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136-725: The village of Góra already existed in the 13th century. It was a private village of Polish nobility , administratively located in the Czersk County in the Masovian Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. Completely destroyed during a Swedish occupation known as the Deluge , in 1666, it became the property of Stefan Wierzbowski , Bishop of Poznań , who decided to found

272-513: A liege Lord . Unlike absolute monarchs who eventually took reign in most other European countries, the Polish king was not an autocrat and not the szlachta's overlord. The relatively few hereditary noble titles in the Kingdom of Poland were bestowed by foreign monarchs, while in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, princely titles were mostly inherited by descendants of old dynasties. During

408-601: A social class , dominated those states by exercising political rights and power . Szlachta as a class differed significantly from the feudal nobility of Western Europe . The estate was officially abolished in 1921 by the March Constitution . The origins of the szlachta are obscure and the subject of several theories. Traditionally, its members owned land (allods) , often folwarks . The szlachta secured substantial and increasing political power and rights throughout its history, beginning with

544-512: A Solidarity member would become prime minister. On 19 August 1989, in a stunning watershed moment, Tadeusz Mazowiecki , an anti-communist editor, Solidarity supporter, and devout Catholic, was nominated as Prime Minister of Poland and the Soviet Union voiced no protest. Five days later, on 24 August 1989, Poland's Parliament ended more than 40 years of one-party rule by making Mazowiecki the country's first non-communist Prime Minister since

680-566: A Soviet-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. After the Fall of Communism, pre-war monuments dedicated to Marshal Józef Piłsudski and the Polish heroes of the Polish–Soviet War were restored. The Polish National roads No. 50 and 79 and the Polish railway line No. 12 ( Skierniewice — Łuków ) bypass the town. There is an inland port on

816-459: A TV press conference, stating that the planned changes were in effect "immediately, without delay," hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity. The guards were quickly overwhelmed by the growing crowds of people demanding to be let out into West Berlin. After receiving no feedback from their superiors, the guards, unwilling to use force, relented and opened the gates to West Berlin. Soon new crossing points were forced open in

952-404: A farm, often little different from a peasant's dwelling, sometimes referred to as drobna szlachta , "petty nobles" or yet, szlachta okoliczna , meaning "local". Particularly impoverished szlachta families were often forced to become tenants of their wealthier peers. They were described as szlachta czynszowa , or "tenant nobles" who paid rent. See " Szlachta categories " for more. The origins of

1088-471: A few decades earlier. ..." Escutcheons and hereditary coats of arms with eminent privileges attached is an honor derived from the ancient Germans. Where Germans did not inhabit, and where German customs were unknown, no such thing existed. The usage of heraldry in Poland was brought in by knights arriving from Silesia , Lusatia , Meissen , and Bohemia . Migrations from here were the most frequent, and

1224-405: A highly developed sense of solidarity. (See gens .) The starosta (or starszyna ) had judicial and military power over the ród/clan, although this power was often exercised with an assembly of elders. Strongholds called grόd were built where the religious cult was powerful, where trials were conducted, and where clans gathered in the face of danger. The opole was the territory occupied by

1360-472: A king, exercised supreme political power over that republic and elected kings as servants of a republic the szlachta regarded as the embodiment of their rights. Over time, numerically most lesser szlachta became poorer, or were poorer than, their few rich peers with the same political status and status in law, and many lesser szlachta were worse off than commoners with land. They were called szlachta zagrodowa , that is, "farm nobility", from zagroda ,

1496-406: A lower species. Quoting Bishop of Poznań, Wawrzyniec Goślicki, herbu Grzymała (between 1530 and 1540–1607): "The kingdome of Polonia doth also consist of the said three sortes, that is, the king, nobility and people. But it is to be noted, that this word people includeth only knights and gentlemen. ... The gentlemen of Polonia doe represent the popular state, for in them consisteth a great part of

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1632-457: A member of the family would simply use his Christian name (e.g., Jakub, Jan, Mikołaj, etc.), and the name of the coat of arms common to all members of his clan. A member of the family would be identified as, for example, "Jakub z Dąbrówki", herbu Radwan, (Jacob to/at Dąbrówki of the knights' clan Radwan coat of arms ), or "Jakub z Dąbrówki, Żądło ( cognomen ) (later a przydomek/nickname/ agnomen ), herbu Radwan" (Jacob to/at [owning] Dąbrówki with

1768-570: A monopoly on power ; namely China , Cuba , Laos , North Korea , and Vietnam . Vietnam, Laos, and China made economic reforms in the following years to adopt some forms of market economy under market socialism . The European political landscape changed drastically, with several former Eastern Bloc countries joining NATO and the European Union , resulting in stronger economic and social integration with Western Europe and North America. Many communist and socialist organisations in

1904-632: A movement that could not be stopped by the rulers in the Eastern Bloc. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The patrons of the picnic, Otto von Habsburg and the Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay saw the planned event as an opportunity to test the reaction of Mikhail Gorbachev and the Eastern Bloc countries to a large opening of the border including flight. After

2040-462: A multi-party parliamentary election and a direct presidential election, which took place on 24 March 1990. The legislation transformed Hungary from a People's Republic into the Republic of Hungary , guaranteed human and civil rights, and created an institutional structure that ensured separation of powers among the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government. On 23 October 1989, on

2176-400: A new term for Lithuanian nobility appearing in the 16th century — šlėkta , a direct loanword from Polish szlachta . Recently, Lithuanian linguists advocated dropping the usage of this Polish loanword. The process of Polonization took place over a lengthy period. At first only the leading members of the nobility were involved. Gradually the wider population became affected. Major effects on

2312-489: A new town on the ruins. His plan was to build a calvary — a religious center dedicated to passion plays and services, which was popular in the early modern Poland. He was encouraged by the fact that the local landscape resembled that of the Holy Land . In 1670, the town was renamed Nowa Jerozolima, granted city rights and construction work kicked off. The urban design was based on medieval maps of Jerusalem , and

