Prerequisites for transformation. By the end of the 1980s. the possibilities for the development of the states of Eastern Europe within the framework of the Soviet model of socialism were exhausted. The gap between the standard of living in socialist and Western countries widened. The Soviet-style planned economy worked less and less effectively.

Economic growth rates of Eastern European countries (% compared to the previous year)

In the countries of Eastern Europe, the authority of the ruling communist parties that followed until the mid-80s sharply decreased. in the wake of the policies of the CPSU. The opposition movement grew, breaking through the bans, either in the form of intellectual protest (the Charter 77 movement in Czechoslovakia), or in the form of mass protests by workers (the growing influence of the Solidarity trade union in Poland). People's desire for freedom was spurred by proximity to the West, traditionally greater in Eastern Europe than in the Soviet Union, by the degree of influence of Western ideas and lifestyles.
A powerful impetus for change in socialist countries was “perestroika” in the USSR. The peoples of Eastern Europe closely followed the discussions that unfolded in the Soviet media, the statements of the leaders of the CPSU and their opponents. But the conservative party leadership of the USSR allies looked with disapproval at the actions of M. S. Gorbachev and his entourage. It is no coincidence that in a number of socialist countries in the late 80s. Some Soviet newspapers and magazines were banned: glasnost, according to the authorities, could harm the socialist system.
Revolutions of the late 80s. The rejection of socialism in Eastern Europe occurred both peacefully (Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, East Germany) and during bloody clashes (Romania, Yugoslavia). Where events proceeded peacefully, transformations were carried out gradually, going through several stages. This made it possible to talk about “velvet” or “gentle” revolutions.
No matter how much the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia tried to consign to oblivion the ideals of the “Prague Spring” of 1968, they were alive in society. A mass movement unfolded in the country, whose participants demanded democratic changes. On November 17, 1989, International Students' Day, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Prague. The brutal police crackdown on protesters sparked protests across the country. People began to demand the resignation of the country's leadership. The mass movement was led by representatives of the intelligentsia. The most popular in Czechoslovakia was the famous writer and playwright, participant in the human rights movement V. Havel. Anti-government demonstrations began to attract hundreds of thousands of people, and the authorities made concessions. Personnel changes were made in the leadership, and the provision on the leading role of the Communist Party was excluded from the constitution. But this could no longer save the regime. At the end of December 1989, V. Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia, and A. Dubcek became chairman of the parliament. Negotiations on withdrawal from the country have begun Soviet troops. After free elections in 1990, in which the communists won only 13%, the new government embarked on radical economic reforms.
In November 1989, at the plenum of the Central Committee, the reformist wing of the Bulgarian Communist Party managed to remove the “eternal” leader T. Zhivkov from power. Demonstrations took place across the country in support of this decision. The transformations began “from above”, and therefore the Bulgarian Communist Party managed to maintain leadership positions. Despite the fact that during the communist regime there were no serious anti-government protests in the country, in 1990 an anti-communist opposition movement arose, whose representatives created the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS). Demonstrating a desire for change, the leaders of the Communist Party renamed it the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). In the first free elections in 1990, the BSP won a majority in parliament. However, SDS representative Zh. Zhelev, known for his anti-communist views, was elected president of Bulgaria in the same year. The persistent struggle of socialists and democrats predetermined the slow pace of transformation in the country.
In Hungary, after the suppression of the 1956 uprising, the communist leadership led by J. Kadar was forced to carry out a number of reforms. The standard of living in the country was slightly higher than in other countries of Eastern Europe (with the exception of the GDR). However, which began in the late 80s. The economic crisis and decline in living standards caused discontent in society. Gradually, step by step, the communists were forced to yield to public opinion and undertake reforms in the spirit of market relations and the development of democracy. In 1989, they had to begin negotiations with the democratic opposition, as a result of which the conditions for the transition to a rule of law were worked out. Parliament adopted laws that meant the liberalization of economic life and the transition to a multi-party political system; the Hungarian border with Austria was opened, etc. In the fall of 1989, the Communist Party collapsed, its reformist wing announced a break with the past. The democratic opposition won the elections held in 1990.
