Collapse of Communism in 1989

Created by

yokes

Cards (6)

Collapse of the Brezhnev Doctrine: (1988-1989)
Gorbachev knew that the USSR could not afford to maintain its military presence in Eastern Europe
Gorbachev was keen for Eastern Europe to enjoy perestroika and glastnost
December 1988 - announement that ideology should play a smaller part in foreign affairs (Eastern Europe no longer favoured in trade deals)
March 1989 - Eastern Europe would no longer be helped to stay in power by the Soviet army
Significance of the collapse of the Brezhnev Doctrine:
Eastern European government immediately weakened
no intention to weaken communist control but to strengthen it through reform
Reaction of Eastern European states to Gorbachev: (1989)
April 1989 - Soviet troops began to withdraw from Eastern Europe
June 1989 - Poland announrced free elections → Solidarity elected
September 1989 - Hungary opens borders to Australia → thousands escaped to the West
November 1989 - Velvet Revolution (peaceful protest) in Czechoslovakia → downfall of the Czech government
December 1989 - Romanian violent overthrow of communist government → Ceausescu captured and shot
Fall of the Berlin Wall: (1989)
East Germany slow to embrace Perestroika and Glasnost
9 November 1989 - citizens permitted to cross the border to West Berlin
thousands of East Germans had crossed the border
end of the iron curtain and Berlin Wall → German unification inevitable
End of the Warsaw Pact: (1991)
the Warsaw Pact no longer served any purpose and was redundant
January 1990 - end of military cooperation in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe no longer bound militarily to the USSR
Fall of the Soviet Union:
19 August 1991 - coup organised to remove Gorbachev from power → new government declared state of emergency
new constitution which gave Soviet republics greater independence introduced to save the Soviet Union → countries demanded full independence
25 December 1991 - dissolution of the Soviet Union and Gorbachev’s resignation