fed the rapid growth of a homegrown, spontaneous protest movement in East Germany. In a desperate attempt to stabilize the situation, the East German government opened the Berlin Wall in November 1989, and people danced for joy atop that grim symbol of the prison state. A new, reformist government took power and scheduled free elections.

In Czechoslovakia, Communist rule began to dissolve peacefully in November to December 1989. This so-called Velvet Revolution grew out of popular demonstrations led by students and joined by intellectuals and a dissident playwright-turned-moral-revolutionary named Václav Havel (1936–2011). When the protesters took control of the streets, the Communist government resigned, leading to a power-sharing arrangement termed the “Government of National Understanding.” As 1989 ended, the Czechoslovakian assembly elected Havel president.

In Romania, popular revolution turned violent and bloody. Faced with mass protests in December 1989, the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu (chow-SHESS-koo) (1918–1989) ordered his ruthless security forces to quell unrest, sparking an armed uprising. After the dictator and his wife were captured and executed by a military court, Ceauşescu’s forces were defeated. A coalition government emerged, although the legacy of Ceauşescu’s long and oppressive rule left a very troubled country.