The Spread of Communism is an animated map that shows the rise and fall of communism from 1917 through 2017. When you visit the map you can press the play button in the lower, right corner to play the animation. When it plays the animation highlights each country according to the year in which a communist government came to power. Play the animation long enough and you will start to see the highlights disappear as the communist governments fail.

Applications for Education
The Spread of Communism animated map a simple resource that could make a good addition to the reference sources that you share with students regarding the Cold War. The map also provides inspiration for a making a multimedia timeline on that contains maps and videos. Timeline JS is an excellent tool for that purpose. With Timeline JS students can could create a multimedia timeline to show the rise and fall of communism around the world.

H/T to Maps Mania for the animated map.