2448-463: A non- Slavic warrior class, forming a distinct element known as the Lechici /Lekhi ( Lechitów ) within the ancient Polonic tribal groupings ( Indo-European caste systems ). Similar to Nazi racial ideology, which dictated the Polish elite were largely Nordic (the szlachta Boreyko coat of arms heralds a swastika ), this hypothesis states this upper class was not of Slavonic extraction and

2584-522: A person's place of residence, birth or family origin). In antiquity, the szlachta used topographic surnames to identify themselves. The expression " z " (meaning "from" sometimes "at") plus the name of one's patrimony or estate (dominion) carried the same prestige as "de" in French names such as "de Châtellerault", and " von " or " zu " in German names such as "von Weizsäcker" or "zu Rhein" . For example,

2720-468: A policy that was greatly eased in 1596 by the Union of Brest . See, for example, the careers of Senator Adam Kisiel and Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki . The Proto-Slavic suffix "-ьskъ" means "characteristic of", "typical of". This suffix exists in Polish as "-ski" (feminine: "-ska"). It's attached to surnames derived from a person's occupation, characteristics, patronymic surnames, or toponymic surnames (from

2856-467: A retinue, as well. Another group of knights were granted land in allodium , not feudal tenure , by the prince, allowing them the economic ability to serve the prince militarily. A Polish warrior belonging to the military caste living at the time prior to the 15th century was referred to as a "rycerz", very roughly equivalent to the English "knight," the critical difference being the status of "rycerz"

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2992-606: A series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland , the existing Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobilities formally joined the szlachta . As the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) evolved and expanded territorially after the Union of Lublin , its membership grew to include the leaders of Ducal Prussia and Livonia . Over time, membership in

3128-478: A single tribe. ( Manteuffel 1982 , p. 44) The family unit of a tribe is called the rodzina , while a collection of tribes is a plemię . Mieszko I of Poland (c. 935 – 25 May 992) established an elite knightly retinue from within his army, which he depended upon for success in uniting the Lekhitic tribes and preserving the unity of his state. Documented proof exists of Mieszko I's successors utilizing such

3264-547: A stormy session of the Tenth Plenary Session of the ruling United Workers' Party , General Wojciech Jaruzelski , the First Secretary, managed to get party backing for formal negotiations with Solidarity leading to its future legalisation, although this was achieved only by threatening the resignation of the entire party leadership if thwarted. On 6 February 1989 formal Round Table discussions began in

3400-619: A strategically vital ally marked a dramatic change by the Soviet superpower and a fundamental paradigm shift in international relations , which until 1989 had been dominated by the East–West divide running through Berlin itself. The last Russian troops left the territory of the former GDR, now part of a Federal Republic of Germany , on 1 September 1994. The "Velvet Revolution" was a non-violent transition of power in Czechoslovakia from

3536-399: A unifying religious cult, governed by the wiec , an assembly of free tribesmen. Later, when safety required power to be consolidated, an elected prince was chosen to govern. The election privilege was usually limited to elites. The tribes were ruled by clans ( ród ) consisting of people related by blood or marriage and theoretically descending from a common ancestor, giving the ród/clan

3672-486: A younger generation of Soviet apparatchiks , led by Gorbachev, began advocating fundamental reform in order to reverse years of Brezhnev stagnation . After decades of growth, the Soviet Union was now facing a period of severe economic decline and needed Western technology and credits to make up for its increasing backwardness. The costs of maintaining its military, the KGB , and subsidies to foreign client states further strained

3808-494: Is considered by many as the formal end of the communist People's Republic of Poland and the start of the modern Republic of Poland . The Warsaw Pact was dissolved on 1 July 1991. On 27 October 1991 the first entirely free Polish parliamentary elections since 1945 took place. This completed Poland's transition from communist Party rule to a Western-style liberal democratic political system. The last Russian troops left Poland on 18 September 1993. Following Poland's lead, Hungary

3944-591: Is difficult to establish the total economic cost of the disaster. According to Gorbachev, the Soviet Union spent 18 billion roubles (the equivalent of US$ 18 billion at that time) on containment and decontamination, virtually bankrupting itself. Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persisted solely as an underground organization, supported by the Catholic Church. However, by the late 1980s, Solidarity became sufficiently strong to frustrate Jaruzelski's attempts at reform, and nationwide strikes in 1988 forced

4080-1161: The Alliance of Free Democrats (SzDSz), the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the Independent Smallholders' Party , the Hungarian People's Party , the Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Society, and the Democratic Trade Union of Scientific Workers. At a later stage the Democratic Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) were invited. At these talks a number of Hungary's future political leaders emerged, including László Sólyom , József Antall , György Szabad , Péter Tölgyessy and Viktor Orbán . On 2 May 1989,

4216-563: The Berlin Wall by the people, and sections of the wall were literally torn down. The guards were unaware of what was happening and stood by as the East Germans took to the wall with hammers and chisels. On 7 November, the entire Ministerrat der DDR ( State Council of East Germany ), including its chairman Willi Stoph , resigned. A new government was formed under a considerably more liberal communist, Hans Modrow . On 1 December,

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4352-537: The Constitution , establishment of a Constitutional Court , the functioning and management of political parties, multiparty elections for National Assembly deputies, the penal code and the law on penal procedures. The last two changes represented an additional separation of the Party from the state apparatus. The electoral system was a compromise: about half of the deputies would be elected proportionally and half by

4488-635: The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic issued a declaration of sovereignty , which would eventually lead to other states making similar declarations of autonomy. The Chernobyl disaster in April 1986 had major political and social effects that catalyzed or at least partially caused the Revolutions of 1989. One political result of the disaster was the greatly increased significance of the new Soviet policy of glasnost. It

4624-740: The GDR denied travel to Hungary, leaving Czechoslovakia as the only neighboring state to which East Germans could escape. Thousands of East Germans tried to reach the West by occupying the West German diplomatic facilities in other Central and Eastern European capitals, notably the Prague Embassy and the Hungarian Embassy, where thousands camped in the muddy garden from August to November waiting for German political reform. The GDR closed

