Transcript EUROPE: AFTER 1970

EUROPE: AFTER
1970
THE END OF THE COLD
WAR BRINGS NEW
CHALLENGES TO THE
REGION
THE 1970S: DETENTE
ABM TREATY,
HELSINKI
AGREEMENTS
AND POLICY OF
EQUIVALENCE
LED TO GREATER
COOPERATION
BETWEEN
SUPERPOWERS
LATE 1970S: LIKE OLD TIMES?
AFTER USSR
INVADED
AFGHANISTAN IN
1979, RELATIONS
DETERIORATED
REAGAN’S HARSH
RHETORIC
REMINSCENT OF
1950S: CALLS
SOVIETS “EVIL
EMPIRE”
1980S: THE END OF THE COLD
WAR & COLLAPSE OF
COMMUNISM
BACKGROUND:
BREZHNEV (19641982) WAS
RELUCTANT TO
REFORM BUT DID
RELAX
RESTRICTIONS
ON WESTERN
GOODS
BREZHNEV’S PROBLEMS
DISSENTENTS
PUNISHED,
CENTRAL
PLANNING NOT
EFFECTIVE,
POPULUS
APATHETIC,
ALCOHOLISM
SOARED
BREZHNEV: “NO EXPERIMENTS”
Andropov
BREZHNEV’S
SLOGAN MEANT
ECONOMIC
DOWNTURN IN THE
70S & 80S COULD
NOT BE REVERSED
YURI ANDROPOV
TOOK OVER IN 1982
– UNREMARKABLE
EXCEPT FOR HIS
SUPPORT OF A
YOUNG REFORMER
1985: GORBACHEV’S NEW ERA
Gorbachev was old
school Communist
who worked his
way up through
system
Yet, he was
determined to
usher in era of
change. . .and he
did
Gorbachev
GORBACHEVS REFORMS
1985-1991
Perestroika:
Restructuring
Soviet economy to
free market
Glasnost:
Openness; allowed
for Soviet people
and press to
critique system.
Open discussion.
POLITICAL REFORMS
New parliament
formed- called
Congress of
People’s Deputies
Article 6 struck
from Constitution
Gorbachev now
“President”
MULTI-ETHNIC ISSUES
THREATEN SOVIET EMPIRE
With 92 nationalities
and 112 languages
within the Soviet
Union, nationalism
rose up in the
republics as Georgia,
Estonia, Azerbaijan,
Latvia, Moldavia,
Uzbekistan protested
Lithuania declares
independence in 1990
END OF SOVIET UNION
Gorbachev struggled
with breakaway
republics and the
economy.
Meanwhile, hard-liners
try one last grasp for
power- they arrest
Gorby & attempt to
seize power
Russian President
Yeltsin held firm to his
support of Gorby
SOVIET EMPIRE IS HISTORY
A week after the
Ukraine declares
independence
(Dec. 1, 1991),
Yeltsin and
presidents of
Ukraine and
Belarus announced
that the Soviet
Union “has ceased
to exist”
COLD WAR ENDS: US/USSR
RELATIONS STABILIZE
Yeltsin
Clinton
Clinton
NOT THAT GEORGIA!!!
NEW SOVIET REPUBLICS
After 1991: Armenia (Republic),
Azerbaijan Belarus, Estonia,
Georgia (Republic), Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania,
Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
YELTSIN REPLACED BY PUTIN
(1999-PRESENT)
EASTERN EUROPE COMMUNISM
COLLAPSES
Key announcement by
Gorbachev in 1989:
“The Soviets will not
intervene militarily to
block independence
movements”
After that assurance,
revolts occurred
quickly in former
Soviet Bloc nations
POLAND
1960s: Stable
1970s: Economic
decline
1980s: Food $ rises &
Solidarity formed
1981: Walesa arrested
1988: Protests led to
free elections
1990: Walesa new
President
1995: Economy
hurting- Communist
elected (Con’t free)
HUNGARY
KADAR
KHRUSHCHEV
Janos Kadar ruled
Communist
Hungary from the
early 1950s to the
late 1980s
Kadar gradually
moved away from
Soviet influence
Enacted many
economic reforms
HUNGARY GAINS
INDEPENDENCE
Hungary in the 1980s
was called,
“Communism with a
Capitalist facelift.”
