4.4 The Iron Curtain is lifted

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

4.4 The Iron Curtain is lifted

Learning goals 

How did the Cold War end

1. What changed in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev? 

2. What were the consequences of the changes in the Eastern Bloc 

3. How did the fall of the Berlin War affect Germany? 

Unrest in the Eastern Bloc 

At first it looked like Germany never would unified ever again.

The differences in the economy were severe.

In Poland the first cracks in the Eastern Bloc started to appear. 

Striking for better pay and more freedoms. 

Gorbachev 

Communism was failing 

1. Losing the arms race with the US ( losing money) 
2. Power abuse and corruption 
3. Industrial and argicultural yields were below expectation 
4. People were unhappy 

Queue for hours for basic commodities 

The changes

Perestroika and Glasnost 

Perestroika - great change 

Permission for a partial market economy with small private companies 

Glasnost - Openness 

Permittance of freedom of speech and more say in the administration 

It led to food shortages which led to even greater dissatisfaction 

Signed two treaties, no more enemies in 1989

Hungary opens its border with Austria in May 1989.

Many other residents of Eastern European countries fled to the West via Hungary.

Deze Oost-Europese leider begrijpt wél de ideeën van Glasnost en Perestrojka: hij wil zijn volk meer vrijheid geven.

The total collapse of communism in Eastern Europe

November 16, 1989: The communist leader of Bulgaria is deposed

November 28, 1989: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia relinquishes power

December 25, 1989: The communist leader of Romania is executed

April 1990: Free elections are held in parts of Yugoslavia

Every evening, there are demonstrations in Berlin.

The pressure on the East German government increases as the world press watches the situation in East Berlin.

The fall of the Wall

For forty years the communist dictatorships in the East relied on the Soviet troops. 

Gorbachev withdrew all the troops in 1989 

Map of Europe in  1989

Map of Europe in 2009

Soviet Union falls apart 

German Reunification

3 october 1990

German Reunification

• Capital: Berlin.
• Cost to West Germany: 900 billion.
• There are still differences in the country.
• Some countries were afraid of reunification.

End of the Soviet Union

25 december 1991