June 27, 1989 - The foreign ministers of Hungary and Austria, Gyula Horn and Alois Mock, symbolically cut the barbed wire fence that has divided their countries for decades. August 8, 1989 - West Germany's permanent representation in East Berlin closes due to overcrowding. More than 130 East Germans are staying there, hoping for entry to West Germany. Later, embassies in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw follow suit.
August 19, 1989 - A "Pan European Picnic" is held near the border town of Sopron, Hungary, where attendees peacefully demand an open border. Hundreds of holidaying East Germans crash the event and cross into Austria.
August 23, 1989 - On the fiftieth anniversary of the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact, independence organizations hold huge demonstrations in all three Baltic nations - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - creating "the Baltic Way," a 600-kilometre human chain linking the three capitals.
August 24, 1989 - Tadeusz Mazowiecki becomes Poland's first non- communist prime minister.
September 4, 1989 - In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of what will come to be known as the Monday demonstrations takes place. Monday demonstrations continue to be held weekly.
September 10-11, 1989 - After already having turned a blind eye to hundreds of escapees, Hungary officially opens its borders, allowing East German citizens to leave en masse for West Germany via Austria.
September 25, 1989 - Around 5,000 people demonstrate for reforms in Leipzig.
September 30, 1989 - West German Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, addresses several thousand East Germans gathered on the grounds of the Prague Embassy, to announce their permission to travel to West Germany.
October 1, 1989 - The first special trains transporting around 6,800 East German refugees from Warsaw and Prague pass through East Germany. Bystanders try to jump aboard.
October 2, 1989 - In Leipzig, 20,000 people demonstrate for reforms in East Germany.
October 4, 1989 - Special East German trains transport 7,600 East German refugees from the Prague and Warsaw embassies to West Germany following gatherings demanding the right to emigrate. Train tracks and stations in East Germany are sealed off to prevent people from jumping aboard the trains. At Dresden's main station, the worst confrontations occur since June 17, 1953.
October 7, 1989 - The 40th anniversary of the founding of the East German republic is celebrated with military parades. In East Berlin, Soviet head of state Gorbachev takes part in the celebrations. He talks about the need for reforms, saying "whoever comes too late is punished by life."
October 9, 1989 - 70,000 people protest in Leipzig demanding a democratic renewal of East Germany.
October 16, 1989 - 120,000 people protest in Leipzig. Security forces refrain from using violence.
October 24, 1989 - Egon Krenz is voted in as East German head of state and head of the national defence council.
November 3, 1989 - The East German government decides that citizens can leave the country via Czechoslovakia without formalities. Another flood of departures begins.
November 3, 1989 - Bulgaria see its first anti-communist protests, organized by ecologists.
November 4, 1989 - Between 500,000 and 1 million people rally at Alexander Square in East Berlin. East German TV broadcasts the event live.
November 7, 1989 - The East German government resigns.
November 9, 1989 - The Berlin Wall falls after a Politburo member says at a press conference that new travel laws are to take immediate effect. Thousands of East Berliners throng to West Berlin. Shortly before midnight the first barriers open at the wall.
November 10, 1989 - Todor Zhivkov is ousted in a party coup in Bulgaria. A few days later, his successor, Petar Mladenov, announces an effective end of the totalitarian regime.
November 17, 1989 - Riot police crack down on a peaceful student protest in Prague, kicking off the Velvet Revolution.
November 24, 1989 - Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership resigns.
December 1, 1989 - The East German parliament removes the right of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) to rule exclusively.
December 2, 1989 - Austria lifts visa restriction for Czechoslovakian citizens. More than 100,000 Czechs use the opportunity for short visits to Vienna.
December 3, 1989 - The East German Politburo and the Central Committee, led by Egon Krenz, step down.
December 7, 1989 - The Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) is formed as the first openly anti-communist movement in Bulgaria.
December 10, 1989 - Czechoslovakia's President, Gustav Husak, makes way for the first non-communist government since the 1948 Communist putsch. December 16, 1989 - Romanian Security forces crack down on anti-Ceausescu demonstrations in Timisoara.
December 17, 1989 - Austrian and Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministers Alois Mock and Jiri Dienstbier symbolically cut through the border fence.
December 22, 1989 - Romania's Ceausescu is visibly shaken at the presence of chanting crowds during what turns out to be his last official speech. He flees by helicopter.
December 22, 1989 - In Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate is reopened, though initially only for pedestrian traffic.
December 23, 1989 - Romania's army turns against Ceausescu.
December 25, 1989 - Romania's Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu are executed. Their bullet-riddled bodies are shown on national TV.
December 29, 1989 - Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel is elected the then-Czechoslovakia's first democratic president since 1948.
