Modern Europe
Reforms of
Gorbachev
Gorbachev’s Reforms 1985
Had NOT emerged during Stalin’s
reign
HAD contact with West
Admitted Soviet system lagged
Introduces reform
USSR abandons “superiority” over
others
Future of Reform
Soviet army pulled from
Afghanistan
Nuclear weapons reduced
Satellite nations were
surrendered
Germany is permitted to reunify
Glasnost
1986 “Openness”
Lenin-Brezhnev= totalitarian state
Fear not initiative rewarded
Religion accepted, not liked
Christians open churches, Jews leave
Dissidents released
Controls relaxed (censorship)
Criticize govt, examine social problems
Two Dissidents
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Criticized Stalin
Sent to gulag, wrote book
1974- forced out of USSR, to US
Andrei Sakharov
Helped develop hydrogen bomb
Returned to Moscow under glasnost
Perestroika
1986 “Economic Restructuring”
Economic hardship
Problems= central planning
Local managers= more authority
Laws allow for private business
Need for new technology
Demokratizatsiya
1989 Economic success- Party must
loosen control
Multi-candidate elections
Secret ballot
New legislature Congress of Peoples’
Deputies (still only 1 party)
Gorbachev elected President
Economic Reform
Market economy replaces central
planning
Individual enterprise, private property
Foreign Investments
Socialism emphasized over
Capitalism
Reform brings higher standard of
living and problems
Economic Problems
Chernobyl Accident- Explosion at a nuclear
power plant in Ukraine
Economy and standard of living fall
Lack of cohesion emerged
Communism had led to artificial unity
Freedom and democracy provoke
dissatisfaction
Ethnic/national groups want independence
Yeltsin and Russian Republic declare
independence
Arms Control
SALT- 1972 Nixon & Brezhnev
Détente- tensions lessen
Talks stall 1980’s- Gorbachev
restarted
Dec. 1987 INF- (Intermediate
Nuclear Forces)
Gorbachev signs w/ Reagan
Read and take Notes
Movement of people 1126-8
External Migration
Internal Migration
Decolonization
Racism
National Front
Post WWII
Eastern Europe
Urbanization
Fall of the Iron
Curtain
Poland
1st to feel Gorbachev’s reforms
Economy hurt by 1981 military rule
1988 walk off- Solidarity
Jaruzelski meets w/ Solidarity
ends military dictatorship
Poland
1989 free elections
1st peaceful communist turnover
New govt.= democracy
Est. by Solidarity
Walesa elected in 1990
Free market
Economy stabilizes-incentives
Inflation, unemployment recover
Hungary
Under Kadar- communist dictatorship
Reform- free enterprise, stock market,
New constitution- free parliamentary
elections (multi-party)
Oct. 1989 Radicals depose Communists
Communists vote itself out
New govt.= conservative govt.
East Germany
Oct. 1989- Communist govt. loses
faith, people fleeing West
Demonstrations for democracy
Honecker uses police
Police, leaders not follow orders
Honecker- resigns Oct. 18, 1989
Nov. 1989- Berlin Wall falls
Bulgaria
Todor Zhivkov- Communist
Dictator resigns after Wall
falls
New govt.= Multi-party govt.
(mid Dec. 1989)
Czechoslovakia
Milos Jakes resists change
1989 protest (Havel)
Police attack- People demand end to
communist rule
Communist govt. resigns
New govt.= Democracy under Vaclav
Havel
Czechoslovakia
Economy- inflation &
unemployment
Especially in Slovakia
Jan 1,1993 2 areas divide
Could not agree on how to handle
economic problems
Romania
Late 1989 no democratic reform
Nicolae Ceausescu- Communist
Dictator (use of secret police)
Dec. 21, 1989- demonstration
Popular uprising- army joins people
Dec. 25, 1989- shot with wife
E. Europe now had democracies
Fall of the
USSR
Collapse of Communism
E. Europe inspires multinational states
100 ethnic groups
Muslim groups- more religious freedom
March 11, 1990 Lithuania declares
independence
Tanks move in- Gorbachev afraid other
republics might follow
People look to Yeltsin- denounces use of
force
1 freely elected pres of Russian Republic
 st
Why the Coup?
Top Party officials, KGB, defense
ministry- upset over Gorbachev
about E. Europe
Fear of losing power
The Coup
Gorbachev sided with
Radical democratization
Communist hardliners
Aug. 2, 1991 Communists stage Coup
Gorbachev taken into custody while on
vacation
State of Emergency declared
People protest- fear of dictatorship
Yeltsin speaks against coup (gains fame)
The
Coup
Fails
Gorbachev returns to Moscow
Resigns as Secretary General
Communist Party officially disbanded
Soviet strength had collapsed
Baltic States demand and gain
independence
10 republics declare independence (not
complete break)
End of the USSR
Post-coup leaders of republics form State
Council
Gorbachev president, Yeltsin most powerful
Council creates loose confederation and
prevents economic collapse
Council breaks down
Commonwealth of Independent StatesUkraine, Russia,Byelorussia, others follow
Gorbachev resigns Dec. 25, 1991
The Republics
Uncertain future
Lack of democratic experience
Size
Ethnic diversity
Questions
Economic cooperation?
