1985+to+the+Present

**​Chapter 31: Revolution, Reunification, and Rebuilding** Made by Carlos Chism, Bettina Makalintal, Rosie Morrison and Annie Trusty - Class of 2010

I. Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe (Carlos)
**A. The Soviet Union to 1985 **


 * Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1967 showed conservatism of Soviet leaders in keeping the status quo.
 * Many feared Soviet Union was veering toward **Re-stalinization**. However, dictatorship now collective; coercion replaced terror.
 * Much incentive for people to do as the state wished because it guaranteed a standard of living; led to an apparent stability of the U.S.S.R
 * Nationalism of the **Great Russians**also helped stability; Great Russians were patriots, based in central-Russia.
 * Great Russians were less than half of the Soviet population but controlled leadership in Russia, non-Russian Republics & Eastern Bloc countries.
 * Feared greater freedom for the republics and Eastern countries would lead to their autonomy; this would damage U.S.S.R. power and greatness.
 * Strength of govt expressed in re-stalinization of culture & art; no free expression, soviet intellectuals silenced.
 * nonconformists blacklisted for no jobs (govt only employer); ruled like Stalin but not as brutal; S.U. seemed stable and solid in 1970's & early 80s.
 * Soviet Union during the brezhnev era also underwent a quiet "social revolution". there were three aspects:
 * population growth continued to skyrocket
 * the number of scientists, managers and specialists increased fourfold
 * education and freedom for experts in their specialized areas = growth of soviet public opinion. educated people were able to read and discuss social ideas.

** B. Solidarity in Poland **


 * Popular protest during Gorbachev's reforms resurgence most prominent in Poland
 * Poland had been a difficult satellite from the beginning; efforts to communize Poland failed during riots of 1956, and when they tried to break the Catholic Church, it and the private agri. lands thrived.
 * The economy was also managed badly; economy dropped with the first oil shock in 1973.
 * However, in 1978, the polish cardinal was elected to pope and became John Paul II. he returned to poland to preach the "inalienable rights of man" and made the economic problem spiritual and moral.
 * August 1980: workers at the Lenin shipyards in gdansk occupied the plant in protest. they demanded right to form free trade unions, freedom of speech, release of prisoners & econ reforms. govt accepted demands in the **Gdansk Agreement**.
 * Lech Walesa, an electrician at the plant, led new trade union, called **Solidarity**.
 * Solidarity became the national union and supported by the catholic church. 40,000 workers linked 9.5 million members together
 * published it's own newspapers and helped cultural and intellectual freedom expand
 * had real power when negotiating with the communist party
 * because the communist party had back up of the soviet union, Solidarity did not challenge it's political power, so revolution was a "self-limiting revolution" to keep freedoms.
 * Solidarity accepted minor govt concessions; this unorganized the union and led to the communist leader declaring martial law and arresting union leaders.
 * union driven underground but still kept popular support because many polish people still acted as they were free, due to govt's inability to impose terror.


 *  C. Gorbachev's Reforms in the Soviet Union **
 * old soviet govt still established in early 80s; communist party elite controlled every aspect of national life. average person = apathetic towards politics.
 * Brezhnev died in 82, Andropov ruled from 82-84, then Mikhail Gorbachev emerged. wanted to revitalize failing communist system w/reforms and help ordinary citizens. his wife was a professor of Marxism/Leninism.
 * First year: attacked corruption & incompetence of bureaucracy; attacked alcoholism & drunkenness.
 * First set of reform policies meant to transform & restructure economy to help population called **Perestroika**.
 * allowed for slight loosening of govt price controls
 * independence for state providers
 * cooperation w/ private profit-seekers
 * at first worked, but since it stalled between govt planning & free market mechanisms, it led to high dissatisfaction with Gorbachev & his policies.
 * Gorbachev successfully advocated openness, or **glasnost** of govt and media. there was more free press, such as banned books being resold and critical plays & movies of Stalin
 * democratization = third reform. started as attacks on corruption in commi party, then led to first free elections since 1917.
 * the new congress had commies as major power, but the critical majority openly discussed and even rejected some commie proposals.
 * this started a new poli. culture that opposed the power & control of commie party.
 * demands for autonomy from non-russian republics grew; Gorbachev avoided repression.
 * Gorbachev also brought "new political thinking" to foreign affairs; withdrew troops from Afghanistan & tried to ease tensions w/the west.
 * agreed w/ reagan on reducing arms race when signed treaty that took away all land-based intermediate range missiles in europe.

