Unit 6
Poland's Solidarity
Hungarian Uprising
USSR Collapse
Prague Spring
Berlin Wall
Why was leaving a problem for the USSR?
Khrushchev's Solution
Why did Germany want to leave?
The West's Reaction
Some left because of political reasons, some left for economic reasons.
Eastern Europe fell further behind those of the West.
The Hungarian Uprising showed for many people in Eastern Europe that it was impossible to fight the communists
West Germany had shops full of goods due to massive investments.
those who were defecting were very often highly skilled workers as well as qualified managers.
1,000 leaving communism meant rule of better life under capitalism generally.
all crossing points from East to West Berlin were sealed to foreigners and allied soldiers except for one.
on August 13, 1961 cast German soldiers erected a barbed wire barrier along the entire front between east and western Berlin ending all free movement
Khrushchev insisted that Kennedy withdrew US troops from the city.
US diplomats and troops crossed regularly into East Berlin to find out how the Soviets would react
Soviet tanks pulled up to Checkpoint Charlie and refused to allow any further access to the East
The US and the USSR faced each other in a tense stand off, after 18 hours, the tanks pulled back.
Khrushchev ordered Ulbricht to avoid any actions that would increase tension.
Kennedy said "It's not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war."
The communists said the wall was a protective shell around East Berlin.
The capitalists said the wall was a prison war.
Why did the Hungarians hate communism?
What did the Hungarians do?
they feared the secret police
catholic church was banned by the USSR
they disliked the soviet army living in their country
they had no freedom of speech
standard of living was declining. USSR was taking Hungary's natural resources back to the USSR.
Hungarians demanded
Hungarians demanded the removal of Soviet weapons
students pulled down the Stalin statue
They demanded withdraw of the Soviet army from Hungary.
Solutions
Importance of Solidarity
Problem in Poland
wages were not rising along with the price of goods
overall economy was shrinking
price of food was going way up
the Polish economy was in bad shape
Poland's foreign debt was rising
the communist government traveled down on these union strikes
solidarity union issued it's 3 demands on the government, all were met.
Workers began to set up trade unions which would organize strike in order to make changes
leaders of solidarity Lech Walesa gave interview were seen as a true leader
the rest of the world paid attention to the situation in Poland
this was an organized movement not street protests or riots
USSR placed tanks and troops on the border with Poland
Why was there opposition in Czech?
How did the USSR respond?
Outcome
Dubcek wanted socialism with a humanfire
Czech wanted less censorship, more freedom of speech, and a reduction in the activities.
There was only one opposition in Czech
troops preformed training exercises on the Czech border
USSR thought about imposing economic sanctions
The USSR tried various methods with Dubcek to slow him down
finally, soviet tanks moved into Czech
Dubcek was removed from power
even though Dubcek expressed loyalty and the warsaw pact, but Brezhner was very worried that the new ideas of Czech would spread
there was violent resistances
Eastern European leaders feared that their own people will demand them
Decrease defense spending
effects of the reforms on East Europe
Gorbachev's reforms
Quality of life was low in USSR
Economy was weak
there had been no new ideas about their econ. Since Joseph Stalin's era
money spent on a war in Afghanistan
overspending on the arms race
lower standard of living compared to the capitalist countries
people did not trust the government
life expectancy was decreasing in the USSR
corruption in government was extremely bad, communist party members could get things that the ordinary citizens could not
Gorbachev didn't want to end communism, only change it for the better
he withdrew troops from Afghanistan
he cut spending on the arms race
Gorbachev cut the number of soldiers he was paying
Gorbachev and Reagan had 3 meetings where they decided to remove some nuclear missiles and agreed to inspections to prove they had done so
The 15 republicans in the USSR also began to declare their independence as well
Russia itself, elected Boris Yeltsin, who "saw no future in the USSR."
In 1985 Gorbachev announced he was withdrawing troops from Eastern Europe, the message was "The Red Army will not support your communist government any longer.
communists tried to overthrow Yeltsin but they were unsuccessful, on December 25th, Gorbachev announced the end of the USSR