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1027-1034 Analyze political cartoons Describe the decline of Communism in Eastern Europe. Political Cartoon Components:. Date Place, Location Symbolism Background Knowledge.
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1027-1034 • Analyze political cartoons • Describe the decline of • Communism in Eastern • Europe.
Political Cartoon Components: • Date • Place, Location • Symbolism • Background Knowledge
Directions: You’ll be assigned to a group that will move to different stations to analyze more cartoons from the 1970s. You will have about ONE MINUTE to make notes about each cartoon you study. Later you will choose one to explain to the class. • Interepret the meaning of • each of the cartoons. • Identify as many examples • of symbolsimas you can. Time Time1 Time2
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • Poland • 1989 Solidarity forced Polish leaders to allow elections, the communists (WojciechJaruzelski) lost power and Lech Walesa was elected president ending price controls, state planning and the secret police (“Shock Therapy”). • Hungary • 1988 in Hungary, communist party leader Janos Kadar eased up on the idea of a planned economy but was ousted from power. • In 1990 the Hungarian Communist Party allowed free elections and opened their borders with Austria and East Germany. • The result was thousands of dissatisfied East German “vacationers” fleeing into Hungary as a way into West Germany and freedom.
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • East Germany • 1989 East Germany tore down the Berlin Wall as a way to stabilize the huge influx of refugees fleeing Hungary, the old communist leader Eric Honeckerwere replaced quickly with a reform government. • Czechoslovakia • 1989 Czechoslovakia ousted communist “bosses” and elected Vaclav Havel president in the “Velvet Revolution” (bloodless). • Romania • Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu resisted revolution by ordering his security forces to brutally slaughter thousands of protesters. • Ceausescu’s forces were defeated, the dictator and his wife were arrested and executed by a military court! • Replaced with a coalition government.
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • Soviet Union • THE GREAT QUESTION?... Would the USSR be next?? • 2/1990 nationalists in the non-Russian republics demanded autonomy, and Lithuania was first to declare its independence. • Gorbachev responded by placing an economic embargo on Lithuania, but REFUSED to send in troops to crush the rebellion. • Gorbachev then had a new constitution ratified abolishing the Communist Party’s monopoly on power, expanded the power of the Congress of People’s Deputies and elected him as the new president of the Soviet Union. • During this chaos, rival reform communist leader Boris Yeltsin rallied support 5/1990 and was elected leader of the Russian Federation’s parliament and declared it’s independence.
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • Soviet Union • OUTRAGED old guard hard-liners kidnapped Gorbachev while on vacation and tried to seize the Soviet government in August, 1991. • However, Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin helps stop the coup against Michael Gorbachev with the support of the military, and withdraws Russia from the USSR on 12/25/91 = USSR ceases to exist. • East Germany • 10/1989 E. German reform minded communists wanted a “third way”- remain communist (not the ruthless Stalinist style of the Cold War) but avoid “ruthless” captialism of the west. • THIS FAILED, and East Germany was absorbed and unified into West Germany.
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • East Germany • THIS FAILED, and East Germany was absorbed and unified into West Germany. • WHY? • As soon as the Berlin Wall fell, over 9 million East Germans fled across the border into West Germany (HALF the population!) • West German chancellor Helmut Kohl (Christian Democratic Party) proposed a 10-Point Plan to slowly unite the two nations. • Kohl also promised an immediate economic plan to convert East German marks into more valuable West German marks on a one-to-one ratio. • Finally in October, 1990 Germany was re-united!
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • So, what’s this do to the COLD WAR? • In November, 1990, twenty-two nations signed a the “Paris Accord” agreeing to an overall reduction of arms AND affirmed all existing political borders of countries (including Germany and the new Baltic Republics). • The US continued to influence world affairs: • 1991 Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein suddenly invaded Kuwait. • The United Nations authorized a US led coalition (France, Britain and other nations) naval blockade and landed 500,000 troops in Saudi Arabia to force Iraq out of Kuwait in the “Gulf War”. • The US stopped short of removing Saddam Hussein from power, fearing more radical groups might replace him.
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe • The Revolutions of 1989 = COLLAPSE ! • After the Gulf War, the first President Bush described a “new world order” where the US and United Nations would work together to secure the stability of the world.
Decline of Communism in Eastern Europe 1. Poland 2. Hungary Go to your first station! 6. Soviet Union 3. East Germany 4. Czechoslovakia 5. Romania