End of the Soviet Union

MOSCOW -- Profound political changes are under way in the Soviet Union as the country prepares this month for its first contested parliamentary elections since the earliest days of the Soviet state.

March 3, 1989

Hungary Steps Cautiously on Path to Power-Sharing

March 21, 1989

MOSCOW -- Campaigning for the first contested national elections since the earliest years of the Soviet state ended here Saturday with an emotional rally for Boris N.

March 26, 1989

Soviets Excited Over Free Election in Dramatic Break With the Past

March 27, 1989

Victories Vastly Outnumber Losses, Yet Stunning Setbacks Are Suffered

March 28, 1989

Castro Embraces Soviet President at Havana’s Airport With No Sign of Tension Over Policies

April 3, 1989

Supporters of Reforms Brought In

April 26, 1989

New Soviet Congress Elects Gorbachev to Presidency

May 26, 1989

Soviets See Strong Ties to Europe as Way of Future

June 15, 1989

In Beijing, Gorbachev Sees His Worst Fears Soviet President Keeps Eye on Chinese Crisis, Knowing His Reforms May Spark Similar Unrest

June 19, 1989

Gorbachev Begins Bid to Reshape Idea of Europe

July 8, 1989

MOSCOW -- A weeklong strike by Soviet coal miners demanding better supplies of food, safer working conditions, more housing and an environmental cleanup around their mines in western Siberia grew to about 100,000 workers on Sunday and threatened to turn into a general strike there.

July 17, 1989

Congress Radicals Ignore Lenin Edict, Ask Bolder Reforms

July 30, 1989

For Soviets, Last Battle of War Is Over Its Legacy

Aug. 29, 1989

Situation Explosive as Azerbaijan Tightens Its Blockade on Armenia and Disputed Enclave

Sept. 17, 1989

‘We Cannot Leave Things as They Are,’ He Says, Calling Early Congress; Secession Moves Barred

Sept. 20, 1989

Bush Stresses Caution, but Critics Call Him Timid and Urge Action to Support Soviet Leader

Oct. 2, 1989

MOSCOW -- The editor of the Communist Party newspaper Pravda, the Soviet Union’s most powerful newspaper, was promising a new era of political candor, open debate and up-to-date information on Monday while the editor of Arguments and Facts, the country’s largest paper, was wondering whether his efforts to provide the very same material would cost him his job.

Oct. 31, 1989

Diplomacy: The two agree to restore Vatican-Kremlin ties. The pontiff welcomes an invitation to Moscow.

Dec. 2, 1989

MOSCOW -- President Mikhail S.

Dec. 10, 1989

MOSCOW -- Twenty years ago, as the Soviet Union sank deeper and deeper into what is now described as the oppressive “era of stagnation” under Leonid I.

Dec. 16, 1989

East Bloc: Despite reports of brutal repression and numerous deaths, demonstrators continue to demand an end to Ceausescu’s rule.

Dec. 22, 1989

East Europe: The dictator and his wife flee Bucharest as his 24-year tyranny comes to a violent halt.

Dec. 23, 1989

WARSAW -- Nicolae Ceausescu’s monster was dying monstrously Friday.

Dec. 23, 1989

Romania: Death toll soars in fiercest battles of the week. Gorbachev affirms Soviet support for the uprising.

Dec. 24, 1989

BUCHAREST, Romania -- For all but the last two weeks of this year, Communist Eastern Europe passed through one of the most remarkable political transformations in modern history, a massive upheaval that was accomplished with hardly a shot fired.

Dec. 28, 1989

BUCHAREST, Romania -- The young woman, her dark hair tied back in a long braid, sat in the chair by the fire, her face pulled tight by the unsuccessful effort to hold back tears.

Dec. 29, 1989

PAARL, South Africa -- Hennie and Evelynne Durr are parents not easily rattled.

Dec. 31, 1989