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1989—Berlin Wall Falls
The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. -
1985—Gorbachev introduces perestroika
was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness")policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system. Perestroika is sometimes argued to be a cause of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the end of the Cold War -
1987—Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed
The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, commonly referred to as the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, requires destruction of the Parties' ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment within three years after theTreaty enters into force -
1989—Jozsef Antall elected prime minister of Hungary
József Tihamér Antall de Dörgicse et Kisjene was born to an ancient Hungarian family from the lower nobility in Budapest on 8 April 1932.[2] His father, József Antall, Sr. jurist and civil servant, worked for the government in several ministries. Antall, Sr. coordinated the first living wage calculations in Hungary, and he was a founding member of the Independent Smallholders' Party (1931). During World War II, he presided the government committee for refugees -
1989—Vaclav Havel elected president of Czechoslovakia
After participating in Prague Spring and being blacklisted after the invasion of Czechoslovakia, he became more politically active and helped found several dissident initiatives such as Charter 77 and the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted. His political activities brought him under the surveillance of the secret police and he spent multiple stints in prison, the longest being nearly four years, -
1990—Lech Walesa elected president of Poland
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1990—Germany reunification takes place
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1990—Germany reunification takes place
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1985—Gorbachev introduces glasnost
is a former Soviet statesman. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union,He served as the country's head of state from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991 (titled as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and as President of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991). He was the only general secretary in the history of the Soviet Union to have been born after the October Revolution