The introduction of martial law in 1981 and the suppression of the opposition in Poland did not lead to stabilization of the regime. The banned Solidarity structures continued to operate. In 1988, a wave of workers' strikes arose again. Along with economic ones (increasing wages), they also put forward political demands. The authorities were forced to hold a round table, in which representatives of Solidarity took part. The participants of this meeting agreed on the need for political reforms in the country. In 1989, Solidarity was legalized, and the opposition received a third of the votes in the parliamentary elections. Communist General W. Jaruzelski was elected President of Poland. However, the communists lost their leading positions in the government, which was headed by a representative of Solidarity. The authority of the Communist Party continued to decline, and in 1990 it announced its self-dissolution. Dismantling political system, which developed in post-war Poland, was completed when in December 1990 the leader of Solidarity, L. Walesa, was elected president of the country.
Revolutionary events in the GDR led to the liquidation of this state itself. The “showcase of socialism” cracked after the start of mass popular uprisings, the main demand of the participants of which was the unification of Germany. In October 1989, the leader of the East German communists, E. Honecker, resigned, and on November 9, the Berlin Wall fell. It was no longer possible to contain the process of German unification. M. S. Gorbachev agreed to withdraw Soviet troops from East Germany. In October 1990, an agreement was concluded on the entry of the GDR into the Federal Republic of Germany.
In Romania in the 60-80s. The authoritarian regime of N. Ceausescu emerged. At the end of the 80s. The economic situation in the country sharply deteriorated, and the threat of famine arose. The revolution began with events in the city of Timisoara, where the authorities tried to suppress the protests of the Hungarian ethnic minority. The unrest spread to the capital of the country, Bucharest. On December 21, 1989, a grand rally in the city center escalated into armed clashes and street battles between people and army units. More than a thousand people died in these battles. Ceausescu himself and his wife tried to escape, but were arrested and, after a quick trial, shot. The main political force in Romania became the National Salvation Front, led by the former communist I. Iliescu. In 1990, he was elected president of the republic.
National conflicts and economic problems. The new governments of Eastern European countries not only inherited many of the problems of their predecessors, but also faced new ones. The rise of the democratic movement and the collapse of communist parties led to an aggravation of the national question.
Immediately after the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the question arose about the fate of the federation. Slovakia demanded independence, and after difficult negotiations in the fall of 1992, two new states emerged in the center of Europe - the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
If in Czechoslovakia the “divorce” took place peacefully, then the collapse of Yugoslavia resulted in a long and brutal war. The collapse of socialism revived and intensified the mutual hostility of the peoples inhabiting the largest state in the Balkans. The situation was aggravated by the attempts of Serbian leader S. Milosevic to maintain the dominant position of his republic in the union state. In 1991, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia declared their independence, and in the spring of 1992, a war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the Serbs, Croats and Muslims who inhabited it. This conflict was stopped only after the international community intervened.
Only Serbia and Montenegro remained within Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav leadership, consisting of former communists, managed to remain in power longer than all other like-minded people in Eastern Europe. Milosevic's influence weakened only after the conflict in the autonomous province of Kosovo, where clashes broke out between Albanian separatists and Serbian security forces. The NATO bloc intervened in the situation and decided to “punish” Serbia with a series of powerful airstrikes. As a result of the 2000 elections, the democratic opposition came to power in Yugoslavia.
In the early 90s. Eastern European countries faced great difficulties in implementing market reforms. The transition to a new economic model included the elimination of state dictates in the economy, privatization of property, liberalization of prices, and connection to global economic processes. Almost everywhere, reforms were accompanied by a drop in living standards and a sharp rise in prices. In Eastern Europe they hoped for foreign help, but Western investors were in no hurry to invest money in inefficient production left over from the times of socialism. Significant funds were allocated only to the rise of the eastern lands (former GDR) of a united Germany. However, here too the level economic development and the standard of living of the population was lower compared to the “old” lands of Germany.
In the second half of the 90s. market reforms in Eastern European countries began to bear fruit - there were positive changes in the economy. The greatest successes were achieved in the Czech Republic and Poland. These states began to be considered as real candidates for membership of the European Union. However, the industrial products of these and other Eastern European countries cannot yet seriously compete with goods from Western Europe.
The political vacuum that arose after the departure Soviet Union from Eastern Europe, was quickly filled by Western countries. Former members of the CMEA and the Warsaw Pact Organization expressed a desire to integrate into European military-political structures. The first step on this path was the entry into NATO of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.

The withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Central and Eastern Europe led to a sharp change in the political situation. In 1989-1991 The opposition came to power in almost all countries of the “socialist commonwealth” in the wake of growing anti-Soviet sentiment. The so-called "velvet revolutions" in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania. At the end of 1989, as a result of a popular uprising, the Ceausescu regime in Romania was overthrown. There was a change of leadership in Mongolia, and new features became evident in the politics of Vietnam. The national democratic forces that came to power acted from radical positions and focused on a radical change in the model social development. First of all, they carried out privatization, corporatized industrial enterprises and agrarian reforms. In its overwhelming majority former socialist countries began to focus on the West.

During 1989-1991. Not only the model of the socio-economic structure was changing, but also the political map of post-war Europe. Thus, as a result of the defeat of the communists, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia collapsed. In its place independent Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia arose. Serbia and Montenegro remained part of federal Yugoslavia, and a war on national-territorial grounds began in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This objectively weakened all former subjects of the Yugoslav federation both in socio-economic and military-political terms.

At the same time, the position of the West in Europe has sharply strengthened not only thanks to the objective course of events, but also to those policies non-intervention, which the Soviet leadership took in connection with the situation in Central and Eastern Europe. Starting in 1989, Gorbachev began to make major unilateral concessions, mixing ideological and strategic components foreign policy. This was most clearly manifested in the solution of the German question, which was of key importance throughout the entire period of the post-war settlement. In the situation “around Germany,” the USSR had all the international legal grounds to play a leading role, but for completely incomprehensible reasons this did not happen. In November 1989, Christian Democrats came to power in the GDR, whose main slogan was the speedy unification of the country. The symbol of the Cold War has collapsed - concrete wall, dividing East and West Berlin. During a meeting with German Chancellor Helmet Kohl in February 1990, Gorbachev gave him the opportunity to “take the process of German unification into his own hands.” The complete detachment of the Soviet Union was manifested in the fact that the question of membership of the new united Germany in NATO was not even raised, although both the Germans and the Americans were ready to compromise in advance. The USSR agreed to the unification of Germany and promised to withdraw its troops from there within four years. In return, he received economic assistance of 10 billion marks for the arrangement of the withdrawn troops and a promise that NATO troops would not be stationed on the territory of the GDR. In October 1990, the “socialist state on German soil” ceased to exist. German loans, meanwhile, quickly settled in various commercial structures and did not have any impact on living conditions Soviet officers, their wives and children were actually thrown out into the open field.

The development of the situation in Central and Eastern Europe has led to the fact that The Soviet Union lost its traditional strategic partners. This also had negative consequences for the economic situation within the USSR. As a result of the refusal to make mutual payments on a preferential basis, the foreign trade balance with Eastern European countries sharply decreased. The influence of the USSR in Europe and in the world as a whole has weakened. In fact, the country found itself in the wake of NATO policy. This became especially obvious during the events in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991, when Iraq unexpectedly attacked Kuwait. For the first time, Moscow found itself on the side of the West and supported its military operation against Iraq. The cessation of Soviet weapons supplies to Iraq, the recall of Soviet military specialists and the subsequent participation of the USSR in the economic embargo against Iraq had negative consequences for the USSR economy.

1. Deterioration of the economic situation. After the intervention in Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968. In all countries of Eastern Europe, the process of strengthening totalitarianism and slowing down economic reforms began. All those who were dissatisfied began to be persecuted.

In many countries, in connection with this, a movement of “dissidents” - human rights activists - arose. - The combination of unfavorable domestic and foreign policy factors has increased the backwardness of these countries from the industrialized countries of the West. In the countries of Eastern Europe, conditions for revolution began to emerge.

2. Social problems. Since the beginning of the 70s, negative changes in economic life have emerged in the countries of the socialist community. In Eastern European countries, unemployment grew, the high cost of consumer goods depreciated wages, worsened the financial situation of the working masses. The anger and discontent of the masses were expressed in different ways. (In the GDR - mass flight of the population to West Germany).

In Poland, the discontent of the population took the form of protests and speeches. In the process of mass discontent in 1980, an independent trade union “Solidarity” was formed in Poland, headed by Lech Walesa (this trade union, having united all opposition forces in Poland, turned into a powerful political movement). The Polish government was forced to enter into negotiations with Solidarity.

