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End of WWII
"Thus May 8th 1945 is known as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day), marking the WW2 end in Europe. Likewise in the Soviet Union and its satellite states, VE Day is celebrated on the 9th." -
Marshall Plan Initiated
"Without the Marshall Plan Germany would have turned into one giant graveyard, into a vast plain of destruction, brutality, inhumanity, disease and death. [...] Not the USA profited from it, but rather all of Europe - but most of all the German people under the occupation by the Western Allies. In the face of the humanitarian motive, the massive financial and material aid takes on an aspect of nobility. We here in Germany owe a debt of gratitude to our American suppo -
Seperation
June 22, 1948 “[...]negotiations between the Soviets, Americans, and British broke down.” -
Soviet Blockade
“[...] Soviet forces blocked the roads and railroad lines into West Berlin” -
Berlin Airlift
“[...] the Americans and British used a dramatic airlift to supply the civilian population...” -
Period: to
Berlin Blockade
"Stalin tried blockading West Berlin in 1948, but the Americans and British used a dramatic airlift to supply the civilian population for 11 months, and Stalin was forced to call off the attempt." -
Period: to
Brain Drain
"A period of time when an exodus of educated people from the east to the west occured." -
Berlin wall erected
"At 2 a.m. on Aug. 13, 1961, a low, barbed-wire barrier was strung between East and West Berlin. It effectively divided the city in half. Within days, workers cemented concrete blocks into a low wall through the city." -
Kennedy visits the Wall
"President Kennedy gave a historic speech on June 26, 1963, to a crowd in front of the Berlin Wall." -
Reagan Election
"On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar." -
Gorbachev initiates reforms
“Perestroika means a restructuring or reorganization to reduce the crushing costs of military spending and commitments to its satellite states in Eastern Europe, Gorbachev allowed those states to go their own way.”"He [Gorbachev] has promoted glasnost, or openness, as a means of permitting a free exchange of ideas on topics that hitherto were subjects to political restriction.” -
Reagan visits the Wall
"Arriving in Berlin on June 12, 1987, President and Mrs. Reagan were taken to the Reichstag, where they viewed the wall from a balcony." -
Hungary Opens Borders
"It was in Hungary that the first stone was removed from the Berlin Wall." -
Leipzig Peaceful Revolution
"On October 9 [1989], Leipzig hosted the largest protest demonstration in East German history: Between 70,000 and 100,000 peaceful demonstrators braved warnings from the feared Stasi, or secret police, and thousands of armed riot cops to march around the city center. In the end, the police did nothing, setting the stage for a peaceful revolution that swept across East Germany." -
Alexander Platz Demonstration
"This was the largest anti-government demonstration in its history." -
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." -
Zhivkov 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." -
"Velvet Revolution" starts
"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." -
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." -
Czechslovak Communist Party relinquishes power
The general strike demonstrated the erosion of communist power, forcing them to agree to the demands of the people that would end their dominion in the country. -
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." -
German Reunification
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Fall of the Soviet Union
