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The collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: 1989-95
Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria
Poland
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Poland’s economy increasing indebted to the West
Jaruzelski was forced to introduce price rises of up to 200% in 1998
Led to series of strikes that forced Gov to legalise Solidarity again and enter negotiations with them
and the Catholic Church
All sides agreed that relations with the USSR and the Warsaw Pact could not be discussed as they
didn’t want to provoke a military intervention
Solidarity didn’t challenge the dominance of Communists in Poland
7 April 1989 – Round Table Agreements were signed by the 3 groups
Solidarity was recognised as not just a trade union – but a political party
New constitution was created – allowed Solidarity to compete for 35% of seats in lower house of
Parliament – the Sejm – with the rest for Communists
Upper house of the Sejm would be elected in free elections and both houses would jointly elect the
president of Poland
Gorbachev welcomed this agreement as he felt it would safeguard Communism
Sufficient political concessions to please the West and encourage it to increase its financial assistance
to Poland
4 June 1989 elections – Solidarity won 92/100 seats in the Sejm’s upper house and 160/161 in the
Sejm’s lower house
2 weeks later – Communists won all the seats reserved for them but only 25% of eligible voters voted
It was decided Solidarity would form the Gov and that Communists would hold a minority of
ministerial positions
18 August – Solidarity led a coalition Gov that contained only 4 Communists
16 August – Gorbachev made it clear that USSR would not intervene and reinforce an unpopular
Communist regime
Still not obvious that a major turning point was reached
Communists still controlled ministries of defence, interior, transportation and foreign trade Jaruzelski remained President
Solidarity declared Poland would remain a part of the Warsaw Pact
Only with the collapse of Communist rule in the GDR and Czechoslovakia did Solidarity remove
Communists from control of the army and police
January 1990 – Polish Democratic Party dissolved and reformed as the Social Democratic Party
November 1990 – Jaruzelski resigned – replaced with Walesa, leader of Solidarity

Hungary
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By 1987 – criticism within Hungary of its economy and Gov was growing
Living standards had declined
Countries debt to the west was the highest in Eastern Europe
Corruption existed throughout Gov
In May 1988 – Hungarian Socialist Workers Party replaced PM Kadar with Grosz, a committed
reformer – following Gorbachev’s perestroika
February 1989 – party accepted Hungary would have to become a multi-party democracy – prevent
revolution
When Grosz visited USSR in March 1989 – Gorbachev made clear the dominant position of Socialism
in Hungary shouldn’t be threatened

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June 1989 – ‘round table’ talks began between the Gov and the opposition groups, ending in
agreement for free parliamentary elections in spring of 1990
Party leaders believed the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party would come out dominant due to the
recent reforms
Believed it would safeguard socialism for Hungary
Party attempted to transform itself into Western style socialist party – changed its name to the
Hungarian Socialist Party
Elections of March 1990 – won less than 11% of the vote
Didn’t take part in the next Gov
1994 – returned to power in alliance with the Free Democrats
1996 – opinion poll judged it to be the most popular party in Hungarian politics
HSP made a successful transformation to a left-wing social democratic party

Bulgaria
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By 1989 the ruling Bulgarian Communist Party had been led by Zhivkov for 35 years
He promoted his family into positions of authority – they weren’t qualified
Cronyism was a main feature of his Gov
Those who he favoured in the party were allowed special privileges – shopping in special stores,
access to best education and receive up to 500% more salary
He launched a programme called ‘Bulgarianisation’ – led to expulsion of 200,000 ethnic Turks from
Bulgaria
This resulted in widespread international condemnation
In July 1989 – Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Mladenov, informed Gorbachev that he intended to carry
out a change – Gorbachev didn’t object
9 November – forced Zhivkov to resign
As in Poland and Hungary – talks were held with emerging opposition groups as well as free elections
for June 1990
Bulgarian Communist Party transformed into the Bulgarian Socialist Party
1992 – it entered a coalition Gov and narrowly won the majority in December 1994
Defeated decisively again in elections called in response to the economic crisis of the winter of 1996-7
BSP failed in the medium term to distance itself from Communism
September 1996 – senior Bulgarian politician feared the ‘ghost of Communism’ was returning

