The Cold War ended as nationalist movements and economic failures weakened the Soviet Union's control over Eastern Europe. Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of glasnost and perestroika further destabilized the USSR by encouraging democracy and capitalism. This led Eastern Bloc countries to overthrow their communist governments in 1989. Germany then reunified, and a failed coup in 1991 resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the official end of the Cold War.