The Prague Spring, Solidarity Movement, And The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

German authorities began building the wall to permanently close off any access to the West. Half

The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 left many Eastern European countries in disarray. One such country was Czechoslovakia. It separated from the Soviet Union December 26, 1991. A few years after Czechoslovakia broke away from the Soviet Union it broke apart, in January 1, 1993. The two countries are now The Czech Republic and Slovakia. When the two countries split, it was done peacefully, without a fight or war. The Soviet Union broke up because Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from being the president of the Soviet Union. This started many conflicts and confusion. The Soviet Union could no longer keep the union together.

First, before the Second World War, the nation of Czechoslovakia had been a strong democracy in Central Europe, but beginning in the mid 1930s it faced challenges from both the West and the East. Until the Soviet’s invasion where they installed a whole new communist government in Prague. For the next twenty

The Revolutions of 1989 during the late 20th century were events which resulted in the end of power under Communism throughout Eastern and Central Europe and parts of Asia. Several nations such as Poland, Ukraine, and East Germany abandoned a communist government and control of the Soviet Union. It was a period where the global superpower was slowing its pace in global dominance. Several reasons being that under a communist system people were persecuted for religious worship and had to face authoritarian rule by typically a dictatorship or a particular dominant party due to repression. The other reason also being poverty within the populations.

Following the fall of the Third Reich at the end of WWII Germany was split between east and west into two different countries. In the east the German Democratic Republic was under communist rule and was supported by the Soviet Union. The Federal German Republic was a democracy that was part of NATO. As part of the division of Germany following WWII, Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided evenly between the two nations. However, the entire city of Berlin was deep inside of the GDR, so the Western half of the city was democratic but it was surrounded by communist territory. This made West Berlin a place where many East Germans would try to escape to. As a result of this the German Democratic Republic built a wall surrounding West Berlin to stop its own people from escaping to freedom.

It was an event that changed the course of socialism on a global scale. It was the unfortunate result of Fidel Castro abusing his power. It was the single most important event in Cuba’s history thus far. The Cuban Revolution, which began in 1953 and ended in 1961, was led by revolutionist Fidel Castro and the "26th of July Movement" to overthrow current dictator Fulgencio Batista. After gaining control of Cuba and setting up a communist party, Castro began a set of land reforms and nationalized all foreign-born private companies. This then led to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, and communist nations around the world rallied at the thought of another instance of communism in Latin America.

The main causes of the fall of the Soviet Union was because the Soviet Union couldn’t afford to keep up with the arms race during the cold war, the government couldn’t manage to keep the people content with things such as housing and food and communism government system completely failed in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was built on about the same territory as the Russian Empire which it succeeded. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Socialism was a newly formed government that was developed by a philosophy. Socialism government is when property is held in common and not individually and relationship are governed. Socialism gradual transition to Communism. Communism is a political theory that Karl Marx came up with. Communism is when the society in which property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. The state of Bolsheviks indentation was to overcome national differences and rather to create one monolithic state based on a centralized economical and political system. This state was built on a Communist ideas, was eventually transformed into a totalitarian state when the Communist leadership had complete control over the country.

The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized a key turning even in diplomatic and government powers as it showed the supremacy of capitalist government system and brought the downfall of many communist countries.

The Soviet Union played an important role in the events of the 20th century in both direct and indirect ways. The rise of the Soviet Union by the end of the Russian Revolution played a significant role in the way that World War I played out; it played a crucial role in the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the formidable rival of the United States during the Cold War, during which every action it took was viewed with angst by the West. With the level of influence the Soviet Union possessed in the 20th century, the question is: what other more pressing influence caused its demise? The primary cause of the crumbling of the Soviet Union can be summarized by: the inability for the Soviet Union to maintain the support of the Soviet people, and this created the ultimate inability of the Soviet Union to create the socialist utopia that Marx envisioned.

Both The Soviet Union and America were at odds for whose economic system was better. Therefore causing an ever growing tension to arise. With the U.S not liking communism the thought of The USSR trying to spread communism throughout the world enraged the US.

The history of the Soviet Union begins with the Russian Revolution of 1917. In February of that year the wartime decay of Russia’s economy and morale triggered a spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd. This led to the imperial government of Czar Nicholas II being overthrown. After the formation of a provisional government, workers councils, known as soviets, began to sprout up throughout the country to protect the rights of the working class. This allowed the Bolsheviks (Communists) to arouse widespread interest in a socialist revolution. Eventually, in November 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin seized power from the provisional government. Finally, after securing power, the Bolsheviks officially established the Soviet Union

In the late 1980’s, the Soviet Union had a struggling economy. Gorbachev did attempt reforms as he felt the government losing legitimacy with the people and even the party as people lost confidence in the communism. Two reforms are glasnost (the openness of public debate) and perestroika (institution reforms). However, they went snowballed, moving faster and expanding more than planned as people used these reforms to weaken communist control.

In my opinion, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War so when it was knocked down, it represented liberation and the end of the war. In the same year, 1989, Communism collapsed as a form of government in East Europe as the Berlin Wall fell.

The proposition that ‘the fall of the Berlin Wall was the turning point of the Cold War’ is valid to the extent that the tension between the USSR and the USA became less aggressive and confrontational with the fall of the wall. What the fall of the Berlin Wall signified was a dissolution of the Soviet Union from its previous position of power. It officially disintegrated in 1991. As a result, the once prosperous nation, and the Cold War came to an end. The significance of this was evident with Russia falling into widespread economic depression. With the dissolution of the union and demilitarisation of the army, the Soviet Union was hit with high unemployment. This became a turning point in the relationship between the Soviet Union and the USA in that the crippled USSR lost its position as one of the major powers in Europe. The change in the US-Soviet relationship is evident in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, particularly in May- June 1990, where USA and USSR dignitaries discussed financial aid from the Western countries to lift Russia from its economic depression. These discussions fell through due to a change in Russian leadership. However, their very existence validates the proposition that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a turning point in the Cold War, as shown in the superpowers’ later communications of peace and aid.

The events that eventually led to the successful revolution in 1989 got their start in the “Prague Spring” in 1968. There was a brief period of political reform in Czechoslovakia in 1968, when Alexander Dubcek was elected to be the First Secretary of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Many of Dubcek’s reforms were trying to give more rights to the citizens as well as relaxing government censorship.