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Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. The Fall of The Soviet Union. Causes Glasnost Perestroika Economic problems Freedom movement in Eastern Europe 92 nationalities and 112 languages spoken Ethnic conflicts. Fall of the Soviet Union 1991. Effects

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Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

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  1. Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

  2. The Fall of The Soviet Union • Causes • Glasnost • Perestroika • Economic problems • Freedom movement in Eastern Europe • 92 nationalities and 112 languages spoken • Ethnic conflicts

  3. Fall of the Soviet Union 1991 • Effects • Formation of the Commonwealth of Independent Nations • End of the Cold War • Economic Hardships • Minority revolts/civil conflicts • Conflicts between pro-communist and pro democratic groups • Rise of Boris Yeltsin • YouTube - The Fall of Communism - 1991 - part 1 of 6!

  4. December 1991 Collapse of Soviet Union • 15 Republics are formed • Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) • Boris Yeltsin Becomes President of Russia • ‘Shock Therapy’ sharp switch from a command to a market economy

  5. The Yeltsin Era • Switch too quickly to a market economy/economic instability • 1993/ 1994 hyperinflation 800% • High unemployment • Severe shortages/high crime • Bombing of legislative Building • 1991 War in Chechnya/demanded independence/rebel battles/still going on today • 1999 Replaced by Putin/new president former KGB agent

  6. Putin • Economic reforms • Continuation of the war in Chechnya/Grozny capital destroyed • Ethnic conflicts throughout Russia • Russians become a major oil producer and exporter. • Relations become tense between the Russians and the Americans • Medvedev handpicked by Putin • Wins 2008 election

  7. Alexander Litvinenko, former KGB spy, before and after the thallium poisoning

  8. Post Soviet Republics • 1989 Berlin Wall torn down. • 1990 free elections in East and West Germany • Unification of Germany in 1990 • Effects Of Reunification of Germany • Leader Helmut Kohl taxed the Germans to modernize East Germany • West German Economy hurt by reunification • Many West Germans resented East Germans • Major recession • Rise of Neo Nazis: 1970s 1980s guest workers/”Germany for Germans” • Gerhard Schroder elected Chancellor • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnCPdLlUgvo

  9. Eastern Europe • Czech Republic and Slovakia • 1918 united Czech and Slovak lands into Czechoslovakia • 1989 freed from Soviet control • President Vaclav Havel • 1993 divided into Czech Republic and Slovakia

  10. Eastern Europe • Poland • Solidarity: trade union that demanded freedoms • Led by Lech Walesa/arrested • 1989 free elections • 1990 Lech Walesa elected president • Economic problems similar to Russia • Shock therapy/communists gained seats in parliament • Walesa loses presidency to AleksanderKwasniekski • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1WOGCDZrzk • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qTpc2iy9AI&feature=related

  11. Eastern Europe • Between 1989 to 1991 Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Albania, and Bulgaria held free elections. • Romania overthrew and executed their brutal president Nicolae Ceausescu who refused to have free elections. • In 1991 the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO. • The former Soviet Republics of Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan destroyed their nuclear weapons. Paid by US. • Chernobyl nuclear accident • All eastern European nations as well as the Soviet Republics had great difficulty switching from communism to capitalism: high inflation and high unemployment. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrU2duoNMlI

  12. Start of the New Cold War • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11PfHJGAoo&feature=PlayList&p=4CF5B7FE5FAF6758&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=44

  13. War in Bosnia • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_uAs40Aa4

  14. Balkans Ethnic Cleansing

  15. GENOCIDE • Genocide: An attempt to eliminate, in whole or in large part, a particular group of people (such as national, ethnic, racial, religious, social, or political groups). • Mass Murder: The intentional killing of a large number of people who are either unwilling or unable to defend themselves. • Ethnic Cleansing: The attempt to remove a particular group of people from a particular geographic area through the use of terror.

  16. Yugoslavia • Eight Major ethnic groups: Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Slovenes, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians and Montenegrins. • Ethnic and religious differences for centuries • After WWII: Yugoslavia became a federation of six republics • Ruled with an Iron hand by Josef Tito • Communist and nonaligned

  17. Changing of Leadership • 1980 Tito dies • Slobodan Milosevic takes over • Serb Leader

  18. Ethnic Cleansing • 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence • Serbian led Yugoslav army invades both republics • Bosnia and Herzegovina joined Slovenia and Croatia in declaring independence • During the War Serbians used ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Muslims

  19. Ethnic Cleansing • Forced migration of Muslims • Violence, rape, killing

  20. Kosovo • 1998 Kosovo violence again erupts • Southern Serbia • Ethnic Albanians were killed, raped and forced to leave their homes by the Serbs • NATO intervened on the side of the Albanians • Peace 1999

  21. Slobodan Milosevic • Extradited to stand trial at the Hague in the Netherlands • War crimes • Died March 11, 2006 without a verdict being handed down. • General RatkoMladić still remains at large • Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic remains at large • http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bosnia502/video_index.html#

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