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[[Image:Communistpartyrunstates.jpg|thumb|350px|Global expansion of Communist states by date of establishment. <br>Dark red: 1920s-1930s<br>Bright red: 1940s-1950s<br>Salmon: 1960s-1980s.]]
In the 20th century, a number of [[Communist party|Communist Parties]] based on the [[Stalinist]] development<!Marxist-- leninism has no other branches --> of [[Leninism]] (which is a branch ofLeninist [[Marxism]])ideology established governments in various countries. In those countries, the aforementioned Communist Parties (and other parties allied with them) became the only legal political parties. Such countries are the ones known as "Communist states".
The history of Communist states is often closely related to the history of noncommunistnon-Communist regimesgovernments, and to the history of the communistCommunist movement in general. As such, the following historical account is not restricted to Communist states:
Following the [[October Revolution|Russian Revolution]] in [[1917]], which established what later became the [[Soviet Union]], there was a revolutionary wave throughout Europe. Communist revolutions, uprisings or attempted uprisings took place in many European countries. However, Russian communistsCommunists, engaged in the [[Russian Civil War]], were unable to provide any significant support to communist movements outside Russia. Eventually only two revolutions outside Russia were able to overthrow the government and take power. They resulted in the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]] (which lasted from [[November]] [[1918]] until [[May 3]] [[1919]]) and the [[Hungarian Soviet Republic]] in [[1919]]. Both of them where soon abolished, and with the defeat of the [[Red Army]] in the [[Polish-Soviet War]] in [[1920]], the Russian communistsCommunists were forced to abandon any plans of military aid to communistCommunist movements in Europe. On the other side of the world, [[Mongolia]] had been a [[protectorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] from [[1912]] until [[1919]], (when the Chinese took control during the [[Russian Civil War]]). The Russian [[monarchy|monarchist]] [[White Army]] took control in [[1921]], and thenbut was driven out by the [[Red Army]] that same year. Mongolia was not absorbed into the Soviet Union, but awas Mongolianrenamed [[the '''People's Republic]] of Mongolia''' and became the Soviet Union's first [[puppet state|puppet]] or [[satellite state]] in [[1924]].
From 1924 until [[World War II]], there were no further successful communistCommunist revolutions (although there were a number of unsuccessful ones), and no more Communist states were established.
Most of the Communist states in the world were established in the aftermath of World War II in [[Eastern Europe]], either in countries which were liberated from the [[Nazism|Nazi]]s by the Soviet [[Red Army]] and subsequently occupied by Soviet troops, or in countries where Communist-led partisans succeeded in driving out the Nazis and taking power themselves. The Red Army supportedarranged for the establishment of Communist governments in what became the Soviet Union's [[puppet state|puppet]] or [[satellite state]]s of [[Poland]], [[East Germany]], [[Hungary]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]] and [[Romania]], which became Soviet satellites. Communist partisans established Communist governments which were initially pro-Soviet in [[Albania]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. Furthermore, in [[East Asia]], the Red Army joined the war against Japan and established a Communist state in [[North Korea]].
With the aid of extensive Soviet military aid, [[Mao Zedong]]'s Communist Party of China emerged victorious in the [[Chinese Civil War]] ledand to the establishmentestablished of the [[People's Republic of China]] in [[1949]],. and theThe [[First Indochina War]] led to the establishment of the [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] in Northnorthern Vietnam in [[1954]]. Later, the [[Vietnam War]] resultedended inwith the North Vietnamese ultimately conquering the resttakeover of the[[South countryVietnam]] and establishingby the [[SocialistPeople's RepublicArmy of Vietnam]]|North inVietnamese [[1975Army]] (bothand the Democratic Republicestablishment of Vietnama and theunified Socialist Republic of Vietnam] werein Communist states)[[1975]]. The broader Indochina conflict also led to asaw Communist state beingstates established in [[Laos]], and the related [[Cambodian Civil WarCambodia]] resulted in the1975, establishment ofthough the quasi-communistlatter stategovernment of(known as [[Democratic Kampuchea]]) was toppled in a Vietnamese invasion and denounced by Vietnam and its Communist allies. (see [[1975Khmer Rouge]].)
In [[1959]], the [[Cuban revolutionRevolution]] resulted in the first Communist state being established in the Western Hemisphere — the [[Cuba|Republic of Cuba]].
A [[civil war]] led to the establishment of the [[People's Democratic Republic of Yemen]] in southern Yemen in [[1969]].
For several years, communistCommunist regimes also existed in [[Afghanistan]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Angola]], [[Mozambique]] and in other developing countries, although these were short-lived.
By the early [[1980s]], nearly one third of the world's population was ruled by Communist Party-led governments, and the tide of the [[Cold War]] seemed to turnhave turned decisively in the Soviet Union's favor.
There werehave been several wars or military conflicts between Communist states: the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], the [[Prague spring]], the [[Ogaden War]], the [[Cambodian-Vietnamese War]], the [[Sino-Soviet border conflict]], the [[Sino-Vietnamese War]], and the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]].
However, due to ainternal complexeconomic combination of causes (which is still a matter of controversy to this day)problems, the Soviet Union itself was growing increasingly unstable. ByIn the late 1980s, Eastern Europe wasgrew inincreasingly chaosunstable -as andpeople byrose theup earlyagainst their governments, and in [[1990s1991]], the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)|Soviet Union itself had collapsed]]. None of the Eastern European communistCommunist governments survived these events.
As of [[2005]], there are 5five Communist Party-run states in the world: [[People's Republic of China|China]], [[Cuba]], [[Laos]], [[North Korea]], and [[Vietnam]]. However,Despite theya havecommon gone theirCommunist separate waysideology, andthey despitepossess acertain fewdistinct common elementscharacteristics, eachboth ofpolitically them is now very different from theand otherseconomically.
==Communist theories and ideologies of government==
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