Danie- Review FRQs
Prompt: Analyze the long-term and short-term factors responsible for the disintegration of communist
rule in TWO of the following states: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland
Category: Soviet Union Policies (Long Term)
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Gorbachev’s rise to power led to the rebellion of reform-orientated citizens of the Soviet Union under his rule, leading to “De-Stalinization” and the eventual consolidation of
power in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which then provided momentum for political and economic liberalization in the Soviet Union, and then to the downfall of
Communism in the Soviet Union
Glasnost (political openness) was a policy by Gorbachev that required complete openness and transparency within the Government’s activities and institutions of the Soviet
Union
Perestroika (political/economic restructuring) was another policy by Gorbachev, often paired with Glasnost, that means the restructuring of the political and economic ways of
the Soviet Union; a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Gorbachev abandoned the "Brezhnev Doctrine", or the policy that allowed the Soviet Union to intervene with military forces in order to, if necessary, maintain communist rule
in the region
Topic Sentence: The collapse of the Soviet Union’s communistic government led to uprisings in other Eastern European countries, leading
to the eventual collapse of East Germany and Poland’s communistic governments.
Category: Struggles within East Germany and Poland (Short Term)
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After the Holocaust, the small Jewish community left in East Berlin tried to fight for political reform in Communist East Germany
Revolutions of 1989 started in Poland and traveled through Eastern Europe, including East Germany; there was an extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance demonstrating
popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to the pressure for change.
Fall of the Berlin Wall acted as a major symbolic movement which led to German-Reunification in 1990, which led to the downfall of communism
Lech Walesa’s Solidarity in Poland was the first non-communist party-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country; by the end of August, 1989 a Solidarity-led coalition
government was formed and in December 1990 Walesa was elected President of Poland.
Lifting of the Martial Law in 1983 stopped the communistic government from using their military to keep their people in line
Topic Sentence: The short-term factors within East Germany and Poland led to the collapse of the Communistic governments in the states
and helped lead to the disintegration of communism in other countries as well.
Category: Diplomatic Factors (Long and Short Term)
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Reagan’s Foreign Policy was the United States’ Foreign Policy from 1981 to 1989; part of the policies became known as the "Reagan Doctrine,” the United States also offered
financial and logistics support to the anti-communist opposition in central Europe
Evil Empire Speech by Reagan towards Soviet Union and Communistic Eastern Europe; Reagan and his anti-Communist political allies were effective in breaking the tradition of
political tension, thus laying the ground for the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union
Containment was a United States Policy that used many strategies to stop the spread of communism in Europe
Topic Sentence: Policies from outside countries helped bring communism to an end in East Germany and Poland, as well as other Eastern
European Countries as well.
Thesis Statement (Statement linking all categories to a general theme)
World War II and the Cold War were fueled in part by a type of government called Communism, a political theory favoring
collectivism in a classless society. Communism sparked controversy and rebellion in all parts of Eastern Europe and the United States. The
downfall of Communism in East Germany and Poland, and other Eastern European countries, came at the end of the Cold War, triggered by the
disintegration of the Soviet Union, struggles within those individual countries, and diplomatic interference from countries like the United
States.
Review FRQs
Prompt: Considering the period 1918 to 1948, analyze the political and diplomatic problems faced by
TWO of the following newly created Eastern European states: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland
Category: Political Problems
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First Czechoslovak Republic was the first Czech state that existed between 1918 to 1938, commonly called Czechoslovakia; after 1933, Czechoslovakia was the only functioning
democracy in Europe
First Czechoslovakia Republic ended and replaced with Second Czechoslovakia Republic due to the Munich Agreement by the Nazi’s that allowed the Annexation of Czech’s
Sudetenland
Pilsudski took presidency of Poland in 1926 and immediately curtailed the powers of legislators and launched a ‘clean-up’, which initially did good things for Poland. But amid
the social and economic problems that kept being brought up, he quickly restricted political liberties and concentrated more and more power in his own hands
Poland, a new independent state, adopted a democratic constitution of the parliamentary kind, but the executive power experienced many problems due to the rising
competition in parliament and unrest in the streets
Topic Sentence: Poland and Czechoslovakia both took on political problems within their own borders while developing as countries
between 1918 and 1948.
Category: Diplomatic Problems
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Munich Agreement forced Czechoslovakia to cede with German-Populated Sudetenland (caused ethnic difficulties)
Munich Agreement forced southern parts of Slovakia and Sub Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary and the Zaolzie region in Silesia to Poland
Poland was faced with German pressure demanding Danzig’s incorporation into the Reich, the appeasement policy of the British and French from the Munich Agreement
backed Poland’s rulers into a corner, which helped to fuel nationalistic recklessness, thus leading the country to disaster
Topic Sentence: Other power countries tried to control Poland and Czechoslovakia while they were weak and building themselves up,
causing both new states to have diplomatic problems.
