| 1989 |
Year of liberation in Eastern Europe; Berlin Wall demolished |
| 1990 |
Soviet republics call for independence; Soviet economy in crisis; reunification of Germany; Charter of Paris for a New Europe; official end of cold war |
| 1991 |
Persian Gulf War; Yeltsin elected Russian president; collapse of Soviet Union;
Yugoslav federation breaks up and war begins |
| 1993 |
Czechoslovakia splits into Czech Republic and Slovakia; elections for new Russian constitution and parliament; European
Union ratifies Maastricht Treaty |
| 1994 |
South Africa elects multiracial government; war breaks out between Russia
and Chechnya |
| 1995 |
Dayton Agreement ends civil war in Bosnia |
| 1996 |
Yeltsin reelected president of Russia; truce establishes Chechnya's independence |
| 1998 |
Russian currency collapses |
| 1999 |
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic join NATO; Yeltsin resigns; Chechen
war reopens; ethnic cleansing of Kosovo; Serbia bombed |
| 2000 |
Putin elected president of Russia |
| 2001 |
Terrorist attack on World Trade Center; war on Terrorism in Afghanistan |
