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Gorbachev gets new Soviet constituion ratified
Gorbachev called upon the citizens to ratify a new constituion which abolished the Communist party's monoply on political power and increased the power of the Congress of People's Deputies. Gorbachev convinced many deputies ot elect him president. -
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Velvet Revolution
This was an event filled with popular, non-violent demonstrations by students, intellectuals, and Vaclav Havel. Together, they took over the streets and forced the Communists into a power-sharing agreement. This eventually resulted in the party's resignation. Havel was elected president in the end. -
Ten Point Plan
Chancellor Helmut Kohl proposes his ten point plan for the unification of both West and East Germany as well as the international community. -
Hungarian Coumminst party hold free elections
The communists allowed free elections because they believed victory would be easy due to their mistakenly assumed popularity. These were the first free elections in Hungary since 1945. The most popularly elected party into parliament was the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) -
Yeltsin elected leader of the Russian Federation's parliament
Boris Yeltsin believed in the democratic movement and was therefore elected. He promised to put Russia's interest first and withdraw it from the Soviet Union. He was patriotic and expanding the anticommunist movement. -
The invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein
Hussein wanted to rule the entire Arabh world, so he invaded and proclaimed the annexation of Kuwait, a tiny, oil rich country. This mobilized the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council, who put up a naval blockade on Iraq. The U.S. sent troops and crashed Iraqi forces but did not overthrow Hussein. -
East Germany reunified with West Germany
The East Germine regime began to fall apart and eventually had to negotiate a Unification Treaty. People were reuinted, the East German economy recovered, and Germany became one of the strongest countries in Europe. -
Berlin Wall Opened
West and East Germany are reunited. The iron curtain has fallen. -
Agreement for Paris Accord
Europe countries along with the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., met and agreed to scale down their armed forces. They also affirmed that all the existings borders in Europe were legal and valid. In general, it was a peace treaty. -
Slovenia and Croatia declare independance
Milosevic's abolishment of self-rule strengthened separtism in the Yugoslavia area, which eventually led to declarations of independance in Slovenia and Croatia. Croation and Slovenian soldiers refused to fight and deserted the JNA. This played into the break up of Yugoslavia -
Communist Coup
An attempt was made to overthrow the Soviet Union in August 1991 by those who opposed Gorbachev's reform movement. This failed attempt has been seen as the tipping point in which lead to the demise of the Soviet Union. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
After Russia's withdraw from the Soviet Union, all other nations followed their lead. As of Dec. 25, 1991, the Soviet Union no longer exists. -
Creation of the European Union
The Maastricht Treaty was signed by the European community to form the new European Union. -
Attack on Srebrenica
Bosnian Serbs overran the Muslim city declared to be a safe area, Srebenica. They killed thousands of civilians. This prompted NATO to bomb military targets and allow the Croatian army to drive all the Serbs out. This was a major turning point in the Yugoslavia break up. -
Re-election of 1996
The re-election of Boris Yeltsin as president has suggested that free elections had been incorporated and accepted into the core of Russian political life. -
Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia join NATO
Their membership proved their stability and character, which proved their success among the former communist countries. -
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NATO bombings of Kosovo
Serbian forces attacked the KLA guerrillas and unarmed villagers. This displaced 250,000 people within Kosovo. Western powers threatened Milosevic with air raids if he did not allow Kosovo self-government. They began bombings but more Kosovars were exiled. Eventually, the bomings got worse and Milosevic gave in. The hundreds of thousands of Kosovars returned to their homes. -
Yeltsin won Presidential Election
He maintained free markets in the economy but also re-established semi-authoritarian political rule. This was "managed democracy". His presidency began to symbolize natioanl resurgence in Russia.