The collapse of single-party dictatorship in Eastern Europe in 1989 and the subsequentdissolution of the Soviet Union itself in 1991 constituted a watershed in the political, economic and military history of Europe, which continues to pose an enormous challengeto that continent in the present century and to the Western alliance, which helped toprotect it. In 1919, the collapse of autocracy and supranational empires in Central andEastern Europe presented the Allied and Associated Powers with unprecedentedopportunity to shape the political and economic construction of the successor states. Inthat.