4760-660: The Ger dynasty. In 1815, the town fell to the Russian Partition of Poland. During the January Uprising , several clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops took place in the town or its environs. The clashes took place on 27 January, 4 March and 12 April 1863 and 1 February 1864. During World War I , Góra Kalwaria was occupied by Germany . On 11 November 1918, the day Poland regained independence, local Polish firefighters led by Szymon Adamiec disarmed

4896-745: The King of Lithuania . Because of Lithuanian expansion into the lands of Ruthenia in the middle of the 14th century, a new term for nobility appeared — bajorai , from Ruthenian бояре . This word is used to this day in Lithuania to refer to nobility in general, including those from abroad. After the Union of Horodło , the Lithuanian nobility acquired equal status with its Polish counterparts. Over time they became increasingly Polonized , although they did preserve their national consciousness, and in most cases recognition of their Lithuanian family roots. In

5032-713: The Middle East . The second theory involved a presumed szlachta descent from Japheth , one of Noah 's sons. By contrast, the peasantry were said to be the offspring of another son of Noah, Ham — and hence subject to bondage under the Curse of Ham . The Jews were considered the offspring of Shem . Other fanciful theories included its foundation by Julius Caesar , Alexander the Great , or regional leaders who had not mixed their bloodlines with those of 'slaves, prisoners, or aliens'. Another theory describes its derivation from

5168-699: The Proto-Germanic * slagiz , "blow", "strike", and shares the Anglo-Saxon root for "slaughter", or the verb "to slug" – means "breeding" or "gender". Like many other Polish words pertaining to nobility, it derives from Germanic words: the Polish word for "knight" is rycerz , from the German Ritter , meaning "rider". The Polish word for "coat of arms" is herb from the German Erbe ("heritage"). 17th-century Poles assumed szlachta came from

5304-465: The Sejm (parliament) , submitting palatines , or Voivodes of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , receive the title of prince . Sons of a prince were to receive titles of counts and barons . Castellans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were to receive the title of count. This attempt to introduce the hierarchy of noble titles common for European feudal systems for szlachta was rejected. The fact

5440-592: The United People's Party (ZSL) and the Democratic Party (SD), broke their alliance with the PZPR and announced their support for Solidarity. The last communist Prime Minister of Poland, General Czesław Kiszczak , said he would resign to allow a non-communist to form an administration. As Solidarity was the only other political grouping that could possibly form a government, it was virtually assured that

5576-685: The Virtuti Militari in a ceremony held in the town in August 1921. In the interbellum , the Polish Border Guard Main School was located in the town until 1933, and then the 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment was stationed there. Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland , which started World War II in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany . 23 Polish policemen from the town and officers from

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5712-658: The Volkskammer removed the SED's leading role from the constitution of the GDR . On 3 December Krenz resigned as leader of the SED; he resigned as head of state three days later. On 7 December, Round Table talks opened between the SED and other political parties. On 16 December 1989, the SED was dissolved and refounded as the SED-PDS , abandoning Marxism–Leninism and becoming a mainstream democratic socialist party. On 15 January 1990,

5848-654: The West turned their guiding principles over to social democracy and democratic socialism . In contrast, and somewhat later, in South America, a pink tide began in Venezuela in 1999 and shaped politics in the other parts of the continent through the early 2000s. Meanwhile, in certain countries the aftermath of these revolutions resulted in conflict and wars, including various post-Soviet conflicts that remain frozen to this day as well as large-scale wars, most notably

5984-517: The Yugoslav Wars which led to the Bosnian genocide in 1995 . Labour turmoil in Poland during 1980 led to the formation of the independent trade union Solidarity , led by Lech Wałęsa , which over time became a political force, nevertheless, on 13 December 1981, Polish prime minister Wojciech Jaruzelski started a crackdown on Solidarity by declaring martial law in Poland , suspending

6120-832: The constitution . The South African apartheid , the Pinochet military dictatorship in Chile , and the Suharto regime in Indonesia were gradually declining during the 1990s as the West withdrew their funding and diplomatic support. The First Intifada against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occurred, giving rise of militant movement Hamas . Dictatorships such as Argentina , Ghana , Paraguay , Suriname , Republic of China and North - South Yemen , among others, elected democratic governments. Exact tallies of

6256-532: The end of communist rule , splitting peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993. North Korea abandoned Marxism–Leninism in 1992. The Cold War is considered to have "officially" ended on 3 December 1989 during the Malta Summit between the Soviet and American leaders. However, many historians argue that the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991 was the end of

6392-631: The president . In 1987, the South Korean June Democratic Struggle against the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan occurred after Roh Tae-woo was designated as Chun's successor without a direct election. Not wanting to escalate violence before the 1988 Summer Olympics being hosted in Seoul next year, the government made concessions with the protestors demands , including free elections, amnesty to political prisoners, restoring press freedom and revisions to

6528-657: The szlachta grew to encompass around 8% to 15% of Polish-Lithuanian society, which made the membership an electorate that was several times larger than most noble classes in other countries; by contrast, nobles in Italy and France encompassed 1% during the early modern period . Despite often enormous differences in wealth and political influence, few distinctions in law existed between the great magnates and lesser szlachta . The juridic principle of szlachta equality existed because szlachta land titles were allodial , not feudal , involving no requirement of feudal service to

6664-477: The szlachta in Poland. Members of the szlachta had the personal obligation to defend the country ( pospolite ruszenie ), thereby becoming within the kingdom a military caste and aristocracy with political power and extensive rights secured. Inclusion in the warrior caste was almost exclusively based on inheritance. Concerning the early Polish tribes, geography contributed to long-standing traditions. The Polish tribes were internalized and organized around

6800-511: The 16th century, some of the Lithuanian nobility claimed that they were descended from the Romans, and that the Lithuanian language was derived from Latin. This led to a conundrum: Polish nobility claimed its own ancestry from Sarmatian tribes, but Sarmatians were considered enemies of the Romans. Thus, a new Roman-Sarmatian theory was created. Strong cultural ties with Polish nobility led to

