Opposition
124-611: [REDACTED] Look up wende in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wende may refer to: Die Wende (1989–1990), the historical period around German reunification Wende Museum , a museum and educational institution in Culver City, California, United States Wende, Alabama , an unincorporated community in Russell County, Alabama, United States Wende, New York ,
248-639: A state of emergency . According to John Koehler, Plan X had been in preparation since 1979 and was, "a carbon copy of how the Nazi concentration camps got their start after Hitler came to power in 1933 ." By 1984, 23 sites had been selected for "isolation and internment camps." Those who were to be imprisoned in them ran into six categories; including anyone who had ever been under surveillance for anti-state activities, including all members of peace movements which were not under Stasi control. Revolutions of 1989 The Revolutions of 1989 , also known as
372-512: 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
496-459: 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
620-724: A change in leadership and a willingness to negotiate, the SED attempted to win back the political initiative, but control of the situation increasingly lay with the West German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl . From December 1989, the GDR government of Prime Minister Hans Modrow was influenced by the Central Round Table, which put into action the dissolution of the Stasi and prepared free elections. After an election win for
744-585: A coalition of parties that supported German reunification, the political path within the GDR was clear. Despite previously hoping to rehabilitate their nation , East German activists eventually supported reunification. East German citizens welcomed the German reunification following 40 years of repression and inaction by the East German elites. Significant events: A fundamental shift in Soviet policy toward
868-566: 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 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
992-673: A hamlet in the town of Alden in Erie County, New York, United States Wende Correctional Facility , a maximum security prison Wende Station , a station on the Taipei Metro in Taiwan Wende–Bauckus syndrome or Pegum syndrome, a medical condition Wende horn , a runic symbol Wende (album) , a 1976 Ran Blake recording People [ edit ] Wende (singer) or Wende Snijders (born 1978), Dutch singer Empress Wende or Empress Zhangsun , (601–636), of
1116-627: 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 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
1240-570: 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
1364-632: 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
SECTION 10
#17327584334631488-462: 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
1612-549: 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 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
1736-561: A real democracy, the people determine how the country is governed. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in demonstrations calling for German reunification, this morphed into "Wir sind ein Volk" ("We are one people"). Churches were often pivotal in the demonstrations. The Leipzig "Monday demonstrations" stemmed from Monday prayer meetings at the Nikolaikirche (Church of St Nicholas). Prayers were said for people who had been mistreated by
1860-547: 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
1984-566: 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
2108-486: 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
2232-494: 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
2356-906: 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 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
2480-399: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Die Wende [REDACTED] Government The Peaceful Revolution ( German : Friedliche Revolution ) – also, in German called Die Wende ( German pronunciation: [diː ˈvɛndə] , "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of
2604-591: 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
SECTION 20
#17327584334632728-1161: 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,
2852-563: 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,
2976-537: 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
3100-669: The Daily Mirror of August 19, 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 the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and
3224-566: The Eastern Bloc nations under Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s was the prelude to widespread demonstrations against the Socialist Unity Party , which had ruled East Germany since the country was founded on 7 October 1949. Previous uprisings – East Germany (1953) , Czechoslovakia (1953) , Poland (1956) , Hungary (1956) and the Prague Spring (1968) – were harshly put down by Soviet troops. The Soviet reaction to
3348-575: 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
3472-642: 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 the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe . The Revolutions of 1989 were
3596-629: 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
3720-651: The SED , supported the crackdown by the Chinese authorities. The German People's Congress proclaimed it was "a defeat for counter-revolutionary forces." Sixteen civil rights activists in East Berlin were arrested for protesting against the actions of the Chinese government. However, growing political agitation in East Germany was part of wider liberalisation within the Soviet bloc resulting from Gorbachev's reforms –