Category: Ethnicity and Cultural Problems
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Czechoslovakia had a wide range of ethnicities within its borders, causing troubles and feuds between different cultures; "Czechoslovaks"(Czechs and Slovaks), Germans,
Hungarians, Rusyns, Jews, and some other groups were present
The German minority living in Sudetenland demanded autonomy from the Czech government, claiming they were suppressed and repressed by the Czech government. Then,
in the 1935 Parliamentary elections, the newly founded Sudeten German Party, financed with Nazi money, took the victory, securing over 2/3 of the Sudeten German vote,
which worsened the diplomatic relations between the Germans and the Czechs.
Poland’s violent repression of strikes and peasant movements (1937-1937), and the restriction of political liberties, blocked the chance for an economic and social recovery
Polish authorities took on policies of ‘Polishification’ that made national demands worse. Constitutionally, everyone had the same rights – in 1920, Poland ratified the Treaty on
Minorities– the minority populations (Germans, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Jews, etc.) complained of numerous forms of discrimination. These were not agreed with. The
Ukrainians of eastern Galicia and Volhynia met with policies of forced assimilation and colonization which, under the cover of ‘pacification’, turned into bloody confrontation
with the nationalists. Also, anti-Jewish feeling, stoked up by Polish nationalist groups and the Catholic Church, frequently became murderous acts: boycotts of Jewish firms
and businesses, quotas and ‘seating ghettos’ at universities, pogroms and so on. Finally, having broken with the Treaty on Minorities, the government ended up having openly
anti-Semitic laws voted in 1938 and ordered the army to destroy orthodox churches in Ukrainian areas during summer 1938
Topic Sentence: Many different ethnicities and cultures, when put together into one “big melting pot”, can cause chaos, which is what
happened in Poland and Czechoslovakia in this time period.
Thesis Statement (Statement linking all categories to a general theme)
Czechoslovakia and Poland, between 1918 and 1948, faced many problems as developing countries. These troubles made building
up their economy and society very difficult. Their dilemmas varied between diplomatic issues, political problems, or ethnic and cultural
differences.
Review FRQs
Prompt: Analyze the extent to which Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph the II of Austria advanced
and did not advance Enlightenment ideals during their reigns.
Category: Education
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Frederick enforced general education rules across Prussia, making him successful in advancing the educational Enlightenment ideals; Frederick’s founding of a public education
system was instrumental in Prussia emerging as a powerful state; Frederick succeeded
Joseph made elementary education compulsory for all boys and girls, and higher education on practical lines was offered for a select few; scholarships were created for
talented poor students, and he also allowed the establishment of schools for Jews and other religious minorities; Joseph, like Frederick, succeeded in the educational
Enlightenment ideals
Topic Sentence: Joseph the II and Frederick the Great both succeeded in advancing their countries educationally in accordance to the
Enlightenment ideals.
Category: Peasantry or Class Equality
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Frederick regarded the middle class with disdain; at the end of the Seven Years’ War he forced all bourgeois officers in the army to resign their commissions; business and
professional men were exempt from military service but had to pay heavy taxation. The favored “Junkers” even had to deal with Frederick’s bureaucratic absolutism; even
though he appointed only Junkers as army officers, he discouraged their marrying to reduce the number of potential widows to whom the state would owe a pension.
Frederick did not advance much in the ideals of the Enlightenment through the treatment of the lower classes
Joseph abolished serfdom, although the Austrian peasantry still was left with serious financial and work obligations, making him more of a success at advancing the
Enlightenment ideals of peasantry than Frederick
Topic Sentence: While Joseph the II of Austria succeeded in advancing Austria in the direction of class equality due to the Enlightenment
ideals, Frederick the Great did nothing if not set Prussia backwards in advancement towards class equality.
Category: Religion
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Frederick the Great of Prussia had extreme religious tolerance; when the Jesuits were expelled from Catholic states, he invited them to seek refuge in predominantly Lutheran
Prussia and in this case succeeded with advancing the Enlightenment ideals
Frederick did not advance when he said that Jews were “useless to the state” and levied special taxes on the Jewish subjects and tried to exclude them from the professions
and from the civil service.
Joseph passed an edict of toleration that lifted the Protestant and Greek Orthodox subjects of the monarchy to a condition of near equality; soon after that, the Jews of
Austria also were granted a measure of toleration; the dominant position of the Catholic Church was further undermined by the creation of the Commission on Spiritual
Affairs, which came extremely close to establishing secular control over the Church; meanwhile, Joseph ordered the dissolution of the majority of the monasteries in Austria.
Joseph advanced very far in the religious ideals of the Enlightenment
Topic Sentence: Religious tolerance was a major ideal of the Enlightenment time, and while Frederick the Great of Prussia only advanced
a little towards that goal, Joseph the II reached religious tolerance in a beautiful manner.
Thesis Statement (Statement linking all categories to a general theme)
Joseph the II of Austria and Frederick the Great of Prussia were both very important Enlightenment despots, meaning they still
wanted an absolute monarchy while they enforced Enlightenment ideals. Both succeeded and failed in reforming education, peasantry, or class
equality, and religion in accordance to the Enlightenment ideals during their reign.