Kadar fell from power
in 1988
1990: New parties win
election
Democratic Forum
calls for free market &
free elections
CZECHOSLOVAKIA CONTINUES
HARD-LINE, PEOPLE PROTEST
After failed 1968
revolt, hard-liner
Gustav Husak used
massive repression to
keep power
Suppression of late
1980s protest in
Prague led to more
protests
Nov. 1989: 500,000
protest in Prague
CZECHOSLOVAKIA GAINS
INDEPENDENCE AND SPLITS
Dec. 1989
Government collapses
Husak resigns and
playwright Vaclav
Havel takes over
Havel declares
amnesty for political
prisoners, makes
goodwill tour
Ethnic issues persist
and finally Czech
Republic and Slovakia
emerge as two distinct
nations
HAVEL
ROMANIA: A VIOLENT REVOLT
CEAUSESCU
1965: Nicolae
Ceausescu & wife rule
dictatorial regime
Ceausescu ignored
reforms of Gorby
Gov’t crushed 1989
protests- more protest
ensued
Finally, army refused
to support further
oppression
Ceausescu & wife
executed on
Christmas day, 1989
BULGARIA: A PATTERN
EMERGES
Bulgarian
independence from
Soviet influence
followed a similar
pattern
1954: Todor Zhivkov
led Bulgarian
Communist party
Late 1980s:
Opposition emerges
Oct. 1989: protest in
Sofia- Zhivkov ousted
Nov. 1991: free
elections mixed
1989: DEMONSTRATIONS IN
EASTERN EUROPE
ALBANIA: BETTER LATE THAN
NEVER
Albania was one of the
smallest and poorest
nations in the Soviet
sphere of influence
Hard-liner (Enver
Hoxha 1944-1985) led
country,
demonstrations occur,
new parties ok’ed, free
elections held in 1991
Problems still persist
in Albania today
GERMAN REUNIFICATION
West & East
Germany were
powerful symbols
of the Cold War
Their unification is
therefore an
important symbol
of the end of the
Cold War
BACKGROUND TO THE
UNIFICATION
East Germany led by
Walter Ulbricht in early
1950s was faithful
Soviet Satellite
1953 worker revolt
crushed by Soviet
tanks
Berlin wall (1961)
halts exodus of
talented workers
East Germany
gradually becomes
strongest Eastern
European economy
PROTESTS MOUNT
East German Leader
Erich Honecker (19711989) made full use of
the secret police
(Stasi) and ruled with
an iron fist
Late 1980s new
exodus of East
Germans into West
German territory
Nov. 1989 government
agrees to open wall
EAST AND WEST GERMANY ARE
REUNITED
March 1990: Free
elections are held in
East Germany
Christian Democrats
#1 party
July, 1990 Economies
are merged
Oct., 1990 East
Germany ceased to
exist
Germany: whole again 1990
THE DISINTEGRATION OF
YUGOSLAVIA
Created in 1919,
Yugoslavia was a
Kingdom for ethnic
Slavs
After WWII, leader
Marshall Tito held
together 6
Republics and 2
autonomous
provinces
ETHNIC DIVISIONS PERSIST
Slobodan Milosevic
Tito dies in 1980 and
so did Yugo. unity
Late 1980s new
parties emerge as
Yugo. is caught up in
reform surge
1990: Republics of
Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina &
Macedonia demand
separatism (nation)
Leader Slobodan
Milosevic (leader since
’87) refuses
SLOVENIA AND CROATIA
DECLARE INDEPENDENCE
June 1991: Milosevic
sent in Yugo army into
Slovenia without
success
Dec. 1991: Milosevic
attacked Croatia and
captured 1/3rd before
cease-fire
Increasingly, the
Serbian army was the
Yugoslavian army
THE WAR IN BOSNIA
DAYTON ACCORDS
1995
Despite recognition by
many states, Serbia turned
on Bosnia
By mid-1993 70% of
Bosnia taken by Serb army
Ethnic cleansing by Serbs
compared to Hitler
By 1995 ¼ million
Bosnians killed
U.S. (Clinton) & NATO gain
back territory from Serbs
Dayton Meeting in Nov.
1995
Formal peace signed Dec.
1995 in Paris
WAR IN KOSOVO
New war erupted in
1999 in Kosovo
Aimed at ethnic
Albanians and an
attempt to protect
minority Serbs
In 1989 Milosevic had
stripped Kosovo of
their autonomy
Serb forces
massacred Albanians
NATO bombs Serb
strongholds for 78
days
MILOSEVIC: A WAR CRIMINAL
For the last two
years, Slobodan
Milosevic has been
on trial for war
crimes and crimes
against humanity
His trial continues
despite ill health
Milosevic on trial at the
Hague in the Netherlands He
died while still on trial in
Spring, 2006