3844-592: 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
Wende - Misplaced Pages Continue
3968-560: 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,
4092-654: 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
4216-517: 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
4340-832: 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
4464-631: 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
4588-534: 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
4712-477: 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
4836-424: The 40th anniversary of the founding of the GDR, were marred by demonstrations. There had been protests in the preceding weeks, and Hungary and Czechoslovakia now allowed East Germans to travel freely across their borders to the west. From 1 to 8 October, 14 "Freedom Trains" took 12,000 East German refugees from Prague across GDR territory to West Germany, with cheers from East Germans as they passed. All were signs that
4960-462: The 8,000 armed security forces present to tackle. "The message from Leipzig soared over the entire country: The masses had the power to topple the regime peacefully". When numerous East Germans were arrested for protesting the 40th-anniversary celebrations, many of them sang " The Internationale " in police custody to imply that they, rather than their captors, were the real revolutionaries. On 18 October, only eleven days after these events, Honecker
5084-464: The Austrian side of the border. The opening of the border gate then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer a GDR or an Iron Curtain , and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. The idea of opening the border at a ceremony came from Otto von Habsburg and was brought up by him to Miklós Németh , the then Hungarian Prime Minister, who promoted the idea. The border
Wende - Misplaced Pages Continue
5208-612: The Berlin demonstration. On the 28 October 1989, to try to calm the protests, an amnesty was issued for political prisoners being held for border crimes or for participation in the weekly demonstrations. The first wave of demonstrations ended in March 1990 due to the forthcoming free parliamentary elections on 18 March . On 8 October 1989, Erich Mielke and Erich Honecker ordered the Stasi to implement "Plan X"—the SED's plan to arrest and indefinitely detain 85,939 East Germans during
5332-469: 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
5456-400: 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
5580-560: 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
5704-808: The Eastern bloc states had strongly isolationist policies and they developed complex systems and infrastructure to restrict their citizens travel beyond the Iron Curtain . About 3.5 million people left the GDR for West Germany before the building of the Berlin Wall and the Inner German border in August 1961. After that it was still possible to leave legally, by applying for and receiving an Ausreiseantrag [ de ] (permission to leave). Between 1961 and 1988 about 383,000 people left this way. The government also forcibly exiled people, and political prisoners and their families could be ransomed to
5828-432: 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
5952-419: 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
6076-427: The Hungarian government began dismantling its border fence with Austria . This encouraged East German citizens to start travelling to Hungary in the hope of being able to get to the west more easily, not only over the border, but also by going to the West German embassy in Budapest and seeking asylum. On 27 June 1989 the Hungarian foreign minister Gyula Horn and his Austrian counterpart Alois Mock symbolically cut
6200-438: The Iron Curtain. In particular, it was examined whether Moscow would give the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary the command to intervene. The West German government was already prepared for the mass escape, and trains and coaches were ready to take the escapees from Vienna to Giessen , near Frankfurt , where a refugee reception centre was waiting for the new arrivals. After the Pan-European Picnic, Erich Honecker dictated to
6324-518: The Leipzig demonstrations on 11 September and going through until 2 October. After the demonstration on 9 October, in which the security forces were completely outnumbered by the 70,000 protesters and unable to hinder them, the demonstrations in Leipzig and elsewhere remained relatively peaceful. The largest gatherings were the Alexanderplatz demonstration in Berlin on 4 November 1989, and 11 November in Leipzig, each with an estimated 500,000 protesters, although there are claims that up to 750,000 were at
SECTION 50
#17327584334636448-403: 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
6572-416: The Polish crisis of 1980–1981 was already one of non-intervention. Having initiated a policy of glasnost (openness) and emphasized the need for perestroika (economic restructuring), in July 1989, Gorbachev permitted the Warsaw Pact nations to initiate their own political and economic reforms within the terms of the treaty. The policy of non-interference in Soviet Bloc countries' internal affairs
6696-528: 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
6820-403: 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
6944-454: The Soviet Union were increasingly rejected due to poor quality control standards. Other communist countries were pursuing market-led reforms, but the government of Erich Honecker rejected such changes, claiming they contradicted Marxist ideology. More than one-fifth of the government's income was spent on subsidising the costs of housing, food and basic goods. Poor sewerage and industrial infrastructure led to major environmental problems. Half
