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Gorbachev introduces gasnost
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Gorbachev introduces gaslnost
When Mikhail S. Gorbachev (1931-) became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985, he launched his nation on a dramatic new course. -
Gorbachev introduces perestroika
In the 1980s, the Soviet Union was engulfed by a multitude of problems. The economy, especially the agricultural sector, began to fall apart. -
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed
Treaty, requires destruction of the Parties' ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment within three years after the Treaty enters into force. -
—Vaclav Havel elected president of Czechoslovakia
Havel was the son of a wealthy restaurateur whose property was confiscated by the communist government of Czechoslovakia in 1948. As the son of bourgeois parents, Havel was denied easy access to education but managed to finish high school and study on the university level. -
Berlin Wall Falls
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. -
Jozsef Antall elected prime minister of Hungary
Antall was the son of a government official who aided Polish refugees and Jews during World War II. -
1st general elections in Romania
Romania elects on a national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people (after a change from four-year terms after the 2004 election). -
Germany reunification takes place
After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones by the four Allies of World War II, France, Great Britain, The United States of America and The Soviet Union (Russia) in 1945. -
Lech Walesa elected president of Poland
Wałęsa, the son of a carpenter, received only primary and vocational education and in 1967 began work as an electrician at the huge Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk.
