Collapse of Communism - Uprisings 1989
- Created by: Sadie Kempner
- Created on: 05-04-13 14:06
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- Collapse of Communism - Uprisings 1989
- Poland - 10 years
- Solidarity started strikes in 1979 over increasing food prices and demanded politcal and economic rights
- Warsaw Pact army surround Poland
- Januzelski imposed martial law and solidarity outlawed
- Pressure for Change so great that by 1989 the Com govt agreed to hold elections
- Solidarity won 99/100 seats - Lech Walesa became President
- NO INTERVENTION BY GORBACHEV
- Solidarity started strikes in 1979 over increasing food prices and demanded politcal and economic rights
- Hungary - 10 months
- Major political reforms following the replacement of Kadar with Grosz and General Secretary
- The Parliament adopted a "democracy package" which included
- Trade union pluralism
- Freedom of association
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of the press
- New electoral law
- Radical revision of the Constitution
- The Parliament adopted a "democracy package" which included
- It was ruled that the 1956 revolution had been a popular uprising and not a foreign-instigated attempt at counter-revolution
- In June the Communist Party admitted that Imre Nagy had been illegally executed after a show trial - given a state funeral
- Mass demonstrations on the 15th March (National Holiday) convinced govt to begin talks with other political movements
- Round table talks with non-Communists began 22 April - 18 of September
- 2nd May - began dismantling its 150 mile long border fence with Austria
- Destabilied GDR and Czech. - Thousands crossed illegally via the Hungarian border into W.
- Communist Party held its last session in October which laid legilation for free multi-party elections --> March 1990
- Soviet military presence that had been there since 1945 left in 1991
- Major political reforms following the replacement of Kadar with Grosz and General Secretary
- East Germany - 10 weeks
- The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig - attracted 1200-1500 demonstrators
- By 2nd October - 10,000 protestors - Honecker planned a "shoot and kill" suppression on the 9th
- 70,000 demonstrators turned up on the 9th October - Authorities on the ground refused to open fire.
- Gorby visited East Ger. 6th and 7th October for 40th Anniversary celebrations and urged Honecker to reform
- By 2nd October - 10,000 protestors - Honecker planned a "shoot and kill" suppression on the 9th
- East Germans escaping to West through border with Hungary and Czech. -- over 30,000 - nothing govt could do about it
- Honecker deposed by SED and replaced by more moderate Krenz
- Authorised demonstration in Berlin
- 500,000 demonstrators
- Authorities allowed E. Germans to cross existing borders into W. Germany and W. Eur.
- 500,000 demonstrators
- Authorised demonstration in Berlin
- Berlin Wall came down 9th November
- Germany Reunified - 1990
- The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig - attracted 1200-1500 demonstrators
- Czechoslovakia - 10 days
- 17th November 1989 - police suppressed a peaceful student proteset in Prague
- Sparked a series of demonstrations known as the "Velvet Revolution" - 19th Nov - late Dec
- By 20th Nov, numbers had swelled fro 200,000 the previous day to 500,000
- Sparked a series of demonstrations known as the "Velvet Revolution" - 19th Nov - late Dec
- 24th November all Communist leadership resigned
- 2hr general strike was held by every Czeckoslovakian citizen
- Barbed wire obstructions to West Germany and Austria were removed in early December
- Vaclev Havel elected President 28th December 1989
- June 1990 - first Democratic elections
- June 1991 - last Soviet troops withdrawn
- 17th November 1989 - police suppressed a peaceful student proteset in Prague
- Romania - 10 hours
- Series of riots and demonstrations starting in Timisoara - spread throughout the country
- Ceausescu abandoned power and fled with his wife
- Captured and tried in a show trial for genocide, damage to the economy and abuse of power for execution of the military for use against the Romanian people
- Found guilty of all charges and executed (the last people ever to be execute in Czechoslovakia
- National Salvation Front took over while waiting for a new political order
- Poland - 10 years
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