6936-519: The 17th century, was a cognomen ) Fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989 , also known as the Fall of Communism , were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. This revolutionary wave is sometimes referred to as the Autumn of Nations , a play on

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7072-481: The 1956 Hungarian uprising, was executed illegally after a show trial. On 16 June 1989 Nagy was given a solemn funeral on Budapest's largest square in front of crowds of at least 100,000, followed by a hero's burial. The initially inconspicuous opening of a border gate of the Iron Curtain between Austria and Hungary in August 1989 then triggered a chain reaction, at the end of which the GDR no longer existed and

7208-422: The 33rd anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, the communist regime in Hungary was formally abolished. The Soviet military occupation of Hungary , which had persisted since World War II, ended on 19 June 1991. On 2 May 1989, Hungary started dismantling its barbed-wire border with Austria . The border was still heavily guarded, but it was a political sign. The Pan-European Picnic in August 1989 finally started

7344-469: The Berlin Wall in November 1989, which served as the symbolic gateway to German reunification in 1990. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance , demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to pressure for change. Romania was the only country in which citizens and opposition forces used violence to overthrow its communist regime , although Romania

7480-840: The Cold War. The impact of these events were felt in many third world socialist states throughout the world. Concurrently with events in Poland, protests in Tiananmen Square (April–June 1989) failed to stimulate major political changes in Mainland China , but influential images of resistance during that protest helped to precipitate events in other parts of the globe. Three Asian countries, namely Afghanistan , Cambodia and Mongolia , had abandoned communism by 1992–1993, either through reform or conflict. Eight countries in Africa or its environs also abandoned it, namely Ethiopia , Angola , Benin , Congo-Brazzaville , Mozambique , Somalia , as well as South Yemen , unified with North Yemen . Political reforms varied, but in only five countries were Marxist-Leninist communist parties able to retain

7616-404: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on 28 November 1989 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December. On 10 December, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948 and resigned. Alexander Dubček

7752-400: The East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West." With the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Now tens of thousands of

7888-427: The Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The idea of opening the border came from Otto von Habsburg and was brought up by him to Miklós Németh , who promoted the idea. The local organization in Sopron took over the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the other contacts were made via Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay . Extensive advertising for

8024-432: The GDR by the Warsaw Pact would restore the communist government and suppress the civilian protests. By 1989, the Soviet government deemed it impractical for the Soviet Union to continue asserting its control over the Eastern Bloc, so it took a neutral stance regarding the events happening in East Germany. Soviet troops stationed in eastern Europe were under strict instructions from the Soviet leadership not to intervene in

8160-445: The German schlachten , "to slaughter" or "to butcher", and was therefore related to the German word for battle, Schlacht . Some early Polish historians thought the term might have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech , mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. The szlachta traced their descent from Lech, who allegedly founded the Polish kingdom in about the fifth century. The Polish term szlachta designated

8296-458: The German troops without a fight and liberated the town. In 1919, during the Polish–Soviet War , several Polish horse artillery squadrons were formed in the town. On 13–14 August 1920, Poles successfully defended the town from the invading Russians. During the Battle of Warsaw (1920) , a hospital for wounded Polish troops was organized in Góra Kalwaria. To commemorate the Polish victory, Marshal Józef Piłsudski awarded 133 Polish artillerymen with

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8432-402: The Grand Duchy, Ruthenia 's nobility gradually rendered loyalty to the multilingual and cultural melting pot that was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Many noble Ruthenian families intermarried with Lithuanians. The rights of Orthodox nobles were nominally equal to those enjoyed by the Polish and Lithuanian nobility, but they were put under cultural pressure to convert to Catholicism. It was

8568-419: The Hall of Columns in Warsaw. On 4 April 1989 the historic Round Table Agreement was signed legalising Solidarity and setting up partly free parliamentary elections to be held on 4 June 1989, incidentally, the day following the midnight massacre of Chinese protesters in Tiananmen Square. A political earthquake followed as the victory of Solidarity surpassed all predictions. Solidarity candidates captured all

8704-415: The Middle Ages and in the early modern period. The Polish clan name and cry ritualized the ius militare, i.e., the power to command an army; and they had been used sometime before 1244 to define knightly status. ( Górecki 1992 , pp. 183–185). "In Poland, the Radwanice were noted relatively early (1274) as the descendants of Radwan , a knight [more properly a "rycerz" from the German " ritter "] active

8840-403: The Parliament adopted a "democracy package", which included trade union pluralism; freedom of association, assembly, and the press; a new electoral law; and a radical revision of the constitution, among other provisions. On 29 January 1989, contradicting the official view of history held for more than 30 years, a member of the ruling Politburo, Imre Pozsgay , declared that Hungary's 1956 rebellion

8976-424: The Piasts attempted to deprive them of their independence. These możni (Magnates) constantly sought to undermine princely authority . In Gall Anonym's chronicle, there is noted the nobility's alarm when the Palatine Sieciech "elevated those of a lower class over those who were noble born" entrusting them with state offices. ( Manteuffel 1982 , p. 149) In Lithuania Propria and in Samogitia , prior to

9112-501: The Ruthenian and Lithuanian nobility from before the old Commonwealth. In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of " szlachta " as "gentry" rather than "nobility". This mistaken practice began due to the inferior economic status of many szlachta members compared to that of the nobility in other European countries (see also Estates of the Realm regarding wealth and nobility ). The szlachta included those rich and powerful enough to be great magnates down to

9248-528: The Sejm amended the constitution to change the official name of the country from the People's Republic of Poland to the Republic of Poland. The communist Polish United Workers' Party dissolved itself on 29 January 1990 and transformed itself into the Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland . In 1990, Jaruzelski resigned as Poland's president and was succeeded by Wałęsa, who won the 1990 presidential elections held in two rounds on 25 November and 9 December. Wałęsa's inauguration as president on 21 December 1990

9384-403: The Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Now tens of thousands of the media-informed East Germans made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or to oblige its border troops to use force of arms. By the end of September 1989, more than 30,000 East Germans had escaped to the West before

