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Uprising of 1953
Construction workers went on strike in East Germany as they marched toward the government buildings since the government was threatening to cut their pay if they did not finish in a certain amount of time. They were put down by the Red Army. -
Hungarian Revolution
Hungarian nationalists join together to revolt against communism in Budapest. Soviet troops rushed in to stop threaten the protestors. -
Solidarity movement in Poland
A nongovernmental trade union was established which was the first independent trade union in the country. This insprired people to rise against communism. The non-violent protests became a social movement. It ended up having 9.4 million members that supported the anti-communist. -
Martial Law
General Jaruzelski put in Martial Law to eliminate the protestors. This law banned orgainzations that were protesting communism and it jailed the leaders of these protests. They restricted the cities by setting a curfew and disconnecting the telephone lines. Some protestors were even killed unde this law. -
Fall of Communism in Poland
Solidarity was legalized and elections began. In the elections, cummunism lost and the anti-communists won a victory leading to the fall of communism in Poland. -
Autumn of Nations
The revolutions in this time period that gave way to communism across Eastern Europe became known as the Autumn of Nations. -
Collapse of the Berlin Wall
After all the deaths and attempts of crossing the Berlin Wall, it finally came down. Many issues with East Germans going into Hungary and several protests helped to cause the collapse of the wall and with it, the fall of the Cold War. -
The Velvet Revolution in Prague
An outbreak of anti-communism protestors in Czechslovakia began to speak up and rally against the government. Half a million protestors successfully led to the fall of communism later that month. -
Romanian Revolution
Nicolae Ceausescu refused any reforms. Romanian police fired on a crowd of protests killing dozens. Nicolae was overthrown and put in prison for ordering a violent attack. Romania established a new poltical structure becoming a non-communist country. Bulgaria and Albania followed afterwards. -
Communism in Europe
All former communist governments were replaced by democrats.
