On the night of June 2, following a demonstration in the vast 100-acre Tiananmen Square, led by pop singer Hou Dejian, a police van plowed into four bicyclists, killing one instantly. Two others died later. Although it was an accident, rumors that it had been deliberate led to a dramatic increase in demonstrators. About midnight on June 4, thousands of armed troops, supported by dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers, moved toward the central square. The crowd fought back and impeded their progress, but scores of students and civilians were injured as tanks advanced through Tiananmen Square.
Capitalism is triumphant.
Communism lies in ruins. During 1989, the Cold War drew to a dramatic close. The Marxist economies of Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania failed during the autumn. This resulted in a call for the end of Communist rule, a return to democracy, and the revitalization of capitalism in those countries. The Berlin Wall was opened in November and several former Eastern Bloc countries witnessed a revolution in government.