9520-402: The Soviet-era constitution . The main region of these revolutions was Central Europe , starting in Poland with the Polish workers' mass-strike movement in 1988 , and the revolutionary trend continued in Hungary , East Germany , Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , and Romania . On 4 June 1989, Poland's Solidarity trade union won an overwhelming victory in partially free elections , leading to

9656-412: The Stasi's headquarters was stormed by protesters. Modrow became the de facto leader of East Germany until free elections were held on 18 March 1990 —the first since November 1932 . The SED, renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism , was heavily defeated. Lothar de Maizière of the East German Christian Democratic Union became prime minister on 4 April 1990 on a platform of speedy reunification with

9792-686: The Vistula river in Góra Kalwaria. The main roads of Góra Kalwaria is Pijarska . The main sports club of the town is Korona Góra Kalwaria with football , boxing and chess sections. Szlachta The szlachta ( Polish: [ˈʂlaxta] ; Lithuanian : šlėkta ) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland , the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and, as

9928-555: The West. On 15 March 1990, a peace treaty was signed between the two countries of Germany and the four Allies, to replace the Potsdam Agreement of 1 August 1945 after World War II to return full sovereignty to Germany, which facilitated the reunification. The two German countries were reunified into present-day Germany on 3 October 1990, solving the German problem of two states status, which had existed since 7 October 1949. The Kremlin's willingness to abandon such

10064-445: The belief only rycerstwo (those combining military prowess with high/aristocratic birth) could serve as officials in state administration. Select rycerstwo were distinguished above the other rycerstwo, because they descended from past tribal dynasties, or because early Piasts' endowments made them select beneficiaries. These rycerstwo of great wealth were called możni (Magnates) . They had the same political status and status in law as

10200-507: The biggest protest the GDR ever witnessed. Unable to stem the ensuing flow of refugees to the West through Czechoslovakia, the East German authorities eventually caved in to public pressure by allowing East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany directly, via existing border points, on 9 November 1989, without having properly briefed the border guards. Triggered by the erratic words of regime spokesman Günter Schabowski in

10336-510: The border to Czechoslovakia on 3 October, thereby isolating itself from all its neighbors. Having been shut off from their last chance for escape, an increasing number of East Germans participated in the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig on 4, 11, and 18 September, each attracting 1,200 to 1,500 demonstrators. Many were arrested and beaten, but the people refused to be intimidated. On 25 September,

10472-461: The circulation of Soviet publications that it viewed as subversive. In spite of rumors that the communists were planning a massacre on 9 October, 70,000 citizens demonstrated in Leipzig that Monday and the authorities on the ground refused to open fire. The following Monday, 16 October 120,000 people demonstrated on the streets of Leipzig. Erich Honecker had hoped that the Soviet troops stationed in

10608-579: The communist government to a parliamentary republic. On 17 November 1989, riot police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague, a day after a similar demonstration passed without incident in Bratislava. Although controversy continues over whether anyone died that night, that event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from 19 November to late December. By 20 November the number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague had swelled from 200,000

10744-478: The creation of the Kingdom of Lithuania by Mindaugas , nobles were called die beste leuten in German sources. In Lithuanian, nobles were named ponai . The higher nobility were named kunigai or kunigaikščiai (dukes) — a loanword from Scandinavian konung . They were the established local leaders and warlords. During the development of the state, they gradually became subordinated to higher dukes, and later to

10880-459: The cry [ vocitatio ], [that is], the godło, [by the name of] Nagody, and I established them in the said land of mine, Masovia , [on the military tenure described elsewhere in the charter]." The documentation regarding Raciborz and Albert's tenure is the earliest surviving of the use of the clan name and cry defining the honorable status of Polish knights. The names of knightly genealogiae only came to be associated with heraldic devices later in

11016-429: The decline of the town began. Many churches and chapels were pulled down, and in the years 1883–1919 Góra Kalwaria was deprived of town rights. In the early 19th century, the ban on Jewish settlement was lifted and afterwards Jews became the predominant group in the town, also due to their expulsion from Russia (see Pale of Settlement ). Góra Kalwaria then became one of the major centers of Hasidic Judaism and home to

11152-595: The distinguishing name Żądło of the knights' clan Radwan coat of arms ), or "Jakub Żądło, herbu Radwan". The Polish state paralleled the Roman Empire in that full rights of citizenship were limited to the szlachta. The szlachta in Poland , where Latin was written and spoken far and wide, used the Roman naming convention of the tria nomina (praenomen, nomen, and cognomen) to distinguish Polish citizens/szlachta from

11288-537: The early postwar years. In a tense Parliament, Mazowiecki received 378 votes, with 4 against and 41 abstentions. On 13 September 1989, a new non-communist government was approved by parliament, the first of its kind in the Eastern Bloc . On 17 November 1989, the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky , Polish founder of the Cheka and symbol of communist oppression, was torn down in Bank Square, Warsaw . On 29 December 1989

11424-521: The end of the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold War era . The earliest recorded protests to be part of the Revolutions of 1989 began in Kazakhstan , then part of the Soviet Union, in 1986, with student demonstrations , and the last chapter of the revolutions ended in 1996, when Ukraine abolished the Soviet political system of government, adopting a new constitution which replaced

11560-551: The family name of counts Litwiccy (Litwicki ) was formed with the patronymic suffix -ic from the ethnic name Litwa, i.e. Lithuania, 'nation of Lithuanians'. It refers to the early modern empire of Central Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1648). In Polish "z Dąbrówki" and "Dąbrowski" mean the same thing: "of, from Dąbrówka." More precisely, "z Dąbrówki" means owning the patrimony or estate Dąbrówka, not necessarily originating from. Almost all

11696-436: The fifth century. Lechia was the name of Poland in antiquity, and the szlachta's own name for themselves was Lechici /Lekhi. Richard Holt Hutton argued an exact counterpart of szlachta society was the system of tenure of southern India—an aristocracy of equality—settled as conquerors among a separate race. Some elements of the Polish state paralleled the Roman Empire in that full rights of citizenship were limited to