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II. **The Revolutions of 1989** (Bettina) > A. The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe ( green = Poland, gray = Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia etc) >> 1. 1988: labor unrest, inflation, lack of cooperation between Solidarity and military government → economic crisis in Poland >>> a. early 1989: Solidarity + Communist government agreement to legalize Solidarity and declared that a group of representatives to Polish parliament would be voted on in free elections >>> b. Communist party would still be guaranteed majority with General Jaruzelski as president for 4 yrs >> 2. Solidarity unexpectedly won most of the elected seats and the Communist party did not get their expected majority. >>> a. first freely elected opp. in Communist country >>> b. Solidarity leader: Lech Walesa - allied with 2 smaller parties and gained majority in Parliament >> 3. Gorbachev: would not intervene to save Comm. in Poland >> 4. August 1989: Solidarity member sworn in as 1st non-Comm. leader in E. Europe since Stalin's rule >> 5. changes under Solidarity government >>> a. slow political change: removed secret police and Comm. leaders in govt. >>> b. radical economic change: moved away from state planning and control >>> c. Jan. 1, 1990: removed govt. price control >> 6. Hungary's Janos Kadar (leader of Comm. party) - economic liberalization after 1956 revolt but replaced by a reform communist in 1988 >> 8. 1990: free elections & opened border to East Germany >>> a. thousands entered Austria, Hungary, and West Germany >>> b. East German protest movement against movement of East Germans "stayers vs leavers" >>> c. November 1989: Berlin Wall opened >> 9. December 1989: Czechoslovakia's "Velvet Revolution" - ten day removal of Comm. govt. (led by students, intellectuals, and revolutionary Vaclav Havel) >>> a. Comm. govt. resigned >>> b. Havel became president >> 10. violent revolution in Romania >>> a. dictator Ceausescu ordered army to kill thousands in protests → armed uprising of people, forces defeated >>> b. dictator & wife executed > B. The Disintegration of the Soviet Union >> 1. February 1990: Comm. defeat in local elections all over Soviet Union; democrats and anticommunist won in leading cities >> 2. Lithuania: nationalist president electe d, parliament declared Lithuania independent >> 3. Gorbachev: econ. embargo but did not use army against Lithuania → lessened support for Gorbachev >>> a. Gorbachev ratified new constitution that removed Comm. party's political monopoly, giving more power to the Congress of People's Deputies >>> b. convinced majority to elect him president of Soviet Union >> 4. Boris Yeltsin - radical reform communist who accepted democratic movement, Gorbachev's rival >>> a. May 1990: leader of Russian Federation's parliament >>> b. declared Russia's independence from Soviet Union >>> c. 6 of 15 Soviet republics rejected Gorbachev's treaty with looser confederation of member republics >> 5. July 1990: Gorbachev defeated at Comm. party congress >>> a. August 1991: gang kidnapped Gorbachev & attempted coup d'etat but failed >>> b. rescued and returned as leader of Soviet Union >> 6. Yeltsin outlawed Comm. party in Russia >>> a. withdrew from Soviet Union along with all over Soviet Republics >>> b. December 25, 1991: official end of Soviet Union > C. German Unification and the End of the Cold War >> 1. East German reform communists took control in October 1989. >>> a. wanted democratic and responsive socialism, "third way" >>> b. wanted improved relations w/ West Germany but did not want unification >> 2. East Germany absorbed into West Germany >>> a. ~1/2 of East German population went to West Germany after fall of Berlin Wall; returned to East Germany but wanted unity >>> b. November 1989: West German chancellor Helmut Kohl - 10 point plan for unification of Germany & promised economic improvement for East German citizens → helped Alliance for Germany, which promoted a unified Germany >>> c. March 1990: Alliance for German won 50% of votes in East German election for parliament >>> d. July 1990: Kohl made treaty w/ Gorbachev w/ German declaration of peaceful intentions and promise to never develop nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons >>> e. October 1990: East Germany merged w/ West & kept West German laws and constitution >>> >>> media type="youtube" key="YtYdjbpBk6A" height="385" width="480" align="center" >>> media type="youtube" key="wnYXbJ_bcLc" height="385" width="480" align="center" >>> >> 3. November 1990: delegates from Eur. countries + US + Soviet Union met in Paris >>> a. downsizing of armed forces >>> b. all European borders valid and legal >>> c. Paris Accord - general peace treaty ending Cold War >>> d. agreements between Soviet Union and US to lessen nuclear weapons >> 4. issues in the Middle East >>> a. 1988: end of 8 year war between Iraq and Iran >>> b. August 1990: Iraq (under Saddam Hussein) invaded Kuwait and annexed it → UN Security Council blockaded Iraq, authorized US to attack Iraq >>> c. demonstration of US power + "new world order" - US & UN working together to improve global stability

**IV. New Challenges in the Twenty-First Century (Annie)** //21st Century// //Europe// //opens with a baby bust- birthrates fell to levels indicating a shrinking population.//

 * The European Union attracts rapid number of illegal immigrants and refuges.

