Solidarity movement in Poland began

Poland was facing a severe economic crisis largely due to rising cost of oil and a recession in the West. So, in response to the government raising food prices by 100%, shipyard workers in Gdansk went on strike

The movement grew to about 8 million people - more than 1 million members of the Communist party joined Solidarity

Gorbachev is appointed General Secretary of the Soviet union

• The Geneva summit was the first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev - they met to discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons​
• It was the first American-Soviet summit in 6 years​
• Although it did not lead to any formal agreements, it represented a successful engagement between the two countries and was the first step towards successful communication

The communist party appointed General Wojciech Jaruzelski – the effective leader of the country, who imposed martial law in December 1981

The INF treaty is signed between Gorby and Reagan which prevented large amount of missiles ​

The Polish leadership had been left on their own to deal with the riots from Solidarity​ - they chose not to suppress the protests and instead invited Solidarity to round-table talks on reform​

Solidarity won the election by a landslide - won 160/161 of the freely contested ​

Hungary's open borders cause millions of East Germans to 'go on holiday' - Honecker then closes the border, but people still try to leave​ = protests

Honecker was forced to resign - Krenz replaced him and announced that there will be reforms​. One of them was breaking down the wall ​- Citizens stormed the wall on November 9th​

• Gorbachev described the Afghanistan War as a 'bleeding wound' ​
• Final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan​

• Romanian ​people revolted after starving and freezing
• Revolts only got stronger ​
• Leader Ceausescu tried to flee, however he was arrested and put on trial and executed
• Harsh regime ended communism