Remaking the State: Meiji Japan 1600–1912 and Post-Soviet Russia 1964–2000 · THE MAP IN DEC 1989

Map of the Soviet Union in December 1989

The bloc falls; the Baltic Way

The Soviet Union in December 1989: The bloc falls; the Baltic Way. Since February 1988, 6 territories changed status on this map: including Poland, Czechoslovakia (Czech lands; Czech Republic from 1993), Czechoslovakia (Slovakia; independent from 1993) and 3 more.

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Map of the Soviet Union in December 1989: The bloc falls; the Baltic Way. Colours show Western powers and allies, The USSR, then Russia, Independent neighbours. — DEC 1989 · REMAKING THE STATE: MEIJI JAPAN 1600–1912 AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA 1964–2000

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · UNESCO Memory of the World: the Baltic Way · Atlas chapter bibliography and event-specific source record · Natural Earth v5.1.2 complete geographic reference · International Crisis Group: former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast geographic data · The Berlin Airlift, 1948–1949 · Berlin’s four-power status and its termination · The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall · Cliopatria v0.2.1 historical polities · Decolonization of Asia and Africa, 1945–1960 · Natural Earth v5.1.2 country geography · Natural Earth administrative references

Source details

UNESCO Memory of the World. Historical factual reference
Maps of History, citing the scholarly bibliography in SOURCES.md. Historical factual reference; no copyrighted prose reproduced
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
International Crisis Group. GPL-3.0 · Only features explicitly labelled former NKAO are dissolved, irrespective of later control category. Later adjacent territories and Lachin corridor are excluded. Derivative data provided separately under GPL3.
US government historical publication. Historical facts cited; no source artwork or prose reproduced
US government historical publication. Historical facts cited; no source artwork or prose reproduced
US government historical publication. Historical facts cited; no source artwork or prose reproduced
Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY 4.0 · Selected dated records; documented component selection, unions and shared-edge extraction.
US Department of State, Office of the Historian. US government publication
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain · Full source components and holes retained; documented historical unions and repairs.
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain

The constituent Soviet republics use full successor-unit geographic references, with Crimea in Ukraine and the later Baikonur lease hole filled. Conflict hatches locate named territories and are excluded from sovereign-area accounting; source-date gaps are explicit.

proxy: 1945–1990, later municipal exterior reference · proxy: Natural Earth v5.1.2 · proxy: Natural Earth v5.1.2 contemporary reference · reconstruction: 1945–1991 · reconstruction: 1953–1972 · reconstruction: 1958–1989 · reconstruction: 1976–1989 · reconstruction: Chapter route completion/event date · reconstruction: Former1923–1991NKAO perimeter, retrospectively mapped · reconstruction: Postwar Yugoslav reference · vector: 1936–1986 · vector: 1953–2023 · vector: 1969–1975 · vector: 1969–1986 · vector: 1987–2005 · vector: 1987–2023

Layer records and reconstruction methods

What changes on the map

Poland	Soviet-bloc states → Independent neighbours
Czechoslovakia (Czech lands; Czech Republic from 1993)	Soviet-bloc states → Independent neighbours
Czechoslovakia (Slovakia; independent from 1993)	Soviet-bloc states → Independent neighbours
Hungary	Soviet-bloc states → Independent neighbours
Romania	Soviet-bloc states → Independent neighbours
Bulgaria	Soviet-bloc states → Independent neighbours

On the ground

East Germany after the revolution of autumn 1989 and before reunification on 3 October 1990.

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