The Prospect of Population Decline

Europe experiences low birthrates Women seek economical and social equality.Career minded women are less likely to stop and have one or any children. Often families fulfill their “social duty” with one child. The Growth of Immigration Western Europe’s demographic changes with the influx of migrants from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Many workers stayed and migrated their families over. Large portion of illegals are women. - France’s right-center government of Jacques Chirac in 2004 banned the wearing of headscarves by Muslim girls in public schools
 * Western Europe drew largely on N. Africa and Turkey for manual laborers.
 * “People smuggling” develops as a business for Russian-speaking gangs.
 * Influx of immigrants generates diversity which also creates an amount of discontent.

====V. **The Future in Perspective ** ( Carlos )====
 * History provides protection from people who are constantly predicting the future; called "prognosticators".
 * "the great seesaw" - views of the future swinging back and forth between pessimism & optimism with every generation, decade, etc.
 * mood good in USA in the 90s, but in 2000 mood shifted.
 * we are currently at the head of the Western "procession".
 * CONGRATULATIONS YOU JUST FINISHED READING THE BOOK. Give yourselves a pat on the back!
 * Now it's time to take the AP test ... =]

Key Terms
__Alliance for Germany__ -

__baby bust__ - significant 21st century decline in European birthrates

__European Union__ - the new name adopted by the European Community in 1993, supported western European unity

__Gdansk Agreement__ - the Polish government's acceptance of protesting workers' demands; granted the right to form free trade unions, freedom of speech, release of prisoners, and economic reform

__glasnost__ - "openness" of government and media as adopted by Gorbachev, "to tell it like it is" instead of censorship, uniformity, and lies from the government

__globalization__ - the process of developing a nation/society in order to promote international influence and to incorporate it into a global network of communication and trade

__Great Russians__ - patriots based in Central Russia; made up less than half of the Soviet population but controlled leadership in Russia, non-Russian Republics & Eastern Bloc countries

__Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)__ - a guerrilla group of Albanian Muslim militants of Kosovo that fought for Kosovo's independence from Yugoslavia

__Maastricht treaty__ - a 1992 treaty that created the European Union with a single currency (the euro) that was to be established by 1999

__"new world order"__ - an idea declared by President George Bush that stated that the United States and the United Nations would cooperate to impose global stability

__Paris Accord__ - a general peace treaty between European countries, the United States, and the Soviet Union that ended the Cold War, scaled down armed forces, and declared all European borders valid and legal

__perestroika__ - the term used to described Gorbachev's political and economic reforms beginning in 1987, literally means "restructuring" in Russian

__re-Stalinization__ - the return to a Stalinist system in politics

__shock therapy__ - the Solidarity movement's radical economic shift toward private property and market mechanisms instead of Communist practices

__Solidarity__ - a Polish movement led by Lech Walesa that began as an independent democratic trade union and developed into a campaign for political change against communist rule; became very popular and had 9.5 million union members by March 1981

__third way__ - preserving socialism by making it democratic and responsive to people's needs in order to go beyond failed Stalinism and ruthless Capitalism

__Velvet Revolution__ - ten day removal of Comm. govt. in Czechoslovakia (led by students, intellectuals, and revolutionary Vaclav Havel)

Practice Quizzes for this Unit
http://www.historyteacher.net/APEuroCourse/EHAP-Quizzes/20cCulture-1.htm http://www.historyteacher.net/APEuroCourse/EHAP-Quizzes/NewWorldOrder-1.htm http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424370/student_view0/chapter30/multiple_choice_quiz.html

Questions to Think About
//(from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072424370/student_view0/chapter30/problems_for_analysis.html)// 1. In what ways has European integration succeeded? In what ways has it failed? How can you account for these successes and failures? 2. How have governments attempted to deal with problems accompanying economic growth over the past 30 years? 3. In what ways did Eastern and Western European nations face different sorts of problems during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s? 4. How do you explain the fall of Communism in 1989 and 1990?