11832-666: The first visible cracks in the Iron Curtain appeared when Hungary began dismantling its 240-kilometre (150 mi) long border fence with Austria. This increasingly destabilized East Germany and Czechoslovakia over the summer and autumn, as thousands of their citizens illegally crossed over to the West through the Hungarian-Austrian border. On 1 June 1989 the Communist Party admitted that former prime minister Imre Nagy , hanged for treason for his role in

11968-555: The following Monday's demonstration on 9 October. On 6 and 7 October, Mikhail Gorbachev visited East Germany to mark the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, and urged the East German leadership to accept reform. A famous quote of his is rendered in German as "Wer zu spät kommt, den bestraft das Leben" ("The one who comes too late is punished by life."). However, Honecker remained opposed to internal reform, with his regime going so far as forbidding

12104-544: The force of liberalization spreading from the east, other Eastern Bloc countries remained openly skeptical and demonstrated aversion to reform. Believing Gorbachev's reform initiatives would be short-lived, hardline communist rulers like East Germany 's Erich Honecker , Bulgaria 's Todor Zhivkov , Czechoslovakia 's Gustáv Husák and Romania 's Nicolae Ceaușescu obstinately ignored the calls for change. "When your neighbor puts up new wallpaper, it doesn't mean you have to too," declared one East German politburo member. By

12240-483: The formalized, hereditary aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which constituted the nation itself, and ruled without competition. In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth , the hereditary szlachta were referred to as " nobilitas " from the Latin term, and could be compared in legal status to English or British peers of the realm , or to the ancient Roman idea of cives , "citizen". Until

12376-588: The government of the Commonwealth via the lower legislative chamber of the Sejm (bicameral national parliament) , composed of representatives elected at local sejmiks (local szlachta assemblies). Sejmiks performed various governmental functions at local levels, such as appointing officials and overseeing judicial and financial governance, including tax-raising. The szlachta assumed various governing positions, including voivode , marshal of voivodeship , castellan , and starosta . In 1413, following

12512-494: The government to open dialogue with Solidarity. On 9 March 1989, both sides agreed to a bicameral legislature called the National Assembly . The already existing Sejm would become the lower house. The Senate would be elected by the people. Traditionally a ceremonial office, the presidency was given more powers ( Polish Round Table Agreement ). On 7 July 1989, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev implicitly renounced

12648-545: The government, and they are as a Seminarie from whence Councellors and Kinges are taken." The szlachta were a caste , a military caste, as in Hindu society. In the year 1244, Bolesław, Duke of Masovia , identified members of the knights ' clan as members of a genealogia: "I received my good servitors [Raciborz and Albert] from the land of [Great] Poland , and from the clan [ genealogia ] called Jelito , with my well-disposed knowledge [i.e., consent and encouragement] and

12784-462: The impoverished with an aristocratic lineage, but with no land, no castle, no money, no village, and no subject peasants. Historian M.Ross wrote in 1835: "At least 60,000 families belong to this class, of which, however, only about 100 are wealthy; all the rest are poor." A few exceptionally wealthy and powerful szlachta members constituted the magnateria and were known as magnates ( magnates of Poland and Lithuania ). Adam Zamoyski argues that

12920-457: The land and plow," that even an educated peasant would always remain a peasant, because "it is impossible to transform a dog into a lynx ." The szlachta were noble in the Aryan (see Alans ) sense -- "noble" in contrast to the people over whom they ruled after coming into contact with them. The szlachta traced their descent from Lech/Lekh , who allegedly founded the Polish kingdom in about

13056-757: The late 1980s, people in the Caucasus and Baltic states were demanding more autonomy from Moscow , and the Kremlin was losing some of its control over certain regions and elements in the Soviet Union . Cracks in the Soviet system had begun in December 1986 in Kazakhstan when its citizens protested over an ethnic Russian who had been appointed as the secretary of the CPSU's Kazakh republican branch . These protests were put down after three days. In November 1988,

13192-632: The lesser Lithuanian nobility occurred after various sanctions were imposed by the Russian Empire , such as removing Lithuania from the names of the Gubernyas shortly after the November Uprising . After the January Uprising the sanctions went further, and Russian officials began to intensify Russification , and banned the printing of books in Lithuanian . After the principalities of Halych and Volhynia became integrated with

13328-804: The local garrison were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in April–May 1940. During the Holocaust , the Jewish population of the town was first concentrated in a small ghetto . In 1942, it was transferred to the Warsaw Ghetto and from there to the Treblinka extermination camp . 3,500 jews from Góra Kalwaria died in World War 2. In 1945, the town was restored to Poland, although with

13464-525: The majoritarian system. A weak presidency was agreed upon. No consensus was attained on who should elect the president, the parliament or the people, and when this election should occur, before or after parliamentary elections. On 7 October 1989, the Communist Party, at its last congress, re-established itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party . In a historic session from 16 to 20 October, the parliament adopted legislation providing for

13600-464: The media-informed East Germans made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or to oblige its border troops to use force of arms. In particular, the leadership of the GDR in East Berlin no longer dared to completely block the borders of their own country. The Round Table agreement of 18 September encompassed six draft laws that covered an overhaul of

13736-563: The moribund Soviet economy . Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and came to power in 1985. The first signs of major reform came in 1986 when Gorbachev launched a policy of glasnost (openness) in the Soviet Union, and emphasized the need for perestroika (economic restructuring). By the spring of 1989, the Soviet Union had not only experienced lively media debate but had also held its first multi-candidate elections in

13872-555: The newly established Congress of People's Deputies . While glasnost ostensibly advocated openness and political criticism, these were only permitted within a narrow spectrum dictated by the state. The general public in the Eastern Bloc was still subject to secret police and political repression . Gorbachev urged his Central and Southeast European counterparts to imitate perestroika and glasnost in their own countries. However, while reformists in Hungary and Poland were emboldened by

