AHC: Simultaneous Eastern Bloc Uprisings Pre 1989

kernals12

Banned
IOTL the Warsaw Pact nations had uprisings that were quickly crushed by Soviet tanks long before the events of 1989. There was East Germany (1953), Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968), and Poland (1978-1983). So how can we get these 4 countries to revolt simultaneously? I assume it would be difficult for Moscow to put them all down especially since it would spread to the other Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union itself. Bonus points for being as far before 1989 as possible.
 
In 1956 Poland as well as Hungary was in a potentially explosive situation, but in the end Khrushchev defused it by agreeing to accept Gomulka as General Secretary. OTOH, Gomulka's triumph may have led the Hungarians to think they could get away with going much further than the Poles had...

In any event, if it had come to that, the Kremlin could quite easily have crushed simultaneous uprisings in both Poland and Hungary in 1956.
 

kernals12

Banned
In 1956 Poland as well as Hungary was in a potentially explosive situation, but in the end Khrushchev defused it by agreeing to accept Gomulka as General Secretary. OTOH, Gomulka's triumph may have led the Hungarians to think they could get away with going much further than the Poles had...

In any event, if it had come to that, the Kremlin could quite easily have crushed simultaneous uprisings in both Poland and Hungary in 1956.
What about if Czechoslovakia and East Germany also flair up?
 
What about if Czechoslovakia and East Germany also flair up?

My impression is that Novotny and Ulbricht had the two countries under pretty firm control. In Poland, the death of Bierut and in Hungary the forced retirement of Rakosi helped to unleash unrest.
 
1989 wasnt simultaneous. IIRC, it started with East Germans crossing into Austria from Czechoslovakia. Neither the East Germans, Czechs nor the Soviets stamped it out. It spread once people realized the incumbent regimes werent going to use violence against their own people. Basically, it's what very likely would have happened had the Soviets or local communists not intervened in 1953, 1956, 1968, and 1980.
 
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