7068-404: 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 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
7192-412: 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
7316-490: The Status of Refugees on 14 March 1989, refused. From 10 September 1989, the Hungarian government allowed all East Germans to cross the Austro-Hungarian border without hindrance. Tens of thousands left and many also travelled to Czechoslovakia, whose government also gave in to demands to open its western border. The East German government gave in to pressure to allow special trains carrying East German refugees from Prague to West Germany, to travel via East Germany. Between
7440-661: The Tang dynasty China Bruno Wende (1859–1929), American soldier who received the Medal of Honor Daniel Wende (born 1984), German figure skater František Wende (1904–1968), Czechoslovak skier Gottfried H. Wende (1852-1933), American politician from New York Horst Wende (1919—1996), German bandleader, arranger and composer Philipp Wende (born 1985), German rower Richard Vander Wende , American visual and video game designer Wende Wagner (1941–1997), American actress See also [ edit ] Wenden (disambiguation) Wends Wendi (disambiguation) Wendy (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
7564-528: The West German government , although those involved had no choice in the matter. Between 1964 and 1989 a recorded 33,755 political prisoners and about 250,000 of their relatives and others were "sold" to West Germany. Most of those who tried to escape illegally after 1961 travelled to other Eastern Bloc countries, as they believed their western borders were easier to breach than East Germany's. Around 7,000–8,000 East Germans escaped through Bulgaria , Hungary and Czechoslovakia between 1961 and 1988. However,
SECTION 60
#17327584334637688-488: 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
7812-412: The anniversary, which Mikhail Gorbachev attended, would not run smoothly. Although there were almost 500,000 Soviet troops stationed in the GDR, they were not going to help suppress any demonstrations. It later emerged that Gorbachev had ordered that the troops were to stay in their barracks during the commemorations. As the reformist Gorbachev was paraded along Unter den Linden , cheering crowds lining
7936-447: 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
8060-427: The border fence just outside Sopron . After the demolition of the border facilities, the patrols of the heavily armed Hungarian border guards were tightened and there was still a shooting order. On 10 August 1989, Hungary announced it would be further relaxing its handling of first-time East German border offenders, which had already become lenient. It stamped the passports of people caught trying to illegally cross
8184-403: 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,
8308-428: The border, rather than arresting them or reporting them to the East German authorities; first-time offenders would just get a warning, and no stamp. It also announced a proposal to downgrade illegal border crossing from a crime to a misdemeanour. The Pan-European Picnic at the Austro-Hungarian border followed on 19 August 1989. This was a celebration of more open relationships between east and west, near Sopron, but on
8432-435: 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 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
8556-409: 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
8680-532: The collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, among other openings, the opening of their borders to the Western world . These events were precipited by Solidarity's peaceful revolution in Poland and enabled by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 's decision to abandon intervention the Soviet sphere of influence and other shifts to the Soviet Union's foreign policy. In East Germany—the former German Democratic Republic (GDR or DDR)—the peaceful revolution marks
8804-467: 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
8928-418: 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 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
9052-478: The country was not as isolated as China. Although Gorbachev visited Beijing in May 1989 to normalize Sino-Soviet relations, and the Chinese people were enthusiastic about his ideas, he had no influence with the Chinese government. Rather than stifle the East Germans' protests, the Tiananmen Square demonstration was further inspiration for their desire to instigate change. Celebrations for Republic Day on 7 October 1989,
9176-672: The country's domestic sewage was untreated, as was most industrial waste. Over a third of all East Germany's rivers, and almost a third of its reservoirs and half of its lakes were severely polluted. Its forests were damaged by sulphur dioxide and air pollution in cities was a problem. Protests about these environmental problems played a large part in the Peaceful Revolution. Workers in East Germany earned more than those in other communist countries and they had better housing than most of them. But East German workers compared themselves with West Germans, who were much better off, which
9300-557: The country. Other new political organisations including Democratic Awakening , United Left , and the Socialist Democratic Party formed. They all had similar aims, wanting greater democracy and environmental reforms. East Germans could see news about the Tiananmen Square democracy demonstration between April and June 1989 on West German television broadcasts. When the Chinese regime brutally crushed
