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Fall of the Berlin Wall
"I don’t think anyone could avoid feeling the elation at the Berlin Wall coming down. I mean, that is just such a classic moment. It was important not just because it meant the end of the communist regime in Eastern Germany but it signaled the end of the division of Europe. There was the tangible material symbol of a divided continent being pushed down by people on both sides." -
Bulgaria: Zhivkov is removed from power
"On November 10, 1989, several hours after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party holds a meeting in which Zhivkov is forced to resign as party head and head of state."- Novinite, Sofia News Agency
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Start of Czechoslovakia's "Velvet Revolution"
"A Czechoslovakian student protest leads to clashes with police, beginning the country’s “Velvet Revolution”. Half a million people protest in Prague on 20 November."- the Socialist Worker
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Czechslovakia's Velvet Revolution
As glasnost broadcasted of the fall of the Berlin Wall to reach all throughout the communist sphere, it was a message: "Liberation from the Communist government is in your hands." Inspired by the success the Berlin citizens achieved with peaceful protests, it became an incentive for other Eastern Bloc countries to follow their example and lead the "Autumn of the Nations." The first to do so was Czechoslovakia. -
Czechslovak Communist Party relinquishes their power
The Czechoslovak Communist Party relinquished their power, ending their regime. -
Bulgaria: tipping towards democracy
"On December 11, 1989, the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party adopts a course in favor of parliamentary democracy, and proposes the abolition of Article 1 of the 1971 Constitution (known also as “Zhivkov’s Constitution”) which stipulates the “leading role” and monopoly of the BCP on political power in Bulgaria." -Nonvinite, Sofia News Agency -
Romanian Revolt Begins
"Of all the rebellions that toppled Communism in Eastern Europe a decade ago, the bloodiest began in this provincial city where a protest by the parishioners of an obscure Calvinist pastor somehow exploded into the nationwide revolt that in nine days shoved Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, Romania's megalomaniacal ruling couple, in front of a firing squad."- New York Times, Romania's Revolution of 1989: An Enduring Enigma
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Romania's Revolt
"Of all the rebellions that toppled Communism in Eastern Europe a decade ago, the bloodiest began in this provincial city where a protest by the parishioners of an obscure Calvinist pastor somehow exploded into the nationwide revolt that in nine days shoved Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, Romania's megalomaniacal ruling couple, in front of a firing squad."- New York Times, Romania's Revolution of 1989: An Enduring Enigma
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Ceausescus exceuted
Romania's brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescus and his wife is executed. -
Czechoslovak Communist Party resigns
Communist rule in Czechoslovakia ends after 41 years.
