Gorbie

Andropov

Support and thought Gorbachov

Gulag archipelago

A novel by Solzhenitsyn that gave people a name and view of Stalin's horrible labor camps. This book was allowed to be read and spread throughout Gorbachev's government.

Reagan-Gorbachev summits

Four meetings that drastically lessened Cold War tensions. Included Washington and Moscow - by the end Reagan was praising Gorbachev for:

*glasnot - openness - allowing more freedom of speech

*perestoika - restructuring - less gov planning more capitialism

Perestroika

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

Intermediate range nuclear missile

Deployed to eastern Europe in the 1970's, capable of reaching targets within 600 to 1500 mile radius. Agreed to get rid of these during summits.

Glasnost

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

Congress of peoples deputies

A new Soviet parliament that was called by Gorbachev and whose members were chosen in competitive elections. The Congress chose 450 members to deal with day to day activities.

Strategic arms treaty

A Treaty between Bush (Reagan's successor) and Gorbachev pledging to reduce the number of nuclear missiles down by about a third.

Dissidents

a person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state.

Janos kadar

Hungarian leader who gained power after the Soviets regained power '56; he was able to save some of the economic reforms of the former leader communist

Vaclav havel

Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and president of the Czech Republic since 1993 (born in 1936)

Gomulka

leader of Poland; tested the boundaries of autonomy; wanted Poland to have its own path to socialism; fear of the USSR caused him to stay in the Warsaw Pact

Erich Honecker

East German leader against whose regime began the demonstrations that ended in the fall of the Berlin Wall

Ceausescu

Dictator of Romania; rejected reforms in Eastern Europe; demise occured over a time of about 2 weeks(1989)- began with Timisoara, later bood off stage in middle of speech, he and wife tried to escape but captured by army on Dec. 22, ended with Dec. 25 he & his wife were tried and executed.

Gierek

1970-1980; He replaced Gomulka as leader of Poland. He was seen as reform-minded and embarked on an ambitious economic development program, financed by heavy borrowing from the West. Initial results were promising, but had to expand on exports to repay the debts. Heavy interest payments, market shrinkage in the west and the inefficiency inherent in the soviet style central planning system caused conditions to deteriorate after initial improvements. By 1980 there were widespread strikes in Poland in protest of rising food prices.

Helmut Kohl

a West German chancellor Helmut Kohl skillfully exploited the historic opportunity on their doorstep. He represented a ten-point plan for a step by stem unification in cooperation with both East Germany and the international community. He then promised the ordinary citizens of a struggling, bankrupt East Germany an immediate economic bonanza. (1044)

Lech Walesa

A Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. He co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.

Charter 77

Formed after the Helsinki Accords. It was an organization of intellectuals in Czechoslovakia. Sought to promote the human rights standards designated at Helsinki. It played a big role in the struggle for democracy and against dictatorship in 1989.

The German question

The question of how the two Germanys would be united and what role they would play in European society and economy.

General Jaruzelski

On 11 February 1981, Jaruzelski was elected to be the Prime Minister of Poland, and became the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party on October 18 the same year. He established martial law was in an attempt to suppress the Solidarity movement.

Federal republic of German

unification of three western zones

Solidarity

Polish trade union created in 1980 to protest working conditions and political repression. It began the nationalist opposition to communist rule that led in 1989 to the fall of communism in eastern Europe.

Velvet revolution

A peaceful protest by the Czech people that led to the smooth end of communism in Czechoslovakia.

Imre Nagy

Hungarian Communist Party leader who attempted to end association with the USSR which lead to the 1956 Hungarian revolt.

Civic forum

this was a political group of which Vaclav Havel was the leader. It played a big role in the original revolution in 1989. Taking note of how successfully the Poles had established their independence from Moscow and become democratic, Civic Forum worked hard to achieve the same. It became the dominant party of the Czech Republic in 1993 when Czechoslovakia divided peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

500 day plan

The economic plan Gorbachev had that he abandoned. It would have freed prices and moved swiftly towards a market economy. He dropped it to not disappoint the party hardliners.

