The document traces the rise and fall of communism from 1848 when Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto through the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It highlights key events like the Russian Revolution of 1917, formation of the Soviet Union in 1922, Stalin's rise to power in 1924 and industrialization/purges of the 1930s. It also discusses the spread of communism to Eastern Europe and Asia after WWII and tensions with the West like the Berlin Blockade. The decline is marked by reforms under Gorbachev from 1985-1991 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, leading to German reunification and the USSR's final collapse.