During the last decade of the twentieth century, the bipolar East-West structure that had characterized Europe's political geography since the end of the Second World War altered in just a few years. Beween 1989, the country of Hungary was the first Soviet satellite to open its doors to travel, and 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved into 15 independent countries, abrupt change in political systems occurred. The result is a new map of Europe that includes a number of countries not present on the map of 1989.