<div id="subtitle">A timeline of key dates in the 1989-90 collapse of communism across Eastern Europe</div><div><p>For four decades, the communist regimes of Eastern Europe seemed unshakeable. Yet when the end came, it unfolded with stunning speed:</p><p>1989:</p><p>June 4 - Communists overwhelmingly defeated in Poland's first partially free elections in four decades.</p><p>August - Tens of thousands of East Germans swamp West German diplomatic missions in East Berlin, Czechoslovakia and Hungary seeking asylum.</p><p>Aug. 24 - Poland's Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes Soviet bloc's first non-communist prime minister.</p><p>Sept. 11 - Hungary opens border with West; exodus of East German refugees begins.</p><p>Oct. 7 - Visiting East Berlin, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indirectly urges reform; first demonstrations against the East German regime.</p><p>Nov. 4: 1 million East Germans rally in protest.</p><p>Nov. 7-8 - East Germany's ruling Politburo resigns.</p><p>Nov. 9 - Berlin Wall and East German borders open.</p><p>Nov. 10 - Bulgaria's long-time communist dictator, Todor Zhivkov, removed by Politburo colleagues.</p><p>Nov. 17 - Students clash with police, starting Czechoslovakia's "Velvet Revolution."</p><p>Nov. 25 - Referendum weakens communists' hold on power in Hungary.</p><p>Dec. 17 - Romanian police fire at protesters; dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and wife try to flee uprising five days later.</p><p>Dec. 25 - Ceausescus executed by firing squad.</p><p>Dec. 29 - Communist rule ends in Czechoslovakia after 41 years, with election of dissident playwright Vaclav Havel as president.</p><p>1990:</p><p>March 18 - Alliance for Germany, which seeks quick reunification, wins East Germany's first free election.</p><p>March 25-April 8 - Hungary has first multiparty elections since communist rule began.</p><p>June - Bulgaria holds free elections.</p><p>July - Thousands of Albanians rush foreign embassies in Tirana.</p><p>Oct. 3 - East and West Germany reunited as one country.</p><p>Dec. 9 - Lech Walesa, former shipyard worker and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, wins Poland's first popular presidential election.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=61366018&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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