Common foreign policy, secure nuclear
weapons?
Preserve law and order?
New Germany
West Germany
Shortages in food and housing- East
Germans flee
Konrad Adenauer- first chancellor
Led German recovery
Industrialized, skilled workers,
resources
Marshall Plan- modern technology
Europe’s economic leader
West Germany
1969 Willy Brandt- “Ostopolitik” (eastern
policy”
Ease tension with Soviet Bloc
1982 Helmut Kohl- closer ties with US
Convince- new Germany not threat
1990 plans reunification of Germanys
Challenge: Modernized West and
Backwards East
New Germany
E. Germany in ruins
Not modernized since WWII
Rebuilding
$100 billion in early 1990s (taxes)
1994 3 million jobless (inefficient
factories)
C. Europe’s largest, wealthiest
country
Neo-Nazi Violence
Early 1990’s refugees from
Yugoslavian wars
Constitution guaranteed refuge
Unemployed Germans angered- job
stealing
Kohl- “This republic is not Weimar”
Western
Europe after
WWII
France
Fourth Republic est. 1946
Nazis stripped country
Major rebuilding
Vietnam (Indochina)
Vietminh- communists
1954 French leave after defeat at
Dien Bien Phu
France
Algeria- Muslims v. French
F.L.N. (National Liberation Front)- attacked
French military and settlers
1957 French military takes control of govt.
as rebel win close
French split on issues de Gaulle forms
the Fifth Republic
New constitution- Pres. Stronger, Assembly
weaker
France
1962 Algeria gains independence
De Gaulle’s goal: make France the
dominant power in Europe
No US, UK influence
Tension w/ NATO
France
1968 domestic unrest
Student protestors joined by
workers
De Gaulle energizes his supporters
and army who join demonstration
Police move on students & workers
return to jobs
Govt. quickly improves wages &
benefits to avoid more protest
France
1969 de Gaulle resigns
Minor constitutional changes rejected
1981 Socialist President Francois
Mitterrand elected
The United Kingdom
Britain was destroyed in WWII
Labour Party calls for welfare state
Govt. takes strong hold
1951 problems persist- Conservatives win
office
Industry back to public
1979 Conservative Margaret Thatcher
(replaced by Major)
Encouraged private enterprise
Social Service decreased
The United Kingdom
After WWII colonies to hard to govern
1947 India and Pakistan given self-rule
Most colonies join Commonwealth of
Nations
GB lowers expenses
GB loses source of materials and markets
Argentina attacks Falkland Islands
Thatcher sends in troops, GB keeps
Northern Ireland (GB)
Protestants hold power
Large Catholic minority- no power
Catholics hoped Ireland would be
reunified
1968 violence breaks out
Catholics v. Protestant
GB sends in troops
Northern Ireland
IRA calls for reunification
Irish Republican Army (1916)
Terrorist group- violence against civilians
Protestants fight back
1985 Anglo-Irish Pact- order is restored
Reps of Ireland given voice in affairs of
Northern Ireland
Violence ends
Nations of Southern
Europe
Italy
Portugal
Spain
Greece
Italy
1946 Republic formed
Leaderships changes frequently
Marshall Plan- quick recovery
Industrial triangle- Milan, Turin, Genoa
1980’s labor unrest- some turn to
Communism
Moderate govt. weakened
Portugal
Neutral in WWII
1930- Dictatorship est.
1960’s- African colonies rebel
against Antonio Salazar
1974 Salazar’s govt. is
overthrown
Turn toward democracy
Spain
Initially left alone after WWII
West wants to improve defenses
against Soviet bloc
Franco rules until death in 1975
Juan Carlos I leads Spain towards
democracy (Franco’s successor)
1982- Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez
Socialist Workers Party
Greece
Civil War breaks out after WWII
Communists v. pro-Western govt.
US issues Truman Doctrine
Communists defeated
Unstable govt. (1967-1990)
Army
Constitutional govt.
Socialists Conservatives
24 Days to Go
DBQ Wednesday
Essay Thursday
MC Friday
Read and Highlight Balkans
Changes in
Eastern Europe
Yugoslavia
Dec. 29, 1989- Communist leaders
suggest multi-party system
Broke apart in war
Ethnic groups- Serbs, Croats, Muslims,
Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrins
6 republics
Ethnic Ties
Differences:
Serbs- Greek Orthodox, Cyrillic
alphabet
Croats & Slovenes- Catholic, Roman
alphabet
Similarities:
Both don’t like Muslims
Common tie = common country
Croatia & Slovenia
Tito kept country together
Want Yugo. to be loose alliance of
sovereign state
S. Milosevic- reassert Serbian
leadership in Yugo.
1991 seized power from self-governing
Kosovo
June 1991 Invades (large Serb minority)
1992 UN ceasefire
Bosnia
Feb. 1992 Bosnia-Herzegovinaindependence
Serbs opposed- would be minority to
Muslims
March 1992- war (Karadzic supported by
Bosnian Serbs)
Serbs used brutality against Bosnian
Muslims (ethnic cleansing)
1995 70% Bosnia held by Serbs
Albania
Communism did not fall
until 1991