Mikhail Gorbachev implemented reforms in the Soviet Union in the 1980s to reduce government control of business and increase freedoms for citizens in an attempt to stabilize the failing economy, which had been overspending on suppressing revolts, defending its borders, and competing militarily with the US. These reforms unintentionally sparked political changes across Eastern Europe as countries gained more independence. In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the collapse of communist control and the reunification of Germany, and by 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved entirely as its republics declared independence, ending the Cold War.

1. The Fall of the Soviet Union Unit Two Notes