Collapse of the GDR
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GDR was a product of the Cold War – had to win the loyalty of its population if it was to survive the
Gorbachev era
Couldn’t appeal to Soviet power to maintain law and order anymore
By the Summer 1989 – seemed unlikely to achieve loyalty
Economy suffered from centralised planning and a top heavy system of bureaucratic control
The massive West German loans in 1983-4, a result of Ostpolitik, saved it from bankruptcy
Faced a major challenge when Hungarian government in August to open its frontiers with Austria –
15000 East Germans crossed the border to the FRG
Under pressure from West German Chancellor, Kohl, Honecker granted exit visas to East Germans
that had travelled to Poland and Prague – desperate to flee to the West
Honecker was now facing a crisis – potentially as grave as Ulbricht in 1961
Belated grants of exit visas didn’t restore GDR’s confidence
Made handling of the crisis look unsure

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Large, peaceful demonstrations broke out in Leipzig in early October 1989 – regime reluctantly
tolerated as Gorbachev would not support a hard-line policy
Gorbachev visited Berlin on 5 October to celebrate 14th anniversary of GDR – advised Honecker to
follow example of Poles and Hungarians

Berlin Wall Opens
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Demonstrator crowds continued to grow in the cities – absence of police and army as restraints
4 November- 500,000 congregated in East Berlin
Wanted right to travel abroad and other reforms
2 days later a proposal made by Krenz’s government allowed permits for 30 days travel a year
Rejected by Volkskammer, GDR’s Parliament, as insufficient
9 November – concession made that allowed all GDR citizens with passports the right to an exit visa
valid for any bordering crossing – included access to West Berlin
Supposed to take effect in the morning - 10 November - but announced prematurely
Night border guards faced crowds of 20,000 at the crossing points into West Berlin

Consequences of the opening of the Berlin Wall
‘Velvet Revolution’: Czechoslovakia
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1989 – Czechoslovakia still controlled by those who called for the suppression of the Prague Spring
Opposition limited to small groups, such as Charter 77 led by Havel – attempted to monitor the
government’s compliance with the Helsinki Accords
As a consequence of the chances in Poland and Hungary in 1989, opposition strengthened and PM
Adamee announced economic reforms, similar to those in the Prague Spring – but didn’t come with
political reforms
After Berlin Wall was opened, political situation changed drastically
Demonstration called to honour the death of a student in German occupation turned into a mass
protest – triggered the ‘Velvet Revolution’
19 November 1989 – 12 opposition groups formed the ‘Civic Forum’ – demanded political change
7 December 1989 – Adamee resigned; new Gov were formed where Communists were a minority
29 December 1989 – Havel was elected president
Havel and ‘Civic Forum’ persuaded USSR to withdraw its troops from the country as it agreed to
remain part of the Warsaw Pact
When it was confirmed that the 2 German states would reunite, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary
pressed for the pact’s dissolution
1992 – Czechoslovakia broke into two separate countries – Slovakia and the Czech Republic

Romania
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Opening of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution provided the Romanians with opportunity to
oust the Communist leader, Ceausescu
Economic hardship and blatant corruption - symbolised by Ceausescu’s construction of 1100 room
palace – caused significant opposition to emerge against his Gov
Gorbachev been informed of plans to overthrow him as early as November 1989 and agreed – as long
as Romanian Communist Party remained dominant
First revolts against the regime broke out in Timisoara, near Hungarian border
Revolts spread to Bucharest on 21 December 1989
Once it was clear the army had sided with the people against the states secret police, Ceausescu fled
the capital

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He was soon arrested by the army and executed with his wife on 25 December 1989
22 December 1989 – National Salvation Front was formed by Brucan – former ambassador to the US –
General Militaru and Ilisecu – leader Communist
After talks with opposition groups, the NSF established a council for National Unity and held elections
for a new Gov in May 1990
NSF managed to win majority and Iliescu was elected president
Not until 1996 that the NSF was decisively defeated by a new party grouping, the Social Democratic
Union

