Fall of Eastern Europe Flashcards
Nationalism - Overview
○ The period of the late 1970s and early 80s saw the re-emergence of nationalism in many to the USSR’s satellites.
Nationalism in Poland
§ The first country to show signs of nationalism was Poland
§ Dissatisfaction with the poor economic situation lead to industrial unrest and strikes.
§ In Gdansk a successful strike in the shipyards lead to
□ Formation of Solidarity
® Lech Walesa as leader.
§ By 1981 Solidarity had claimed 10 million members.
□ Concern to Soviet leaders and Brezhnev.
□ General Jarulzelski was endorsed by the army and became prime minister.
□ Jarulzelski declared martial law and arrested thousands of activists.
§ Solidarity was banned.
§ Law and order came back in 1983.
□ Economy kept stagnating.
Role of Gorbachev
○ Gorbachev made it increasingly clear that he was unwilling to use military force to maintain control over satellites.
○ Believed that USSR, WE and EE shared a ‘common European home’.
○ Publicly abandoned Brezhnev doctrine in March 1985.
§ He made it clear that Soviet troops will not be sent in to:
□ Defend an existing regime
□ Crush reform communists
□ Crush Mass popular movements
○ Future blame on the collapse of Eastern Europe pinned on Gorbachev.
○ Gorbachev made a speech in the UN cutting the number of Soviet troops stationed in the Warsaw pact to 500K.
○ Gorbachev also encouraged East European countries to adopt the policies of
§ Perestroika
§ Glasnost
§ Demokratizasiya
Protests from Gorbachev’s role
○ Countries such as Poland and Hungary which embraced Gorbachev’s new thinking had to deal with mass protests.
§ Some elements of this popular grassroots movement wanted more
□ Re-establish power of the Church
□ Restore Capitalism
Fall of Poland
○ Solidarity was legalized January 1989
§ In April it agreed a package of political-economic reforms with the government.
□ Elections in June
® Clear victory for Solidarity
○ August 1989 First non-communist prime minister to rule in Eastern Europe in 40 years.
○ Gorbachev did not intervene to support the old communist regime.
○ Encouraged further movements in Europe.
Fall of Hungary
○ Reform communists were carrying out Gorbachev-style policies.
§ Became increased in the late 1980s.
§ 1989 it was agreed that multi-party elections would be held.
§ It took developments in the GDR to accelerate pace of change in Europe
□ Hungary’s democratization lead to the open border between Austria.
® Sparked off the East German crisis.
§ By September 1989, thousands of East Germans were crossing to West Germany via Hungary-Austria.
Provoking an economic crisis similar to prior the Berlin wall.
Fall of German Democratic Republic
○ Honecker- Unlike Ulbricht in 1961 could not rely on Soviet support.
○ GDR had a relatively successful economy
§ Cheap transport
§ Cheap Electricity
§ Cheap Gas
○ Living standards in many areas were below those enjoyed by the West.
○ Demonstration in support of democracy spread across the GDR.
○ 18 October Honecker resigned in favor of Egon Krenz.
○ Demonstrations were now lead by a group called “New Forum”
§ Lead to bigger demonstrations.
§ A massive protest in East Berlin occurred on November 4th
□ 500k protestors
○ Gorbachev made it clear that the GDR should form closer ties with West Germany.
§ The USSR could not afford the subsidies.
○ On 7 November the government of the GDR resigned.
○ 8 November Krenz introduced a new immigration law.
○ The delivery of the new law went wrong and lead to people flooding the checkpoints and tearing down the Berlin wall.
Fall of Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria
○ The events in East Germany lead to mass protests in Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria.
○ In Czechoslovakia people were reminded of the Prague Spring of 1968.
○ The communist government of Czechoslovakia resigned and held a multi-party election.
○ As a result of the velvet revolution renowned playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel became president.
○ 27 October, Warsaw pact countries condemned the 1968 invasion and promised to never interfere in member-state affairs.
○ Mass protests in Bulgaria lead to government resignation and multi-party democracy.
Fall of Romania
○ Romania was the only non-peaceful revolution.
○ Nicolae Ceausescu used security forces to crush demonstrations.
○ The resulting civil war did not get Soviet support.
○ Ceausescu and his wife fled and were arrested by the army.
§ Executed Christmas Day 1989.
Collapse of the Eastern Bloc Overview
○ The new Soviet policy of non-intervention was the result of:
§ Gorbachev’s belief in democracy.
§ Recognition of the USSR was politically unable to intervene.
○ Symbolized the serious decline of the USSR.
○ Heavy debt of Eastern Europe to the USSR affected the economies negatively.
Malta Summit
○ At the Malta Summit in December 1989, Gorbachev and Bush officially declared the end of the Cold.
○ The US offered economic help.
○ Two parties reach informal agreements on the future of Eastern Europe, Germany and Baltic republics.
○ Agreed to reducing the size of conventional forces in Europe.
Question of Germany
○ Security concern for the USSR.
○ Gorbachev hoped to avoid German reunification.
§ Belief that with uncertain political and diplomatic policies in Eastern Europe a divided Germany would be less of a possible threat.
○ Both Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher tried to restrain the US encouraging rapid unification.
○ There were even calls for Soviet troops to remain in Germany for a time.
§ Supported by the new Post-Communist Poland.
○ The USSR was also afraid that NATO would extend it’s membership eastwards onto Soviet borders.
○ By February 1990, Gorbachev had accepted it was up to the German to decide whether and when they wanted reunification.
German Reunifciation
○ In May the GDR signed a reunification treaty.
○ West German Deutschmark became the common currency in July.
○ Helmut Kohl visited the Soviet Union.
§ The result was Gorbachev’s acceptance in return for:
□ German economic aid for the USSR
□ German acceptance of Poland’s western borders
□ Informal guarantees of Soviet Security
○ In the end strong pressure from the West and in a position of economic weakness Gorbachev agreed to reunification of Germany in September in 1990.
○ This formally took place on 3 October 1990.
§ Symbolized the end of division of Europe itself.
Development of Superpowers
○ Gorbachev obtained some concessions.
§ The former West German Army would be reduced.
§ No NATO forces would be deployed in the former GDR.
○ Gorbachev also began to negotiate on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from states in Eastern Europe.
○ To ease this process the US offered much needed financial assistance.
○ In November 1990 the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty was signed.
§ Lead to a reduction of troop deployments.
○ Further talks began on nuclear weapons reduction.
§ START treaty was signed at Moscow summit July 1991.
Soviet Republics
○ Initially when some Soviet Republics especially the Baltic republics - began to push for independence the US stated it was not in favor of the break up of the Soviet Union.
§ Preferred Gorbachev’s plans for a looser confederation to those of Boris Yeltsin.
§ Yeltsin was pushing for a separate Russian Republic.
○ Consequently when violent clashes occurred in Latvia, Lithuania in January 1991 between protesters and security forces the US did not break off relations with the USSR.