14008-579: The number of democracies vary depending on the criteria used for assessment, but by some measures by the late 1990s there were well over 100 democracies in the world, a marked increase in just a few decades. A wave of strikes hit Poland from 21 April then this continued in May 1988. A second wave began on 15 August, when a strike broke out at the July Manifesto coal mine in Jastrzębie-Zdrój , with

14144-547: The pan-European picnic, Erich Honecker dictated the Daily Mirror of 19 August 1989: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food, and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West." But with the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of

14280-457: The peaceful fall of communism in Poland . Also in June 1989, Hungary began dismantling its section of the physical Iron Curtain . In August 1989, the opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, in which the Eastern Bloc disintegrated. This led to mass demonstrations in cities of East Germany such as Leipzig and subsequently to the fall of

14416-588: The peasantry and foreigners, hence why multiple surnames are associated with many Polish coat of arms. Example – Jakub: Radwan Żądło-Dąbrowski (sometimes Jakub: Radwan Dąbrowski-Żądło) Praenomen Jakub Nomen (nomen gentile—name of the gens / ród or knights' clan): Radwan Cognomen (name of the family branch/ sept within the Radwan gens): For example—Braniecki, Dąbrowski, Czcikowski, Dostojewski, Górski, Nicki, Zebrzydowski , etc. Agnomen (nickname, Polish przydomek ): Żądło (prior to

14552-552: The planned picnic was made by posters and flyers among the GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union , which was then headed by Karl von Habsburg , distributed thousands of brochures inviting them to a picnic near the border at Sopron. After the pan-European picnic, Erich Honecker dictated the Daily Mirror of 19 August 1989: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which

14688-403: The political affairs of the Eastern Bloc nations, and remained in their barracks. Faced with ongoing civil unrest, the SED deposed Honecker on 18 October and replaced him with the number-two-man in the regime, Egon Krenz . However, the demonstrations kept growing. On Monday, 23 October, the Leipzig protesters numbered 300,000, and remained as large the following week. The border to Czechoslovakia

14824-470: The previous day to an estimated half-million. Five days later, the Letná Square protest held 800,000 people. On 24 November, the entire Communist Party leadership, including general secretary Miloš Jakeš , resigned. A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was successfully held on 27 November. With the collapse of other communist governments, and increasing street protests,

14960-470: The protests attracted 8,000 demonstrators. After the fifth successive Monday demonstration in Leipzig on 2 October attracted 10,000 protesters, Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader Erich Honecker issued a shoot and kill order to the military. Communists prepared a huge police, militia, Stasi , and work-combat troop presence, and there were rumors a Tiananmen Square-style massacre was being planned for

15096-508: The reign of King Casimir III the Great between 1333 and 1370 in the Kingdom of Poland until the decline and end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century. Apart from providing officers for the army, its chief civic obligations included electing the monarch and filling honorary and advisory roles at court that would later evolve into the upper legislative chamber, the Senate . The szlachta electorate also took part in

15232-459: The rycerstwo from which they all originated and to which they would return were their wealth lost. ( Manteuffel 1982 , pp. 148–149) The Period of Division from, A.D., 1138 – A.D., 1314 , which included nearly 200 years of fragmentation and which stemmed from Bolesław III 's division of Poland among his sons, was the genesis of the political structure where the great landowning szlachta ( możni/Magnates, both ecclesiastical and lay ), whose land

15368-469: The seats they were allowed to compete for in the Sejm . In the Senate they captured 99 out of the 100 available seats, with the one remaining seat taken by an independent candidate. At the same time, many prominent communist candidates failed to gain even the minimum number of votes required to capture the seats that were reserved for them. On 15 August 1989, the communists' two longtime coalition partners,

15504-634: The second half of the 19th century, the Polish term obywatel (which now means "citizen") could be used as a synonym for szlachta landlords. Today the word szlachta simply translates as "nobility". In its broadest sense, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods and baronial titles granted by other European monarchs, including the Holy See . Occasionally, 19th-century landowners of commoner descent were referred to as szlachta by courtesy or error, when they owned manorial estates, but were not in fact noble by birth. Szlachta also denotes

15640-511: The street grid formed a Latin cross . The bishop invited Dominican , Bernardine and Piarist orders to settle in the town, which soon became dotted with monasteries, churches, chapels and passion paths (such as stations of the Cross ). The town was supposed to be a purely Christian one and Jews were not allowed to settle there. After Bishop Wierzbowski's death and the Partitions of Poland

15776-443: The surnames of genuine Polish szlachta can be traced back to a patrimony or locality, despite time scattering most families far from their original home. John of Zamość called himself John Zamoyski , Stephen of Potok called himself Potocki . At least since the 17th century the surnames/ cognomens of szlachta families became fixed and were inherited by following generations, remaining in that form until today. Prior to that time,

15912-554: The szlachta were equal before the king and deliberately opposed becoming a feudal nobility became a matter of law embedded as a constitutional principle of equality. The republicanism of ancient Rome was the szlachta's ideal. Poland was known as the Most Serene Republic of Poland, Serenissima Res Publica Poloniae. The szlachta, not as a feudal nobility or gentry, but as an electorate, and an aristocracy and warrior caste , with no feudal dependence on

16048-475: The szlachta were not exactly the same as the European nobility nor a gentry , as the szlachta fundamentally differed in law, rights, political power, origin, and composition from the feudal nobility of Western Europe. The szlachta did not rank below the king, as the szlachta's relationship to the Polish king was not feudal. The szlachta stood as equals before the king. The king was not an autocrat , nor

16184-409: The szlachta's overlord, as szlachta land was in allodium , not feudal tenure . Feudal dependence upon a Polish king did not exist for the szlachta and earlier in history some high-ranking szlachta ( magnates ) descending from past tribal dynasties regarded themselves as co-proprietors of Piast realms and constantly sought to undermine Piast authority. In 1459 Ostroróg presented a memorandum to

16320-497: The szlachta, while ancient, have always been considered obscure. As a result, its members often referred to it as odwieczna (perennial). Two popular historical theories about its origins have been put forward by its members and early historians and chroniclers. The first theory involved a presumed descent from the ancient Iranian tribe known as Sarmatians , who in the 2nd century AD, occupied lands in Eastern Europe , and