Events in Poland and other countries of the socialist community were evidence of a clear crisis of “totalitarian socialism.”

3. The policy of “renewal of socialism”. Mass uprisings and coups in Eastern European countries began with the capture political power supporters of “renewal of socialism”. The representatives of the new wave who came to power dissolved the old state apparatus and introduced multi-party forms of government.

Democratic revolutions in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania were based on common features- rejection of the totalitarian model of socialism, return to the ideas of liberal democracy. New, younger figures came to political power: in Czechoslovakia - Vaclav Havel, in Poland - Lech Walesa, Bulgaria - Zhelyu Zhelev, etc.

During the process of free elections, communist parties in Eastern Europe suffered setbacks and lost power to opposition parties. .

4. The collapse of the “Iron Curtain”. The dismantling of the totalitarian regime in political life deepened. This process was especially noticeable in the sphere of foreign policy of Eastern European countries. Public groups in Eastern European countries raised the question of the immediate withdrawal of Soviet military units from their territories. In July 1991, the Warsaw Pact, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), and the socialist commonwealth collapsed, and the USSR itself ceased to exist. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell - a visible symbol of the Iron Curtain. Free passage to West Berlin was allowed.

Events in Romania. Compared to other countries in Eastern Europe, events in Romania differed in some ways. The President of Romania N. Ceausescu did not want any changes, did not want to notice drastic changes in the neighboring countries of Eastern Europe.

On December 17, 1989, security forces shot down protest demonstrations in Timisoara. In Bucharest, army units supported the rebels. Clashes between the rebellious people and the security forces guarding the interests of N. Ceausescu took place throughout the country. By decision of the military tribunal, the Ceausescu couple, who ruled Romania for 24 years, were shot. Power passed to the National Salvation Front led by Ion Iliescu.

The new government changed the name of the country. The Socialist Romanian Republic began to be called simply Romania. The Communist Party was banned by the new government.

5. Events of 1989-1991 in Eastern European countries.

Democratic revolutions 1989-1991 , which covered all the socialist countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe, eliminated the command-administrative system of the ruling parties and introduced democratic forms of governance.

In most countries, revolutionary changes took place without bloodshed. The ruling communist and workers' parties, one after another, lost their monopoly on power. Many of them, in order to stay in the political arena, not only revised their programs and principles, but also changed their names. Revolutionary events in the countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe took place with the active participation of the intelligentsia. The collapse of the USSR led to a series of democratic revolutions in Eastern European countries.

In Hungary, events began in June 1989: as a result of a wide public dialogue at the round table, the Hungarian communists (Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party) agreed to transfer power to the opposition party - the Democratic Forum.

1989 in the GDR. (due to the mass exodus of GDR citizens to the West, this created a crisis situation in the country) in November 1989, the head of the communists E. Honecker voluntarily renounced power, transferring it to the opposition bloc. The October events of 1989 in the GDR prepared the basis for the unification of Germany.

Interethnic conflicts. The revolutions of the late 80s in the countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe gave rise to interethnic conflicts.

During the period of the revolutionary explosion in Czechoslovakia, interethnic relations worsened, which created a threat to the existence of a single state of Czechs and Slovaks. Divisions along national lines began in the ranks of parties. In November 1990, at the XVIII Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the party split into two parts: the Communist Party of Slovakia and the Communist Party of Czechs and Moravians.

The Slovak Parliament adopted in 1992 the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Slovak Republic. On January 1, 1993, a sovereign and independent state, the Czech Republic, was proclaimed.

The withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Central and Eastern Europe led to a sharp change in the political situation. In 1989-1991 The opposition came to power in almost all countries of the “socialist commonwealth” in the wake of growing anti-Soviet sentiment. The so-called "velvet revolutions" in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania. At the end of 1989, as a result of a popular uprising, the Ceausescu regime in Romania was overthrown. There was a change of leadership in Mongolia, and new features became evident in the politics of Vietnam. The national democratic forces that came to power took a radical position and focused on a radical change in the model of social development. First of all, they carried out privatization, carried out corporatization of industrial enterprises and agrarian reforms. In its overwhelming majority former socialist countries began to focus on the West.