9424-455: The demonstration on 3–4 June, several hundred and possibly several thousand protesters were killed. This caused concern for the nascent East German protest movement, that had demonstrated against electoral fraud in May. "We too feared the possibility of a 'Chinese solution,'" said Pastor Christian Fuehrer of the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. The Neues Deutschland , the official newspaper of
9548-400: The destabilization of the SED's one-party state , similar to destabilization of such regimes in other Eastern Bloc countries. Because of its hostile response to the reforms implemented within its "socialist brother lands", the SED leadership was already increasingly isolated within the Eastern Bloc when it permitted the opening of the border at the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. Through
9672-537: 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
9796-423: The election, opposition activists called for it to be boycotted, and distributed a leaflet criticising Erich Honecker's regime. Nevertheless, the result of the election was proclaimed as 98.5 percent "Yes". Clear evidence of electoral fraud was smuggled to the West German media. When this information was broadcast, it was picked up in East Germany, instigating protests. Citizens demanded their legal right to observe
9920-517: The end of the ruling by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1989 and the transition to a parliamentary system . This peaceful transition later enabled the German reunification in October 1990. The peaceful revolution was marked by nonviolent initiatives and demonstrations. The GDR's lack of competitiveness in the global market economy, as well as its sharply rising national debt, hastened
10044-512: The first and eighth of October 1989, 14 so-called "Freedom Trains" (German: Flüchtlingszüge aus Prag [ de ] ) carried a total of 12,000 people to Hof , in Bavaria. Large crowds gathered to cheer the trains as they passed. As a result of new hopes inspired by the mass exodus of East Germans via Hungary, several opposition groups formed in Autumn 1989, with the aim of bringing about
10168-541: 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
10292-555: 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
10416-544: 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
10540-520: 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
10664-494: 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
10788-537: The issues from the preceding year were made available in a special edition for East Germans. East Germany's economy was stronger than other Eastern Bloc countries and it was the most successful of the CMEA countries. It was the Soviet Union's most important trading partner, although it was very much subordinate. It was a net exporter of technology. Its shared language, cultural and personal connections with West Germany helped to boost its economy. Its trade with West Germany
10912-701: 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,
11036-407: The list. However, before the 7 May 1989 election there were open signs of citizens' dissatisfaction with the government and the SED was concerned that there could be a significant number of "No" votes. The number of applications for an Ausreiseantrag (permission to leave the country) had increased and there was discontent about housing conditions and shortages of basic products. In the weeks before
11160-525: 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
11284-403: The majority of attempts were thwarted and those caught were arrested and sent back to face the East German legal system. Some were also shot and killed by border guards. The Hungarian leader, János Kádár , retired on 22 May 1988 and other political parties were formed which challenged the old socialist order in Hungary, leading to a period of liberalisation. Almost a year later, on 2 May 1989,
11408-404: 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
11532-563: 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
11656-500: 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
11780-471: The non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. About 100,000 East Germans then travelled to Hungary, hoping to also get across the border. Many people camped in the garden of the West German embassy in Budapest, in parks and around the border areas. Although the East German government asked for these people to be deported back to the GDR, Hungary, which had signed the 1951 Convention Relating to
11904-530: 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
12028-476: 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
12152-492: 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
12276-406: 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. Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay saw the event also as an opportunity to test Mikhail Gorbachev ’s reaction to an opening of the border on
12400-403: 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
12524-470: 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,
12648-470: 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
12772-466: The relationship of KGB and the Stasi was still close. In November 1988, the distribution of the Soviet monthly magazine Sputnik , was prohibited in East Germany because its new open political criticisms annoyed upper circles of the GDR leadership. This caused a lot of resentment and helped to activate the opposition movement. After a year, the sale of the magazine was reinstated, and censored editions of
12896-559: 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 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
