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80-621: The United Kingdom governmental carries out Defence Reviews infrequently, usually upon a change of government or major political event, such as just after the Collapse of Communism . They can also be necessitated by economic crises, as in 1974 and 2010. British Defence Reviews since the end of World War II include: United Kingdom governments have also conducted policy reviews which cover specific aspects of defence but do not purport to be fundamental reappraisals of overall defence policy and strategy. Examples of these include: The main difference between

160-506: 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

240-459: 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

320-552: 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

400-529: A local official is performing poorly in the eyes of the residents.  This gives locals the opportunity to monitor local officials and communicate satisfaction with the local government. Throughout the country, members of the one party hold key political positions.  In doing so, the party avoids committing outright fraud and rather sustains their power at the local level with strategic appointment of elites.  Data on one-party regimes can be difficult to gather given their lack of transparency. As of 2024,

480-543: A lower rate than dominant-party dictatorships. While one-party states prohibit opposition parties, some allow for elections at the smallest local level. One-party states lack any legitimate competition. Therefore, they place elites and sympathetic candidates in key administrative races.  For example, the Chinese Communist Party exercises political control by infiltrating village administrations.  They view these positions as crucial for gathering information on

560-563: 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

640-612: 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

720-457: 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

800-538: 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

880-563: 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 a key factor in

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960-531: 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

1040-608: 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

1120-483: 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

1200-404: Is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or enjoy limited and controlled participation in elections . The term " de facto one-party state" is sometimes used to describe a dominant-party system that, unlike a one-party state, allows (at least nominally) multiparty elections, but

1280-494: 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

1360-876: 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

1440-584: 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

1520-1083: 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,

1600-551: 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,

1680-527: 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

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1760-611: 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

1840-712: 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

1920-573: 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

2000-641: 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,

2080-638: 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

2160-505: 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

2240-807: 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

2320-540: 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

2400-612: 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

2480-524: 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

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2560-472: 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

2640-462: 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

2720-580: 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

2800-545: 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

2880-540: 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

2960-515: 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

3040-456: 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

3120-733: 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

3200-403: 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

3280-601: 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

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3360-587: 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

3440-699: The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and the United States Department of Defense as pertains to the review cycle is frequency. The U.S. DoD carries out its review, styled the Quadrennial Defense Review , on a set four-year cycle, whereas the UK MoD has no set timetable for any such review. Collapse of Communism The Revolutions of 1989 , also known as the Fall of Communism , were

3520-596: 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

3600-447: 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

3680-403: 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,

3760-435: 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

3840-409: 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

3920-467: 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

4000-418: 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

4080-427: 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

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4160-556: The existing practices or balance of political power effectively prevent the opposition from winning power. Membership in the ruling party tends to be relatively small compared to the population. With such a small winning coalition, leaders in one-party states usually lack the incentive to care about the well-being of citizens.  Rather, they give out private goods to fellow elites to ensure continued support. One-party, compared to dominant-party dictatorships, structure themselves unlike democracies. They also turn into democracies at

4240-472: 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

4320-475: 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

4400-434: The following countries are legally constituted as one-party states: A de facto one-party system is one that, while not officially linking a single political party to governmental power, utilizes some means of political manipulation to ensure only one party stays in power. Many different countries have been claimed to be de facto one-party states, with differing levels of agreement between scholars, although most agree that

4480-544: 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

4560-467: 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

4640-427: 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

4720-481: 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,

4800-447: 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

4880-404: 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

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4960-496: 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

5040-500: 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

5120-409: 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

5200-415: 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

5280-425: 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

5360-403: 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

5440-466: The population and maintaining a presence in the far reaches of their borders. One-party states recognize the trade-off between election victory and gathering valuable data.  To account for this, the regimes have been observed placing local nobility in easy-to-win races.  One-party states have also been observed using elections to ensure that only the most popular elites get chosen to office.  They also gather data from elections to indicate if

5520-409: 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,

5600-416: 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

5680-454: 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

5760-511: 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,

5840-464: 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,

5920-469: 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

6000-574: 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

6080-557: 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 ,

6160-451: Was elected speaker of the federal parliament on 28 December and Václav Havel the President of Czechoslovakia on 29 December 1989. In June 1990 Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946. On 27 June 1991 the last Soviet troops were withdrawn from Czechoslovakia. One-party rule A one-party state , single-party state , one-party system or single-party system

6240-402: 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,

6320-584: 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

6400-693: 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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