During the second half of the 1980s, the general situation in Czechoslovakia became more easygoing, especially after the introduction of Perestroika reforms in the then Soviet Union. But the Czechoslovak leadership, still headed by Gustav Husak, who had assumed power after the Soviet Invasion of 1968, was wary of movements intended to "reform communism from within" and continued to toe a hard line in Czechoslovakia, much to the chagrin of Mikhail Gorbacev. However, by 1988 there were organised demonstrations demanding change and just about one month after the fall of the Berlin Wall, communism in Czechoslovakia also became a casualty of this popular movement.

The six-week period between November 17 and December 29, 1989, also known as the "Velvet Revolution", brought about the bloodless overthrow of the Czechoslovak Communist regime. It all started on November 17, 1989, fifty years to the day since Czech students had held a demonstration to protest against the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence.

On this particular anniversary in 1989, students in the capital city of Prague were again protesting against an oppressive regime. The protests began as a legal rally to commemorate the death of Jan Opletal, but turned instead into a demonstration demanding democratic reforms. Riot police stopped the students who were making their way from the Czech National Cemetery at Vysehrad to Wenceslas Square. After a stand-off, in which the students offered flowers to the riot police and showed no resistance, the police began beating the young demonstrators with night sticks.

One student was reportedly beaten to death and this rumour served to crystallise support for the students and their demands among the general public. In a severe blow to the communists' morale, a number of workers' unions immediately joined the students' cause. From Saturday, November 18, until the general strike of November 27, mass demonstrations took place in Prague, Bratislava, and elsewhere and public discussions instead of performances were held in Czechoslovakia's theatres.

Massive demonstrations of almost 750,000 people at Letna Park in Prague on November 25 and 26, and the general strike on the 27th were devastating for the Communist regime. Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec, was forced to hold talks with the Civic Forum, which was led by still dissident (soon to be President) Vaclav Havel. The Civic Forum presented a list of political demands at a second meeting with Adamec, who agreed to form a new coalition government and to delete three articles, guaranteeing a leading role in political life for the Czechoslovak Communist Party and for the National Front and mandating Marxist-Leninist education from the Constitution. These amendments were unanimously approved by the communist parliament the next day, on November 29, 1989.

This new government was named by Czechoslovak President Gustav Husak on December 10. The same evening, he went on television to announce his resignation and the Civic Forum cancelled a general strike which had been scheduled for the next day. At the 19th joint session of the two houses of the Federal Assembly, Alexander Dubcek who had led the ill-fated Prague Spring movement in the 1960's was elected Speaker of the Federal Assembly. One day later, the parliament elected the Civic Forum's leader, Vaclav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia.

The transition to separate Czech and Slovak Republics was entirely peaceful. Voter preference in the two halves of Czechoslovakia reflected such divergent public opinion on how the future of the country should progress with the Czechs choosing fast-paced reforms and the Slovaks choosing a time-out in the reform process, that the election winners in the two halves of Czechoslovakia soon decided that a shared future for the two nations was essentially impossible. The next six months were spent dividing the common property that the two partners in the Czechoslovak Federation shared. Czechoslovakia peacefully ceased to exist on December 31, 1992.