1. Changes in Central and Eastern Europe
19.4

2. Poland Solidarity Leader: Lech Walesa
Union that wanted gov’t recognition
Unions illegal under SU law
Solidarity workers went on strike at Gdansk shipyard
Millions of Poles supported action and gov’t gave into union demands
Walesa becomes a national hero

3. Poland Gov’t rebanned Solidarity and declared martial law
Lead to economic crisis
People went on strike
Wanted Solidarity recognized and increase in wages
1989 – Solidarity legalized and free elections held
Poles vote Communists out of power and Solidarity candidates into power
Lech Walesa voted president

4. Poland Lech Walesa Kwasniewski’s Poland Used shock therapy on economy
Didn’t work: inflation, loss of jobs, unhappy people
Voted out of office
Aleksander Kwasniewski (former Communist) voted in
Kwasniewski’s Poland
Connected Polish economy to rest of Europe
Became NATO member
Supported US in Iraq

5. Germany Before the Fall
East Germany and E. Berlin remained in ruins while W. rebuilt
E. Germans tried to escape over 200 killed
1989 Hungary opened borders to Austria
Allowed E. Europeans way into W. Europe
Thousands of people fled

6. E. Germany Falls
After Hungary opened borders, E. Germany closed theirs
Led to riots
Demanded right to travel freely and vote in free elections
E. German leader, Egon Krenz, tried to restore control by allowing people to cross the country freely
9 Nov 1989 he opened the Berlin Wall
A month later Communist party in E. Germany collapsed

7. Germany and Reunification
Germany started to reunify - merging two countries together
Many people feared a united Germany
Officially reunified 3 Oct 1990
Leader: Helmut Kohl
Leader of W. Germany before reunification, took control after reunification

8. Germany After Reunification
Serious Problems with Reunification
E. Germany still in ruins
RRs, telephones, highways had not been updated since WWII
Goods produced by factories not good enough to compete in global market
Factories close – people lose jobs
Banking system bankrupt

9. German Economic Challenges
1998 Kohl voted out of office
Gerhard Schroeder voted in but could not fix economic problems
Unemployment increased
Economy shrunk
2006 – Angela Merkel elected chancellor
Unemployment fell
Budget was reduced below EU limits
Now largest economy in Europe

10. Democracy in Czechoslovakia
Leader: Milos Jakes:
Arrested all protestors
Ruled country with an iron fist
Wenceslas Square Protests
10,000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square to demand democracy and freedom
Hundreds were arrested but it sparked revolt
Velvet Revolution: 25,000 students protested in Prague
Brutally attacked by the police – many injured and killed
Angered the Czech people
500,000 people protested in Prague
Jakes stepped down and the Politburo resigned in a month

11. Break-Up of Czechoslovakia
Shock therapy (again) to fix economy
Unemployment hit Slovakia (region of country) hard
b/c of economic troubles Slovakia drifted apart from Czechoslovakia
1 Jan Czechoslovakia split into two countries: Czech Republic and Slovakia
Both countries now members of NATO and the EU

12. Yugoslavia Initially led by Josip Broz Tito after WWII
Played US and SU against each other
Led to prosperity in Yugoslavia
Kept country together during the Cold War
Tito died in leaving Yugoslavia struggling

13. Break-Up of Yugoslavia
After Tito’s death, resentment within country turned into bloody conflict
Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Bosnians, and Kosvans, wanted own countries
Serbian Slobodan Milosevic came to power in Yugoslavia after Tito

14. Break-Up of Yugoslavia
Slovenia and Croatia declare independence
Milosevic ordered Serbian-led Yugoslavian armies to invade
Led to months of bloody fighting but both countries freed themselves

15. It Gets Confusing
After Slovenia and Croatia success, Bosnia-Herzegovina tried
Disagreeing forces in B-H
Bosnian Muslims and Croats wanted independence
Bosnian Serbs did not
1992: Bosnian Serbs attack Muslims and Croats
Used violence and chemical warfare to ethnically cleanse Bosnia of Muslim population
Ethnic Cleansing – specifically killing an ethnic group
Three years before US and UN force peace treaty
Milosevic put on trial for his role but died before official trial
Today, fighting died down but tensions still exist