The august coup

Name given to the 1991 crisis, in which Gorbachev was kidnapped by his political opponents as part of an abortive attempt to seize power. Accelerated the processes of national decay.

Union treaty

An agreement between the central government and the republics of the former USSR that would give the republics more autonomy. Lead to teh August coup

Boris yeltsin

President of the Russian Republic in 1991. Helped end the USSR and force Gorbachev to resign.

Commonwealth of independent states

Confederacy of independent states of the former Soviet Union that have united because of their common economic and administrative needs.

Russian federation

Russia and its political subunits, which include 21 internal republics

Vladimir Putin

elected president of Russia in 2000, launched reforms aimed at boosting growth and budget revenues and keeping Russia on a strong economic track.

Pan Serb ambitions

fall of communism led to ultimate break-up of Yugoslavia as constituent republics sought independence. Serbia resisted this and revived ancient ambitions of a Greater Serbia

Crony capitalism

A system in which close friends of a political leader are either legally or illegally given business advantages in return for their political support.

Slobodan milosevic

President of Serbia from 1989 to 1997 and of Yugoslavia 1997 to 2000. A key figure in the ethnic conflicts in the Balkans in the 1900's.

Russian congress of deputies

Leggeslative body of Russia

Duma

Becomes the new leggeslative body in Russia

Economic shock therapy

rapidly exposed domestic businesses to the market place, eliminated state subsidies and encouraged foreign investment

Sarajevo

Where Serbia and bosnia every ally cease fire after Serbia attacked

Bosnia Herzegovina

New county that was attacked by serbia

October days

Germany reunification day

Kosovo

region of Yugoslavia that had autonomy until Milosovic attempted to crush the Albanian group with ethnic cleansing; 1999 NATO used military strikes against Yugoslavia until the crisis came to an end in 1999

Chechen republic

An area in the Russian Federation that proclaimed their independence but had large oil reserves so Russia disallowed their departure. They then fought a bloody war to keep them in. To this day there are terrorist attacks from this region.

European Central Bank

the central bank of those members of the European Union who share a common currency

Bailouts

emergency loans of hundreds of billions of euros to avert the defaults on loans that would potentially kill the EU

European stability mechanism

When various euro zone governments, urged on by France and Germany, tired to create a new organization that would collect funds from member nations and then provide loans for indebted governments or for government funded bailout of major banks under extreme economic stress.

European Commission

Responsible for proposing EU legislation, implementing it, and monitoring compliance

European Parliament

debates legislation proposed by the commission and forwarded to it by the council

Vatican II

Pope John XXIII called the conference which met in four sessions between 1962-65. The purpose was to bring the church up to date (aggiornamento).

Paul VI

became pope in 1963 and carried through much of the work of Vatican II

John Paul II

(1920- 2005) In 1978, this Pole became the first non-Italian Pope in 400 years. He helped end Communism in Eastern Europe.

John XXIII

1959-63; Succeeded Pius XII and reigned for only 4 years. Proved to be one most innovative popes in modern times. He worked to bring church into greater harmony with contemporary world. Called upon wealthier nations to share resources with less favored. He placed global emphasis upon church's teachings. He wrote PACEM IN TERRIS, which appealed to Catholics and non-Catholics for peace and human rights. A champion of ecumenism, he opened dialogues with other faiths. In 1962 he convened the Second Vatican Council/ Vatican II.

Social gospel

A movement in the late 1800s / early 1900s which emphasized charity and social responsibility as a means of salvation.

Fundamentalism

Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect).

The assumption (pius XII)

New codtern was the literal of bodily assent of the Regina Mary into heaven only new doctrine by a pope in years

Ecumenical movement

encouraged interaction between Catholics and other Christians and came into prominence after the Second Vatican council

The feminine mystique

written by Betty Friedan, journalist and mother of three children; described the problems of middle-class American women and the fact that women were being denied equality with men; said that women were kept from reaching their full human capacities

The second sex

written by Simone de Beauvior, teacher, novelist, and writer; challenged marrige, the basic unit of modern society; theorized that marriage held women back because of male-dominated societies; recognized females as the "Other" and as second-class citizens