The official end of the Cold War is generally marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but the Cold War is considered to have concluded with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. This period saw the ideological divide between the capitalist West and the communist East begin to collapse, leading to significant geopolitical changes. Countries in Eastern Europe transitioned to democratic governments and market economies. The September 1991 meeting between President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is often viewed as a culminating point in ending the prolonged conflict between the superpowers.