2. I. Revolutions in Eastern Europe
A. Workers’ protests led to demands for
change in Poland.
1. In 1980, Lech Walesa (lehk vah.LEHN.suh)
organized a national trade union in Poland
known as Solidarity.
2. In 1988, the Polish regime agreed to free
parliamentary elections—the first free election in
E Europe in 40 years.
3. In 1990, Walesa was elected president of
Poland.
4. Poland’s rapid free-market reforms led to
severe unemployment and discontent.
a. Today Poland’s free-market economy is becoming
increasingly prosperous.
3. B. In 1968, Soviet troops crushed the reform
movement in Czechoslovakia.
1. In 1988 and 1989, mass demonstrations
throughout Czechoslovakia led to the
collapse of the Communist government.
2. In December 1989, Vaclav Havel, a dissident
against the Communist government, became
president.
3. In 1993 ethnic conflicts between Czechs and
Slovaks led to the peaceful division of
Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and
Slovakia.
4. C. In 1965, Communist leader Nicolae
Ceausescu (NEE.koh.lay
chow.SHEHS.koo) and his wife Elena
led a dictatorial regime in Romania.
1. His actions angered Romanian people.
2. The army refused to support his
repressive regime and, in December
1989, Ceausescu and his wife were
executed.
3. A new government was formed.
5. D. In 1988 unrest led many E. Germans
to flee their Communist country.
1. In 1989, mass demonstrations against the
Communist regime broke out.
2. By November, the Communist
government tore down the Berlin Wall and
opened its border with the West.
3. Large numbers of E. Germans crossed
the border.
a. In 1990, East and West Germany were
reunited.
6. II. The Disintegration of Yugoslavia
A. At the end of the 1980s, Yugoslavia was caught
up in the reform movements of E Europe.
1. By 1990, new political parties had emerged and the
Communist Party had collapsed.
B. In 1990, the Yugoslav republic of Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia
worked for independence.
1. Slobodan Milosevic, leader of Serbia, rejected
independence.
2. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their
independence.
a. In September 1991, the Yugoslavian army attacked Croatia.
7. C. In 1992, the Serbs attacked Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
1. Many Bosnians were Muslims.
2. The Serbs followed a policy of ethnic
cleansing—killing them or forcibly removing
them from their lands.
3. In 1995 air strikes by NATO bombers helped
Bosnian and Croatian forces regain territory lost
to Serbia.
4. On December 14, the Serbs signed a formal
peace treaty splitting Bosnia into a loose union
of a Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat
Federation.
8. D. In 1998, a war began over Kosovo.
1. In 1974, Tito had made Kosovo an
autonomous, or self-governing, province within
Yugoslavia.
a. In 1989, Milosevic took away Kosovo’s autonomous
status.
2. Albanians fought against Serbian rule in
Kosovo.
a. Serbian forces massacred ethnic Albanians.
b. The U.S. and NATO tried to arrange a settlement.
3. In 2000, Milosevic was removed from power,
and tried for war crimes at the International
Court of Justice for his role in the massacre of
Kosovo civilians.
a. In 2003, Serbia and Montenegro formed a republic.
