The Collapse of the Eastern Bloc, 1989-1990 (Edexcel GCSE History)

What Caused the Collapse of the Eastern Bloc? - Timeline & Summary

By 1989, Soviet control was weakening over the satellite states of Eastern Europe. The reforms introduced by Gorbachev between 1985 and 1989 caused the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Gorbachev abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine. This meant that Eastern Europe no longer feared armed intervention from the Soviet Union. Under glasnost, the Soviet Union acknowledged their past repression. This admission made many citizens determined to pull away from Soviet control. Perestroika showed that the communist economy was ineffective. Eastern Europeans demanded a better standard of living and more capitalist influence. 

It was not Gorbachev's intention to collapse the Eastern Bloc. His reforms allowed people to act on their discontent. The Eastern Bloc had experienced poor living standards and repression by communist governments. Both push and pull factors caused the collapse of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe by December 1990.

The end of Communism in Hungary

• The first Eastern Bloc country to break away from the Soviet Union was Hungary

• Change in the communist government of Hungary began in 1988

  • The repressive János Kádár retired on 22nd May 1988

  • In 1988, the government introduced a 'democracy package' 

    • The package legalised trade unions, reduced censorship and gave Hungarians the freedom to vote and assemble

  • The government allowed a ceremony on the 31st anniversary of the assassination of Imre Nagy

    • The Hungarian government admitted that the Soviet Union illegally executed Nagy 

    • Hungarians held a public funeral for Nagy

    • Over 100,000 people attended the ceremony

• Significantly, the government removed the electrified fence between Hungary and Austria in May 1988

  • The open border allowed Hungarians to access Austria for Western goods

  • The Soviet Union did not react to the opening of the Hungarian-Austrian border

    • The lack of response from the Soviet government encouraged more countries to pursue reform

• In October 1989, the Hungarian government agreed to hold multi-party elections

  • The elections took place in May 1990

  • The Hungarian Socialist Party, the former Communist Party, won only 33 seats

Solidarity and Poland

• In 1980, Lech Wałęsa created an independent trade union in Poland called Solidarity

  • Solidarity caused problems for the communist government in Poland

    • The leader of Poland, Wojciech Jaruzelski, made Solidarity illegal and arrested its leaders on 13th December 1981

    • Due to civil unrest, the Communist Party placed Poland under martial law

• Solidarity grew in strength through the 1980s

  • Solidarity became an underground organisation

• The group disrupted the Polish government

  • It was very organised 

  • It had support from workers across a range of industries

    • Roughly 80% of the workers were members of Solidarity

  • It never used violence. Instead, Solidarity organised widespread strikes

• By April 1989, the government recognised the need to work with Solidarity

  • The government legalised Solidarity

  • Both Solidarity and the Communist Party agreed to free elections

• In the elections of June 1989, Solidarity won a landslide victory

  • Solidarity gained 99 out of the 100 seats of the Polish Senate

The 'Velvet Revolution' of Czechoslovakia

• Reforms in Hungary impacted the Czechoslovakian government

  • Czechoslovakians and East Germans were escaping to the West through the open border between Hungary and Austria

  • To prevent too many people from leaving, East Germany closed their border with Czechoslovakia in October 1989

• Protests caused the overthrow of the communist government, which is known as the 'Velvet Revolution'

  • On 17th November, the government violently suppressed a peaceful student protest

    • By 20th November, there were 500,000 protestors in Prague

  • On 10th December, President Gustáv Husák resigned

    • The anti-communist Václav Havel became leader of Czechoslovakia on 29th December 1989

December 1989-90: The end of Communism in Eastern Europe

• From December 1989 to December 1990, countries in Eastern Europe removed their communist governments

Romania

• After Husák's resignation, Romanian president Ceaușescu was the last repressive communist leader in Eastern Europe

• On 21st December 1989, protests against the communist government began in Romania

  • The government had lost the support of the army by 22nd December

• On Christmas Day 1989, Ceaușescu and his family were executed

  • An interim government took control and announced free elections in April 1990

Bulgaria

• After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 10th November 1989, Petar Mladenov became the leader of Bulgaria

  • Mladenov repealed the freedom of speech and assembly

    • On 17th November, the communist government was facing mass protests

  • Mladenov resigned live on national television on 11th December 1989

    • Mladenov promised multi-party elections in 1990

Yugoslavia

• The Yugoslavian leader Tito died in 1980

  • His death resulted in more freedom for the different nationalities within Yugoslavia

    • The government allowed Slovenia to introduce reforms 

• By the late 1980s, Yugoslavia experienced an increased pressure to reform

  •  By early 1989, numerous anti-communist political parties appeared

• In 1990, Slovenia voted to break away from Yugoslavia

  • Between June 1991 and April 1992, Yugoslavia split into seven separate states. These were:

    • Serbia

    • Croatia

    • Bosnia and Herzegovina

    • Macedonia

    • Slovenia

    • Montenegro

    • Kosovo

The sequence of the end of communism in Eastern Europe

An illustration showing the order in which the Eastern Bloc collapsed

The end of the Warsaw Pact

• The collapse of the Eastern Bloc resulted in the end of the Warsaw Pact

  • The Soviet Union no longer had influence over Eastern Europe. By early 1990, the Soviet Union had to stop its military cooperation with Eastern Europe

    • The Soviet Union ended the Warsaw Pact in July 1991

• The end of the Warsaw Pact had a significant impact on Cold War tensions

  • There no longer existed two rival military alliances

    • By 1991, the Soviet Union did not pose a significant military threat to the USA or Europe

  • It increased collaboration between East and West