Geon
Donor
Eastern Europe Update
This isn't as long an update as the Russian one was and given my inexperience with Eastern European history I hope you will understand if I limit my writing to specific Eastern European nations. If anyone would like to do a section based on the nations I did not include here PM me and let me know your ideas.
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Eastern Europe and the Balkans:
Poland: After World War II Poland became one of the “showplaces” for communism. Of all the Warsaw Pact nations Poland had the highest standard of living in Eastern Europe. Of course that was in Eastern Europe compared to standards of living in the West Poland was still quite far down the list! However Poland was able to slowly but surely rebuild from the devastation of World War II. A massive re-industrialization campaign following the war boosted Poland’s standing in the Warsaw Pact. Militarily her army was one of the best fielded by a Warsaw Pact nation next to Russia herself. However, by 1979 the nation was beginning to experience problems economically. In 1980 the Polish trade union organization “Solidarity,” was formed under the leadership of Polish labor leader Lech Walesa. It was clear from the start that “Solidarity” wanted to ease the central control the government had on the nation’s economy and allow for higher wages and safer working conditions. Mr. Walesa had allies in the Vatican in Rome in the form of Cardinal Karol Woytiwa, now Pope John Paul II, and in Washington with President Ronald Reagan. Under pressure from the Pope and with a nation who was very Roman Catholic to begin with that pressure was considerable, the Polish government began to make small and then larger concessions. Communism in Poland did not so much collapse as it quietly faded away. In 1992 the Communists were finally officially voted out of the office of prime minister. Poland would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact in 1993, much to the chagrin of Moscow and in 1995 would become a member of the fledgling EU.
Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia did not suffer the devastation that many Eastern European nations had during World War II: Part of the reason being that many elite SS troops which had been sent initially to protect Prague were summoned back to Germany by Hitler to take part in the “last stand” battles in the East. As a result, the Czech economy did not have to deal so much with the idea of rebuilding. Like Poland, Czechoslovakia was considered a communist “showcase,” but there was always unrest brewing beneath the surface particularly among the young people. In 1968 that unrest boiled over into what would become known as the “Prague Spring,” as thousands of young college students took to the streets demanding liberalization of various state policies. In Vaclav Havel they found a voice for their complaints. Liberal policies allowing limited free speech and press were implemented. Although Moscow made threatening noises it did nothing. Partially this was due to a very militant attitude by the West threatening action if Moscow attempted to interfere in the internal matters of a European state. The result was that Czechoslovakia was the first nation to throw off the communist influence by voting the Communist Party out of office in 1979. Czechoslovakia would end up leaving the Warsaw Pact in 1983 as it broke into the Republic of Slovakia and the Czech Republic and both sought membership in NATO.
The Balkans: Josip Broz Tito would attempt by the end of the war to weld all of the former Yugoslavian Republic into a communist regime led under his iron hand. But owing to the turmoil in Moscow and to previous agreements made by Moscow with the West, Tito found himself short of support in funds, men, and materials. By 1947 many old borders had been recreated along ethnic lines. Yugoslavia fractured into Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia. Tito was eventually able to gain control of Serbia and ruled as the dictator of that nation for 15 years until his assassination by a Serbian nationalist Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia would not see stability again until 1982 when a plebiscite finally elected a democratic government for that nation. In 1997 the Balkan nations signed the Treaty of Zagreb forming the Balkan Federation. The Federation was not a political union but more an economic free trade treaty as well as agreeing to the borders of each Balkan nation remaining inviolate. While ethnic hatreds die hard a flow of free trade between the Balkan nations has been a small step in the healing of these ancient wounds.
This isn't as long an update as the Russian one was and given my inexperience with Eastern European history I hope you will understand if I limit my writing to specific Eastern European nations. If anyone would like to do a section based on the nations I did not include here PM me and let me know your ideas.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eastern Europe and the Balkans:
Poland: After World War II Poland became one of the “showplaces” for communism. Of all the Warsaw Pact nations Poland had the highest standard of living in Eastern Europe. Of course that was in Eastern Europe compared to standards of living in the West Poland was still quite far down the list! However Poland was able to slowly but surely rebuild from the devastation of World War II. A massive re-industrialization campaign following the war boosted Poland’s standing in the Warsaw Pact. Militarily her army was one of the best fielded by a Warsaw Pact nation next to Russia herself. However, by 1979 the nation was beginning to experience problems economically. In 1980 the Polish trade union organization “Solidarity,” was formed under the leadership of Polish labor leader Lech Walesa. It was clear from the start that “Solidarity” wanted to ease the central control the government had on the nation’s economy and allow for higher wages and safer working conditions. Mr. Walesa had allies in the Vatican in Rome in the form of Cardinal Karol Woytiwa, now Pope John Paul II, and in Washington with President Ronald Reagan. Under pressure from the Pope and with a nation who was very Roman Catholic to begin with that pressure was considerable, the Polish government began to make small and then larger concessions. Communism in Poland did not so much collapse as it quietly faded away. In 1992 the Communists were finally officially voted out of the office of prime minister. Poland would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact in 1993, much to the chagrin of Moscow and in 1995 would become a member of the fledgling EU.
Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia did not suffer the devastation that many Eastern European nations had during World War II: Part of the reason being that many elite SS troops which had been sent initially to protect Prague were summoned back to Germany by Hitler to take part in the “last stand” battles in the East. As a result, the Czech economy did not have to deal so much with the idea of rebuilding. Like Poland, Czechoslovakia was considered a communist “showcase,” but there was always unrest brewing beneath the surface particularly among the young people. In 1968 that unrest boiled over into what would become known as the “Prague Spring,” as thousands of young college students took to the streets demanding liberalization of various state policies. In Vaclav Havel they found a voice for their complaints. Liberal policies allowing limited free speech and press were implemented. Although Moscow made threatening noises it did nothing. Partially this was due to a very militant attitude by the West threatening action if Moscow attempted to interfere in the internal matters of a European state. The result was that Czechoslovakia was the first nation to throw off the communist influence by voting the Communist Party out of office in 1979. Czechoslovakia would end up leaving the Warsaw Pact in 1983 as it broke into the Republic of Slovakia and the Czech Republic and both sought membership in NATO.
The Balkans: Josip Broz Tito would attempt by the end of the war to weld all of the former Yugoslavian Republic into a communist regime led under his iron hand. But owing to the turmoil in Moscow and to previous agreements made by Moscow with the West, Tito found himself short of support in funds, men, and materials. By 1947 many old borders had been recreated along ethnic lines. Yugoslavia fractured into Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia. Tito was eventually able to gain control of Serbia and ruled as the dictator of that nation for 15 years until his assassination by a Serbian nationalist Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia would not see stability again until 1982 when a plebiscite finally elected a democratic government for that nation. In 1997 the Balkan nations signed the Treaty of Zagreb forming the Balkan Federation. The Federation was not a political union but more an economic free trade treaty as well as agreeing to the borders of each Balkan nation remaining inviolate. While ethnic hatreds die hard a flow of free trade between the Balkan nations has been a small step in the healing of these ancient wounds.
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