Yugoslavia and Albania
Yugoslavia
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After its expulsion from Comniform in 1948, Yugoslavia followed a different pattern from the other
Communist states in Eastern Europe
More contact with the West and in the 1960s and 70s Tito allowed more cultural and intellectual
freedom than existed in the other states
However, they did face major economic and political struggles – would destroy it by 1990
Heavily dependent on foreign investment and by 1989 inflation had reached almost 300% annually
Economic problems worsened relations between the nationalities that formed the Yugoslav state
Prestige of Tito managed to keep ethnic rivalries at check
After his death in 1980, leaders of the Yugoslav Federation used nationalism to strengthen their
political position
In the Soviet bloc, people’s dissatisfaction with the governments led to demands for democratic
reform and the overthrow of Communism
In Yugoslavia this increased ethnic rivalries
Influenced by events in Eastern Europe, Communist Party’s leading role in Yugoslavia was removed by
the Federal PM Markovic from the constitution in January 1990 and multi-party federal elections
announced
Only took place at state level – beginning with the northern state of Slovenia in April 1990
Each election brought to power nationalists and soon each Yugoslav state demanded independence –
leading to the dismemberment of the country into rival states and war
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro, declared
independence from Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2006
All but Montenegro and Macedonia fought wars for independence
Most brutal was Bosnia and Herzegovina where 100,000 died and millions displaced and most cities
destroyed – between 1992-5

Albania
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Under Hoxha, Albania ended diplomatic and economic relations with the USSR in 1961
Had clung to a strict Stalinist interpretation of Communism
On Hoxha’s death in 1985 – Alia continued the policies until February 1989 where he announced a
very limited reform programme based on Perestroika
Ceausescu’s fall in Romania led to unrest in city of Tirana – pushed Gov to announcing further reforms
Further reforms included the decentralisation of the economy and legislation of non-Communist
political parties
Election of march 1991 – former Communist party, now the Socialist Party of Albania, won majority of
seats
Briefly formed a Gov and Alia was elected president in May

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Further unrest led to fresh elections in 1992, which the strongly anti-Communist Democratic Party
won a large margin of votes
With the collapse of the old state industries, Albania experienced an acute economic crisis and in
march 1997 order had to be restored by an Italian led military task force
In April elections – Albanian Socialist Party won a large majority

Unification of Germany
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13 November 1989 – PM Krenz was replaced by Modrow, the Dresden Communist Party secretary
Under him, the GDR followed example of Poland and agreed to free elections, which happened in
March 1990
The ‘Alliance for Germany’ coalition, which supported reunification, won a majority of seats
12 April 1990 – new Gov announced it wanted to join with the FRG
Initially, USSR, France, and Britain wanted a united Germany
Chancellor Kohl was thinking of forming a loose confederation which would grow into a political union
Nevertheless, the strength of East German public opinion in the winter of 1989-90 convinced Kohl
unification was the only option
Division of Germany started the cold war; and effectively ended it
Kohl couldn’t reunify Germany without agreement of the USSR, USA, Britain and France
Britain and France were Germany’s main Western European allies
USSR and USA had the power to stop it
Real negotiations were between Bonn, Moscow and Washington
Gorbachev was opposed to the liquidation of the GDR – December 1989, promised ‘no harm’ to the
GDR
By the end of January 1990 his support was fading rapidly
10 February 1990 – he told Kohl in Moscow that Germans should decide themselves
At Ottawa 4 days later – Bush gave green light and outlined a formula for proceeding with the
negotiations – the ‘two plus four’ talks – which would bring together both Germany’s and the 4
former occupying powers which had residual rights in Berlin
Series of negotiations in Bonn, Berlin, Paris and Moscow in the summer of 1990 – German unity was
brokered
Any leftover soviet opposition to German unity and the membership of a united Germany in NATO –
overcome by West Germans loans – Gorbachev would facilitate the modernisation of the Soviet
economy
Opposition in the West was stilled by Kohl’s insistence on a united Germany’s membership of NATO
and the incorporation of East Germany into the European Community
12 September 1990 – the ‘Two Plus Four Treaty’ was signed in Moscow
It was a peace treaty ending the partition of Germany – terminated the residual rights of the former
occupying powers in Germany and committed the new Germany to recognising the Oder-Neisse
border with Poland
Midnight on 2 October 1990 – GDR was integrated with FRG and reunited Germany came into
existence
West had won by a victory – with Gorbachev’s blessing

Concluding of Cold War in Europe
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After agreeing on German reunification, Cold War effectively ended – decisions taken in Paris in
November 1990
Representatives in NATO and Warsaw Pact, which dissolved in July 1991, met in Paris to sign the
Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

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Provided for equal reduction of conventional weapons for both the East and the West of Europe
Agreed on a process of verification and declared the countries that have signed the pact were ‘no
longer adversaries’
Participants of the conference also produced the Charter of Paris for a ‘New Europe’
Established a secretariat to organise annual meetings at head of Gov level – and for the creation of
Conflict Prevention Centre in Vienna, to advise on conflict avoidance



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