Pastlasby Oleh Voronko

State · 1978 – 1992

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

A state of 1978 – 1992 — 14 years in South Asia. It replaced Republic of Afghanistan. It was replaced by Islamic State of Afghanistan. The atlas records 2 things within it — wars and battles 1 · people 1. Its line of rulers holds 4 people. Its own article says it was dissolved by Afghan Civil War.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood
14 years
1978 – 1992
Rulers
4
the Top leader
Most ground
582,400 km²
in 1983
Within it
2
recorded rows
Symbols
2
on record, with years
Map: Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1983, its borders in gold among its neighbours
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1983, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 582,400 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Where it sits in time

3000 BCE2000 BCE1000 BCE110002000Republic of Afghanistan: 1973 – 1978Islamic State of Afghanistan: 1992 – 2002Democratic Republic of Afghanistan: 1978 – 1992

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

After it

How it ended, as its article says

Dissolved by Afghan Civil War, 1992-04. Read from the article's section “lead” by its grammar; the claim is only that the article says so.

It collapsed by the end of the First Afghan Civil War in April 1992, having lasted only four months after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

One sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Rulers

The leaders of its ruling party, read from English Wikipedia, List of top leaders of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, revision 1377833888 - the line the atlas measures; its formal heads of state are listed with the government below.

Nur Muhammad Taraki · 1978 – 1979 · killed, the article saysHafizullah Amin · 1979 – 1979 · no death date to read the end againstBabrak Karmal · 1979 – 1986 · resigned or stood down, the article saysMohammad Najibullah · 1986 – 1992 · no death date to read the end against198019851990
killed, executed or dead in battleleft alive by a regular roadending not on record
RulerReignLengthHow it ended · sourceTo the ruler before
Nur Muhammad Taraki1978 – 19791 yearkilled, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Hafizullah Amin1979 – 1979under a yearending not on record
Babrak Karmal1979 – 19867 yearsresigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Mohammad Najibullah1986 – 19926 yearsending not on record

4 rulers, 4 with terms dated as terms, covering 1978 – 1992. Only 14 years of the line are dated - too short for a median. 1 of 3 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.93, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

1983

582,400 km² in 1983. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flags and arms, in order

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

  • Flag of Afghanistan (1980–1987)
    flag, 1980 – 1987Flag of Afghanistan (1980–1987) · Public domain
  • Emblem of Afghanistan (1980-1987)
    coat of arms, 1980 – 1987Emblem of Afghanistan (1980-1987) · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1900 – 19992 rows · 1 wars and battles

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

  • How long it stood14 years

    stood longer than 20% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.

  • The most ground it held582,400 km²

    held more ground at its peak than 76% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.

  • Wars recorded per centurynone

    had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.

  • Rulers on record4

    has more rulers on record than 58% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 2 causes the record names and 1 result, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

Republic of Afghanistan · Linked · 1973 – 1978Republic of AfghanistanRevolutionary Council · In the article · 1965 · “Following the 1979 Herat uprising, the Revolutionary Council and the PDPA Politburo established the Homeland Higher Defence Council.”Revolutionary CouncilDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan · 1978 – 1992Democratic Republic of AfghanistanIslamic State of Afghanistan · Linked · 1992 – 2002Islamic State of Afghanistan196019701980199020002010
in the articlelinked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

  • Demographic-structural breakdown

    Goldstone 1991 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009

    Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 3 conditions held here (it needs 2), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — unrest, adverse regime change or the state's ending.

    • overlapping reigns — rival claimants — within 20 y, or 3 or more changes of ruler within 20 y, or 2 or more reigns of two years or less within 20 y, or a monarch deposed or killed within 20 y — handovers 3
    • a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 10 y — warEnded

Open in the atlas

Wikidata Q476757 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · one sentence of the English Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA 4.0 · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.