1989

I. Mikhail Gorbachev's Reforms

A. perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness)

1. intended to establish a truer, more effective communism

a. democratic congress

b. decentralization of power

c. openness to Western trade

B. New era of hope and expectation

1. permission of free expression

2. permission to judge communism by its results

C. Opportunities and dangers of openness

1. maintaining order and loyalty in a free society

2. economic and social results need to be positive quickly

II. Dissolution of Communist Eastern Europe

A. Countries under Soviet control don't wait for results

B. Poland is first

1. strong sense of national identity

2. non-communist traditions and insitutions

a. Catholic Church

b. Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Union

C. Czechoslovakia

1. also has a strong national identity and history of revolt

2. Velvet Revolution is finishing 1968 effort at independence

3. Vaclav Havel personifies the cause

D. Hungary

1. like Poland and Czechoslovakia

2. first to open its borders to the West

E. East Germany

1. communist government desperate to appease the people

a. dismantle the Berlin Wall, November 1989

2. communist government collapses anyway

3. movement to reunite with West Germany

a. Germanies unite October 1990

III. Collapse of the Soviet Union

A. Gorbachev's plan to save the Soviet Union

1. granting greater freedom to the republics

B. Military coup (August-December 1991)

1. Gorbachev arrested and overthrown

2. Boris Yeltsin stands up to the tanks

3. Russia declares itself a Republic; Soviet Union dissolved

(December 1991)

C. Civil War in Chechnya

IV. Yugoslavian Wars (1991-1999)

A. Rebirth of nationalism

1. Several Yugoslav nationalities aspire to independence

2. unfinished business from the past

(good for Poland, Czechs, etc., but bad for Yugoslavia)

B. Serbians attempt to carve out the largest possible state

1. war against Croats

2. Bosnian War

a. ethnic cleansing

b. massacre at Srebenica, and U.S. intervention

c. Dayton accords (November 1995)

3. Kosovo War

a. U.S. bombing campaign (1999)

V. New World Order

A. Triumph of Liberalism

1. resolution of Cold War problems throughout the globe

a. South Africa

b. Israel-Palestine (almost)

c. Ireland (?)

2. end of history?

a. only economics remains a problem

B. America as world's only superpower

1. U.S. puts out the fires in Europe

2. "peace dividend"