In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev started to open the Soviet Union to the west. Many of the communist countries followed his example. East Germany tried to ignore this trend, but during 1989, public protest grew inside the country. After some efforts to keep the country stable, the border was finally opened on 9 November 1989. Conversion of East Germany into a democratic country started almost immediately. During the following 11 months, the terms of unification were negotiated between East and West Germany, France, Great Britain, The United States of America and The Soviet Union, and the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany also called the Two Plus Four Treaty, signed by the two German states and the four wartime allies, opened the way towards reunification.