Northern Eurasia 1991: End of the Warsaw Pact
25 February 1991
25 Feb 1991
Soviet Superpower
1816–1914 Late Tsarist Russia
1914–1918 Great War and the Revolution
1918–1921 Russian Civil War: The White Phase
1921–1927 Russian Civil War: The Green Phase
1927–1941 Soviet Union under Stalin
1941–1943 Great Patriotic War: Germany Invades
1943–1945 Great Patriotic War: Germany at Bay
1945–1991 Soviet Superpower
1991–pres Successors of the Soviet Union
End of the Warsaw Pact
16 May 1946 Iran Crisis
24 Jun 1948 Berlin Blockade
8 Oct 1949 NATO and the Two Germanys
25 Jan 1951 Korean War
21 Sep 1955 Warsaw Pact
26 Jun 1963 Height of the Cold War
17 Nov 1969 Sino-Soviet Border Conflict
24 May 1985 Soviet War in Afghanistan
23 Dec 1989 Glasnost
25 Feb 1991 End of the Warsaw Pact
19 Aug 1991 Soviet Coup Attempt
The collapse of communism in eastern Europe weakened the Warsaw Pact, which had mostly functioned as a tool for maintaining Soviet hegemony. East Germany was the first to leave when it united with West Germany in 1990, effectively joining NATO. The following year, Poland and Czechoslovakia fought alongside NATO members to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion. By now the Pact had lost all purpose and it was declared disbanded in February.