During 1989-1991. Not only the model of the socio-economic structure was changing, but also the political map of post-war Europe. Thus, as a result of the defeat of the communists, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia collapsed. In its place independent Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia arose. Serbia and Montenegro remained part of federal Yugoslavia, and a war on national-territorial grounds began in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This objectively weakened all former subjects of the Yugoslav federation both in socio-economic and military-political terms.

At the same time, the position of the West in Europe has sharply strengthened not only thanks to the objective course of events, but also to those policies non-intervention, which the Soviet leadership took in connection with the situation in Central and Eastern Europe. Starting in 1989, Gorbachev began to make major unilateral concessions, mixing the ideological and strategic components of foreign policy. This was most clearly manifested in the solution of the German question, which was of key importance throughout the entire period of the post-war settlement. In the situation “around Germany,” the USSR had all the international legal grounds to play a leading role, but for completely incomprehensible reasons this did not happen. In November 1989, Christian Democrats came to power in the GDR, whose main slogan was the speedy unification of the country. The symbol of the Cold War - the concrete wall dividing East and West Berlin - has collapsed. During a meeting with German Chancellor Helmet Kohl in February 1990, Gorbachev gave him the opportunity to “take the process of German unification into his own hands.” The complete detachment of the Soviet Union was manifested in the fact that the question of membership of the new united Germany in NATO was not even raised, although both the Germans and the Americans were ready to compromise in advance. The USSR agreed to the unification of Germany and promised to withdraw its troops from there within four years. In return, he received economic assistance of 10 billion marks for the arrangement of the withdrawn troops and a promise that NATO troops would not be stationed on the territory of the GDR. In October 1990, the “socialist state on German soil” ceased to exist. German loans, meanwhile, quickly settled in various commercial structures and did not have any impact on the living conditions of the Soviet officers, their wives and children, who were actually thrown into the open field.

The development of the situation in Central and Eastern Europe has led to the fact that The Soviet Union lost its traditional strategic partners. This also had negative consequences for the economic situation within the USSR. As a result of the refusal to make mutual payments on a preferential basis, the foreign trade balance with Eastern European countries sharply decreased. The influence of the USSR in Europe and in the world as a whole has weakened. In fact, the country found itself in the wake of NATO policy. This became especially obvious during the events in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991, when Iraq unexpectedly attacked Kuwait. For the first time, Moscow found itself on the side of the West and supported its military operation against Iraq. The cessation of Soviet weapons supplies to Iraq, the recall of Soviet military specialists and the subsequent participation of the USSR in the economic embargo against Iraq had negative consequences for the USSR economy.

Preconditions for the collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern European countries. In which states did the transformation take place peacefully, and in which by force?

The problem of the prerequisites and specific historical reasons for the collapse of the totalitarian communist system in the Eastern European countries undoubtedly needs careful study and understanding. It is clear that premises and causes in this context are not the same thing. For example, the long stay of armed groups of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe “played the role of a kind of negative psychological irritant for the peoples of this region and was an important prerequisite for the anti-communist revolutionary events of 1989-1990.”

But the presence of Soviet troops in Hungary, the GDR, Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1989 cannot be attributed to the direct concrete historical reasons for these events. They were in places of permanent deployment and did not stain themselves with actions of forceful suppression of popular uprisings against the communist authorities, although this non-interference had an indirect impact on the events in question.

So, at the turn of the 1980-1990s, profound changes took place in international relations. The collapse of the world socialist system meant the end of the ideological, political and military confrontation between East and West. The Cold War is a thing of the past. The formation of a new world order has begun. The political map of the world has changed. In Europe, 14 new independent states appeared, formed as a result of the collapse of the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. All of them were recognized by the world community and accepted into the UN. A united Germany became the largest European power. There was a redistribution of spheres of geopolitical influence. Russia has lost the control over Eastern Europe that the USSR previously had. Its troops were withdrawn from the territory of these countries. Russia has lost its position as a “superpower”.

What caused these events? According to many researchers, changes here have been brewing for a long time. The system of state socialism, which had failed in previous years (just recall the crises of 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia, 1956, 1970 and 1980 in Poland), has exhausted itself in many of its aspects: it is a clumsy socio-economic structure, the emerging serious technological lag behind the leading Western countries, the lack of genuine political freedom and democracy. The population of Eastern European countries for the most part really wanted change, hoping to get closer to the living standards of developed countries.