1985 to Present Essay Rebecca Finkelman 4/21/13 Revolutions of 1989 The year 1989 witnessed an almost unbelievable turn

of events in the Eastern Bloc. Gorbachevs reforms spun out of control causing many changes to Eastern Europe. The collapse of Communism started off the number of crazy events that was followed by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and German unification that ultimately resulted in the end of the Cold War. The year of 1989 was a year of many changes that sadly created more problems for Europe in the years to come. The collapse of communism led the way for the numerous changes in 1989. Solidarity and the Polish people led the way to the revolution of Europe. The collapse of the economy in Poland forced the polish communist leaders to negotiate sharing power to resolve the economic crisis and political unrest in Poland. Many angry voters crossed off party candidates so that the Communist party could not win. The Solidarity government came into power, with their noncommunist leader, Lech Walesa. This government introduced revolutionary political changes. It unlimited the secret police, and any communist in the government, but failed to stop problems with the Soviet Union. Solidarity introduced shock therapy, which moved quickly to market mechanisms and private property. Hungary followed Poland in getting rid of communism. Their communist party agreed to hold free elections. They were able to tare down the iron curtain with Austria and open their border to the Eastern Germans. This opened many protests in Germany, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall. Eastern Germanys communist leaders were pushed away and a reform government came into action. A Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia led to Havel being elected president and communism disappearing. Romania was the only country whose revolution was very violent, but led to Ceausescus defeat and a coalition government emerged. However, this new government created a very troubled country. On the other hand, Eastern Europe was able to joyfully re-enter the mainstream of contemporary European life. Gorbachevs reforms boomeranged and a complicated anti communists revolution swept through the Soviet Union. This resulted into the creation of Russia and 14 other independent states. Due to the fact that Russian politicians and nationalists in the non-Russian republics demanded independence from the Soviet Union, the communist party suffered a defeat in the local elections. Lithuania was declared an independent state by the newly chosen parliament. Gorbachev responded putting an economic embargo on Lithuania. Due to this, Gorbachev wanted to ratify a new constitution and have him elected the present of the Soviet Union. His great rival Yeltsin was then elected the leader of the Russian Federations parliament. He strongly announced that Russia wanted their independence from the Soviet Union. Gorbachev then tried to get a treaty to save the Soviet Union, but his attempts failed. Ultimately, the independent republics of the old Soviet Union established a loose confederation, which played a minor role in the 1990s.

The diminishing of communism in East Germany in 1989 raised the threat of cold war conflict over Germany. East German reform communists wanted to save socialism by making it democratic and responsive to the needs of the people. These reformers supported being closer with West Germany, but did not want unification and wanted a distinct East German identity. However, the efforts failed and East Germany was absorbed into a bigger West Germany. This happened because once the Berlin Wall was opened east Germans went right across into West Germany. Also, chancellor Kohl demonstrated a ten- year plan to unifying Germany promising the East Germans an economic bonanza. This led to the formation of the Alliance for Germany, which won almost 50 percent of the votes in an East German Parliamentary election. However, in the summer of 1990, Germany would once again be the strongest state in central Europe and in October of 1990, East Germany merged into West Germany resulting in agreements. The peaceful reunification of Germany pushed forward many agreements to liquidate the cold war. In November of 1990, delegates from 22 European countries and join the Unites States and the Soviet Union in Paris. They agreed that all existing borders in Europe were legal and valid, which resulted in the Paris Accords. They ended World War II and the long cold war came to an end as well and the U.S. suddenly stood as the worlds only superpower. As the anticommunist revolutions swept Eastern Europe and East-West tensions disappeared, the Soviet Union lost both the will and means to be a global superpower. The Gulf War and the Kuwait situation encouraged President George W. Bush and the United States to impose stability around the war. To conclude, the year 1989 was a huge year for Eastern Europe. A significant turn of events occurred leading to the Paris Accords. Each of these events led to one another starting off with the collapse of communism and ending with the cold war coming to an abrupt stop. The disintegration of the Soviet Union proposed a start for German unification leading to the Paris Accords. These events prompted the way for the building of a new Europe.