13020-522: The same sorts of reforms in the GDR that had been instituted in Poland and Hungary. The largest of these was the New Forum (German: Neues Forum ). It was founded by the artist Bärbel Bohley along with Jens Reich and Jutta Seidel . It had over 200,000 members within a few weeks of being set up. On 20 September 1989 it applied to field candidates in the March 1990 general election. New Forum acted as an umbrella organisation for activist groups across
13144-461: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Wende . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wende&oldid=1243884439 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
13268-519: 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,
13392-429: The state authorities, so the meetings took on a political character. The numbers attending grew and on 4 September 1989, it became a demonstration of over 1000 people in front of the church. The Stasi arrived to break it up, taking some demonstrators away in trucks. The demonstrations became a regular weekly event in Leipzig and around the country, with tens of thousands joining in. There were mass arrests and beatings at
13516-594: The street called out "Gorbi, Gorbi," and "Gorbi, help us." However, there were still fears of a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown, as on 2 October, the SED party official Egon Krenz was in Beijing , at the anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China . There, he said, "In the struggles of our time, the GDR and China stand side by side." On 7 October, a candelight demonstration with 1,500 protesters around Gethsemane Church in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin
13640-473: 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,
13764-469: 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
13888-473: The vote count. Election monitors from churches and other groups showed the figures had been falsified. About 10 percent of voters had put a line through every name on the list, indicating a "No" vote, and about 10 percent of the electorate had not voted at all. After the initial protests on 7 May, there were demonstrations on the seventh of every month in Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The Soviet Union and
14012-416: The week. In Erfurt , for example, they happened on Thursdays. The first wave of these was from 4 September 1989 to March 1990. They continued sporadically until 1991. The protesters called for an open border with West Germany, genuine democracy, and greater human rights and environmental protections. The most noted slogan protesters shouted was "Wir sind das Volk" ("We are the people"), meaning that in
14136-587: 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
14260-455: Was 50 to 60 percent of its total trade with Western nations. Although it was hailed as a communist success story, by the late 1980s its economic growth had slowed to less than 1% per year and the government's economic goals were not reached. It had to deal with increasing global competition with run-down industrial infrastructure, and shortages of labour and raw materials. From 1986, its products were often seen as inferior and orders delivered to
14384-569: 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 ,
14508-443: Was another cause of dissatisfaction. In practice, there was no real choice in GDR elections, which consisted of citizens voting to approve a pre-selected list of National Front candidates. The National Front was, in theory, an alliance of political parties, but they were all controlled by the SED party, which controlled the Volkskammer , the East German parliament. The results of elections were generally about 99% "Yes" in favour of
14632-643: Was crushed by security forces, who beat people up and made around 500 arrests. Other protests outside the Palace of the Republic were also brutally repressed. There were protests throughout the country, the most organised being three consecutive demonstrations in Saxony on 7, 8 and 9 October in Plauen , Dresden and Leipzig respectively. In Leipzig, there was no violence, as the 70,000 participants were too many for
14756-596: Was made official with Gorbachev's statement on 26 October 1989 that the "Soviet Union has no moral or political right to interfere in the affairs of its East European neighbors". This was dubbed the Sinatra Doctrine , by Gorbachev's spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov who joked "You know the Frank Sinatra song, 'I Did It My Way'? Hungary and Poland are doing it their way." Following the reforms, by 1988 relations had soured between Gorbachev and Honecker, although
14880-402: 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,
15004-485: 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
15128-447: Was removed as head of the party and the state and was replaced by Egon Krenz. In addition to the GDR 40th anniversary demonstrations and the protests against electoral fraud, from September 1989 there were regular weekly pro-democracy demonstrations in towns and cities across the country. They are referred to as "Monday demonstrations" as that was the day they occurred in Leipzig, where they started, but they were staged on several days of
15252-462: Was temporarily opened at 3 p.m., and 700–900 East Germans, who had travelled there after being tipped off, rushed across, without intervention from Hungarian border guards. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The local organization in Sopron took over the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the other contacts were made via Habsburg and the Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay . Extensive advertising for
15376-664: 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
#462537