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Modern Europe • The Second World War cost Russia almost onethird of her wealth • They launched a new Five-Year Plan • Stalin died in 1953 • In 1955 by Nikita Khrushchev • Khrushchev was ruthless but he was never able to achieve the same success as Stalin • He consolidated collective farms and increased the amount of agricultural land • 1957 Russia launched Sputnik and greatly increased prestige, especially in the Third World • “The Thaw” he tried to make amends for Stalin’s atrocities • Boris Pasternak wrote Dr. Zhivago – showed the limits of the thaw – received the Nobel Prize • He tried to ease the tension with the west – but tension with China increased • Opposition to Khrushchev increased and he was replaced in 1964 by Alexei Kosygin • 1977 Leonid Brezhnev assumed control • 1982 Brezhnev died and was replaced with Andropov and the Chernenko and finally Gorbachev • During the war Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and the Baltic States fell under soviet control • The soviets controlled these countries by Moscow-trained Communists • 1948 communists had a coup in Czechoslovakia • The countries were placed on Five-Year Plans • The first major figure to declare independence from Moscow was Tito of Yugoslavia • 1953, after Stalin’s death, riots broke out in Berlin – quickly suppressed • 1956 revolts in Poland and Hungary • In Hungary they were led by Imre Nagy • The Russian put down the revolts with tanks and showed the world the ruthlessness of the soviet system • “The Prague Spring” - The unsuccessful revolts did change the culture of Hungary and led to a loosening of soviet ties • In 1968 the communists ended the “Prague Spring” by brutally suppressing a revolution in Czechoslovakia • “Brezhnev Doctrine” allowed for Russian intervention in Eastern European affairs • However, Poland was economically successful as was The German Democratic Republic • 1989, perhaps as important as 1789 • Mikail Gorbachev became the head of the Soviet Union • Perestroika – the economic restructuring of the country based on decentralization and selfmanagement • He needed western help so implemented glasnost (openness) which allowed for free speech • Gorbachev even criticized Stalin but did not challenge the power of the Communist party • Once soviet control was released longstanding ethnic hatred flared up in many places • Gorbachev traveled a great deal promoting peace and an end to the Cold War • In 1980 shipyard workers at Gdansk, Poland went on strike – against Communist laws – they were led by Lech Walesa • The union movement – Solidarity became so popular in Poland and around the world the Polish government was forced to back down • As the unrest continued the Communists arrested leaders, including Walesa • Pope John Paul II, a Pole, urged the people to protest • Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 • By 1985 the Brezhnev Doctrine was dead • 1988 Hungary was seeking ways to get western help for reform allowed vacationing East Germans to enter Austria • 1989 East German leader Erich Honecker also gambled, but believed if Germans could travel they would return • The trickle became a flood 350,000 East Germans left by 1990 • Gorbachev told Honecker that soviet troops would not help him • So in November 1989 the East Germans opened the Berlin Wall • Only in Romania did the government forces fight back • Ceausescu ordered his troops to open fire on protestors • 1991 the Soviet Union sent troops to Lithuania to stop protestors • Russian politician became alarmed – made Yeltsin the new leader • 1991 Yeltsin became the first Russian leader to be elected by popular vote • Leningrad became St. Petersburg • Yeltsin wanted autonomy for the Baltic States and self-government for the other provinces • A small group of old hardliners staged a coup • Gorbachev disavowed the rebels and Yeltsin rallied the legislature • Gorbachev returned to private life • Yeltsin agreed to dissolution of the old USSR European Union • Churchill urged European cooperation – but nothing happened • 1947 Marshall Plan a) very generous - $15b in aid b) helped combat Communism c) first step toward European cooperation • 1948 10 countries met to create a Council of Europe – the British refused to cooperate • Also in 1948 three countries: Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland created a customs union called Benelux • 1951: France, West Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries formed the European Coal and Steel Community under the presidency of Jean Monnet of France • 1957 the same six signed the Treaty of Rome creating a large trade free area called the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market headquartered in Brussels • They wanted: a) Elimination of internal tariffs b) same social and economic policies c) the movement of people • The Treaty of Rome also created the European Atomic Community (Euratom) to coordinate non-military atomic research • 1960 Britain created the European Free Trade Association with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and Portugal • The two groups seemed like rivals but they weren’t • Britain started to fall behind other countries and in 1963 they sought entry into the Common Market (although they were twice vetoed by French President Charles De Gaulle) • 1967 the three organizations: Euratom, ECSC, EEC formed the European Community • 1968 the six countries negotiated the GATT agreement • 1969 Britain joined • 1985 The Single European Act • 1991 The Maastricht Treaty a) common currency b) common policies • Today there are 12 countries • The Balkans had been part of the Ottoman Empire • After 500 years Serbia freed from Muslim rule • Shared Eastern Orthodox Christianity with Russia • 1914 the struggle independence led to the assassination in Sarajevo of the heir to the Austrian throne • Independence came after World War I • Serbia was Eastern Orthodox: Croatia, Slovenia, Roman Catholic: many Bosnians were Muslims • 1929 Yugoslavia was created - Yugoslavia means South Slavs • Yugoslavia was occupied by Germany in World War II • But there was a civil war with the Communists led by Marshall Tito • 1946 Yugoslavia was Communist with 6 republics • Tito believed that only Communism could stop the ethnic rivalries • 1980 Tito died – separatist movements appeared • 1987 Milosevic became the head of the Serbian Communists • 1990 Yugoslavia started to dissolve • 1991 war broke out between Serbia and Croatia • NATO sanctioned air strikes against the Serbs • 1995 Dayton Peace Accords – brought ‘peace’ to the region • Serbs and Croats tried to create enclaves in Bosnia-Herzegovina • Ethnic cleansing