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Gorbachev introduces glasnost
Mikhail S. Gorbachev stepped onto the world stage in March 1985 as the new leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).Glasnost was a policy that called for increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union. -
Gorbachev introduces perestroika
the policy or practice of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system.actively promoted by Mikhail Gorbachev, perestroika originally referred to increased automation and labor efficiency, but came to entail greater awareness of economic markets and the ending of central planning. -
Period: to
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe from 1985-1995.
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Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed
The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, commonly referred to as the INF.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. -
Jozsef Antall elected prime minister of Hungary
Antall led the MDF delegation at the talks preparing the country for the transition to democracy, and on October 21, 1989, he was voted president of the MDF. He strove to turn the movement into a centre-right party patterned after those of western Europe. -
Berlin Wall Falls
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.the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. -
Vaclav Havel elected president of Czechoslovakia
he was political dissident, who, after the fall of communism, was president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). -
Lech Walesa elected president of Poland
He helped form and led (1980–1990) communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity. The charismatic leader of millions of Polish workers, he went on to become the president of Poland (1990–1995). He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983. -
Germany reunification takes place
Germany come together on what is known as “Unity Day"talks between East and West German officials, joined by officials from the United States, Great Britain, France, and the USSR, began to explore the possibility of reunification. Two months following reunification, all-German elections took place and Helmut Kohl became the first chancellor of the reunified Germany. -
1st general elections in Romania
Multi member system. 395 seats were elected in 41 constituencies. No electoral threshold. Remaining seats were distributed on the basis of the unused votes in a national tier.