16456-507: The szlachta. According to British historian Alexander Bruce Boswell  [ pl ] , the 16th-century szlachta ideal was a Greek polis —a body of citizens, a small merchant class, and a multitude of laborers. The laborers consisted of peasants in serfdom . The szlachta had the exclusive right to enter the clergy until the time of the three partitions of Poland–Lithuania , and the szlachta and clergy believed they were genetically superior to peasants. The szlachta regarded peasants as

16592-518: The term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe . The Revolutions of 1989 were a key factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union —one of the two global superpowers —and in the abandonment of communist regimes in many parts of the world, some of which were violently overthrown. These events drastically altered the world's balance of power , marking

16728-516: The three successive Partitions of Poland between 1772 and 1795, most of the szlachta began to lose legal privileges and social status, while szlachta elites became part of the nobilities of the three partitioning powers. In Polish, a nobleman is called a " szlachcic " and a noblewoman a " szlachcianka ". The Polish term szlachta derived from the Old High German word slahta . In modern German Geschlecht – which originally came from

16864-412: The time period was the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. However, unlike other European chivalry , coats of arms were associated with Polish knights' clans' ( genealogiae ) names and war cries ( godło ), where heraldic devices came to be held in common by entire clans, fighting in regiments. ( Górecki 1992 , pp. 183–185). Around the 14th century, there was little difference between knights and

17000-473: The union, and temporarily imprisoning all of its leaders. Although several Eastern Bloc countries had attempted some abortive, limited economic and political reform since the 1950s (e.g. the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Prague Spring of 1968), the ascension of reform-minded Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 signaled the trend toward greater liberalization . During the mid-1980s,

17136-469: The use of force against other Soviet-bloc nations. Speaking to members of the 23-nation Council of Europe, Mr. Gorbachev made no direct reference to the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine , under which Moscow had asserted the right to use force to prevent a Warsaw Pact member from leaving the communist fold. He stated, "Any interference in domestic affairs and any attempts to restrict the sovereignty of states—friends, allies or any others—are inadmissible". The policy

17272-587: The workers demanding the re-legalisation of the Solidarity trade union. Over the next few days, sixteen other mines went on strike followed by a number of shipyards, including on 22 August the Gdansk Shipyard , famous as the epicentre of the 1980 industrial unrest that spawned Solidarity. On 31 August 1988 Lech Wałęsa , the leader of Solidarity, was invited to Warsaw by the communist authorities, who had finally agreed to talks. On 18 January 1989, at

17408-573: The year, while the Baltic states regained their independence in September 1991 along with Ukraine , Georgia , Azerbaijan and Armenia . The rest of the Soviet Union, which constituted the bulk of the area, continued with the establishment of the Russian Federation . Albania and Yugoslavia abandoned communism between 1990 and 1992, by which time Yugoslavia had split into five new countries . Czechoslovakia dissolved three years after

17544-569: Was a popular uprising rather than a foreign-instigated attempt at counterrevolution. Mass demonstrations on 15 March, the National Day, persuaded the regime to begin negotiations with the emergent non-communist political forces. Round Table talks began on 22 April and continued until the Round Table agreement was signed on 18 September. The talks involved the communists (MSzMP) and the newly emerging independent political forces Fidesz ,

17680-598: Was almost strictly hereditary; the group of all such warriors was known as the "rycerstwo". Representing the wealthier families of Poland and itinerant knights from abroad seeking their fortunes, this other group of rycerstwo, which became the szlachta ("szlachta" becomes the proper term for Polish aristocracy beginning about the 15th century), gradually formed apart from Mieszko I's and his successors' elite retinues. This rycerstwo/ aristocracy secured more rights granting them favored status. They were absolved from particular burdens and obligations under ducal law, resulting in

17816-470: Was in allodium , not feudal tenure , were economically elevated above the rycerstwo they originated from. The prior political structure was one of Polish tribes united into the historic Polish nation under a state ruled by the Piast dynasty , this dynasty appearing circa 850 A.D. Some możni (Magnates) descending from past tribal dynasties regarded themselves as co-proprietors of Piast realms, even though

17952-402: Was next to switch to a non-communist government. Although Hungary had achieved some lasting economic reforms and limited political liberalization during the 1980s, major reforms only occurred following the replacement of János Kádár as General Secretary of the communist Party on 23 May 1988 with Károly Grósz . On 24 November 1988 Miklós Németh was appointed prime minister. On 12 January 1989,

18088-560: Was of a different origin than the Slavonic peasants ( kmiecie ; Latin: cmethones ) over which they ruled. In old Poland, there were two nations – szlachta and peasants. The szlachta were differentiated from the rural population. In harshly stratified and elitist Polish society, the szlachta's sense of distinction led to practices that in later periods would be characterized as racism. Wacław Potocki , herbu Śreniawa (1621–1696), proclaimed peasants "by nature" are "chained to

18224-601: Was opened again on 1 November, and the Czechoslovak authorities soon let all East Germans travel directly to West Germany without further bureaucratic ado, thus lifting their part of the Iron Curtain on 3 November. On 4 November the authorities decided to authorize a demonstration in Berlin and were faced with the Alexanderplatz demonstration , where half a million citizens converged on the capital demanding freedom in

18360-410: Was politically isolated from the rest of the Eastern Bloc. The Soviet Union itself became a multi-party semi-presidential republic from March 1990 and held its first presidential election , marking a drastic change as part of its reform program . The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, resulting in seven new countries which had declared their independence from the Soviet Union over the course of

18496-730: Was termed the Sinatra Doctrine , in a joking reference to the Frank Sinatra song " My Way ". Poland became the first Warsaw Pact country to break free of Soviet domination. The 1980's revolutions occurred in Western Bloc regimes as well. In February 1986, the People Power Revolution in the Philippines peacefully overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos and inaugurated Corazon "Cory" Aquino as

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