collapse of soviet control of eastern europe

• effects of gorbachev’s new thinking on eastern europe

  encouraged the growth of opposition to communism
• what had gorbachev shown

  that he was prepared to make deals with the usa

  he was able to think the unthinkable
• impact on soviet economy


  soviet economy could no longer stand the strain of supporting forces in eastern europe
• what did gorbachev do in 1988 and 1989

  1988 - rejected the brezhnev doctrine

  1989 - accepted that members of the Warsaw pact could make changes to their own countries without expected outside interference (sinatra doctrine)
• what was part of gorbachev’s ’new thinking’ on eastern europe

  the sinatra doctrine

  meant that ideology would play a much smaller role in soviet foreign affairs

  meant that Soviet Union would no longer favour trade with communist countries over trade with capitalist countries
• what was gorbachev keen for regarding Eastern Europe

  he was keen for eastern european countries to embrace his ‘new thinking’ and enjoy perestroika and glasnost

  he also withdrew soviet troops from eastern european bases to save money
• perestroika 


  name given to gorbachev’s policy for economic restructuring
• glasnost


  name given to gorbachev’s policy of openness encouraging free expression and an end to censorship
• what had gorbachev unintentionally done

  he had weakened communist control is eastern europe
• what was gorbachev trying to do with communist control in eastern europe

  he wanted to strengthen communism by reform

  but when reform started in eastern europe he was unable to contain it
• where did reform first start

  poland

  1989 - non-communist government is elected
• reform in poland 


  1988 - strikes throughout the country

  1989 - free trade union (solidarity) wins elections

  mazowiecki becomes first non-communist prime minister in eastern europe
• reform in Hungary


  1988 - range of political parties formed in hungary + free elections proposed for 1990

  gorbachev accepts hungary can become a multi-party state and did not interfere and began to withdraw soviet troops from hungary

  may 1989 - hungary opens its border with austria

  1990 - democratic elections won by democratic forum (an alliance of anti-communist groups)
• effective of hungary‘s decision to open border with austria

  may 1989

  there was a hole in the iron curtain

  created a way for east germans to move to west germany

  brought into question whether the Berlin Wall and iron curtain could continue to exist
• ‘reform‘ in bulgaria 


  1990 - democratic elections won by renamed communist party
• reform at czechoslovakia


  17th november 1989 - huge demonstrations against communism begin

  24th november 1989 - communist government resigns

  9th december 1989 - vaclav havel becomes first non-communist president of czechoslovakia since 1948

  1990 - democratic elections won by civic forum (an alliance of anti-communist groups
• reform in east germany

  ocotber 1989 - gorbachev tells east germany that soviet troops will not put down east german demonstrations

  23rd october 1989 - 300,000 people protest in leipzig

  4th november 1989 - 1 million protest in east berlin

  9th November 1989 - berlin wall opened

  3rd october 1990 - germany reunified to one country
• reform in romania

  16th december 1989 - secret police fire on demonstrators in timisoara

  21st december 1989 - huge crowd in bucharest boos president ceausescu who flees + captured later

  22-24th december 1989 - army joins rebellion and fights secret police fire = hundreds killed

  25th december 1989 - ceausescu and wife shot by firing squad

  1990 - democratic elections won by national salvation front with many ex-communists
• fall of berlin wall

  november 1989

  encouraged further reform in eastern europe
• role of east german government in late 1980s

  east germany = slow to embrace perestroika and glasnost

  east german government banned soviet publications of later 1980s and believed they would undermine communism

  but communist government = unable to contain desire of many east germans for freedom once they’d seen other eastern european countries abandoning communism
• east german demonstrations

  demonstrations occurred in east germany (1989) and there were calls for changes to system of governemnt

  gorbachev visited in october 1989 + informed political leaders that ussr would not be involved in internal affairs

  demonstrations continued :

  4th November = largest in east german history as over one million in east berlin demanding democracy and free elections
• impact of democratic elections in hungary

  mass movement of east germans through hungary to west germany

  therefore east german government forced to announce greater freedom of travel for east germans

  asa part of decision, evening of 9th november, government announced opening of border crossings into west germany

  people began to dismantle berlin wall
• dismantling of berlin wall

  within few days, over one million per day had seized chance to see relatives and experienced life in west

  west and east germany formally reunited on 2rd october 1990

  tension in world seemed to easy by day

  ussr’s power dwindled quiclkly

  new germany joined nato

  warsaw pact dissolved
• paradox of gorbachev

  west. widely respected for his willingness tpo reform and fact that his politics encouraged break up of eastern europe

  ussr - saw him as villain, policies treated with suspicion and led to ever increasing criticism

  leading members of communist party believed perestroika and glasnost had weakened communism not revived it

  world - hero to many, awarded 1990 nobel peace prize
• what did the communist government do about gorbachev

  19th august 1991

  group of senior communist government officials (gang of eight) organised a coup which removed gorbachev from power
• coup

  sudden seizure of power from a government
• what did the new ussr government do

  declared state of emergency removed perestroika and glasnost but new government only lasted 3 days
• boris yeltsin

  chair of russian supreme soviet

  crucial role in overthrowing new government

  described it as evil

  called on people of moscow to resist this regime
• gorbachev’s return to moscow

  21st august 1991

  gorbachev returned to moscow

  resumed his position as leader but coup had damaged his authority and made yeltsin a popular hero
• gorbachev’s final attempt to save ussr

  introduce new constitution

  give soviet republics (such as latvia and ukraine) greater independence

  leaders of these countries wanted full independence and never accepted new constitution
• what did other nationalities choose to do

  many nationalities and ethnic groups saw how eastern european satellite stated had broke away from moscow and wanted to do the same

  1990 - baltic states of estonia, latvia and lithuania declared themselves independent (accepted by msocow in 1991)
• impact of independence of satellite states on ussr

  this led to other demands for independence within ussr

  fears that country was about to disintegrate and gorbachev found he was opposed by most sections of soviet society

  so he announced officially the dissolution of ussr and resignation on 25th december 1991

  ussr split into several independent states
• state of warsaw pact

  soviet control in eastern europe fell so obvious warsaw pact could not survive

  alliance that no longer served purpose once all countries had rejected communism

  ussr’s military strength question in afghanistan and weak economy could no longer bolster the pact

  internal divisions and demands for independence from its own socialist republics meant ussr = verge of collapse
• end of warsaw pact

  military cooperation stopped early 1990

  warsaw pact formally ended in july 1991
• malta summit

  1989
• malta summit 1989

  us president, george bush senior

  declared with gorbachev that cold war was over