An outline, era by era

Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989); Yugoslav Wars

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

On the night of 9 November 1989 the border crossings of the Berlin Wall were opened, and crowds from East and West Berlin met on the wall itself. The Wall had divided the city since August 1961 and had been the best-known symbol of the Cold War division of Europe. Its opening was part of a wave of peaceful revolutions in 1989 that ended communist one-party rule in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.

The Yugoslav Wars followed a different path. Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics, and as communist power weakened it broke apart. Between 1991 and 2001 a series of conflicts was fought in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, with a related crisis in North Macedonia. They were the deadliest fighting in Europe since 1945 and included mass expulsions and the killing of civilians. They led to the first war crimes tribunal since Nuremberg and to the creation of several new states.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Solidarity and the Polish Round Table

    Event

    What happened

    In August 1980 strikes at the Gdańsk shipyard lead to the founding of Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Soviet bloc. The government suppresses it under martial law in December 1981 and formally outlaws it in October 1982. After new strikes in 1988, the government and the opposition hold Round Table talks from February to April 1989.

    The rest is history

    The agreement legalised Solidarity and set semi-free elections for June 1989. Solidarity won nearly all the seats it was allowed to contest, and in August Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister in the bloc for decades. This showed that communist rule could be given up by negotiation, and it encouraged reformers and protesters in neighbouring countries.

    Sources

    1. BookAsh, Timothy Garton. The Polish Revolution: Solidarity. London: Jonathan Cape, 1983.
    2. BookKenney, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

  2. Gorbachev's reforms and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine

    Event

    What happened

    Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader in March 1985 and introduces glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). Facing economic stagnation, he signals that the Soviet Union will not use force to keep allied governments in power. In 1989 Soviet troops stay in their barracks as the governments of Eastern Europe come under pressure.

    The rest is history

    Historians broadly agree that this restraint was a necessary condition for the peaceful revolutions of 1989, since earlier uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 had been crushed by Soviet force. Why Gorbachev made this choice, and how far he foresaw its results, is still discussed. By the end of 1989 communist monopolies had fallen across most of the Warsaw Pact states.

    Sources

    1. BookBrown, Archie. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
    2. BookSarotte, Mary Elise. 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.

  3. Hungary opens its border and the Pan-European Picnic

    Event

    What happened

    In May 1989 Hungary begins dismantling the barbed-wire fence on its border with Austria. On 19 August a Pan-European Picnic is held near Sopron, and several hundred East Germans cross into Austria during it. On 11 September Hungary formally allows East Germans to leave for the West.

    The rest is history

    Tens of thousands of East Germans left through Hungary within weeks. This put heavy pressure on the East German government, which could no longer keep its citizens in simply by guarding its own frontier. It was an important pressure among several, alongside growing protests at home and a crisis in the leadership, in the months before the Berlin Wall opened.

    Sources

    1. BookSarotte, Mary Elise. The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall. New York: Basic Books, 2014.
    2. BookKenney, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

  4. The Leipzig Monday demonstrations

    Event

    What happened

    From September 1989 people gather after prayers at the Nikolai Church in Leipzig and march through the city on Mondays. On 9 October about 70,000 people demonstrate, and the security forces do not use force. On 4 November hundreds of thousands rally in East Berlin. The long-time leader Erich Honecker is removed on 18 October.

    The rest is history

    The Leipzig marches, with the slogan 'We are the people', showed that the government could no longer rely on force. The new leadership under Egon Krenz tried to ease pressure by promising travel reforms. The confused announcement of those reforms contributed to the opening of the border on the night of 9 November, in a situation already shaped by mass protest, emigration and a failing regime.

    Sources

    1. BookPfaff, Steven. Exit-Voice Dynamics and the Collapse of East Germany. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006.
    2. BookSarotte, Mary Elise. The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall. New York: Basic Books, 2014.

  5. The press conference of 9 November 1989

    Event

    What happened

    On the evening of 9 November, Politburo spokesman Günter Schabowski announces a new travel regulation at a live press conference. Asked when it takes effect, he says it applies immediately, as far as he knows. Crowds gather at the crossings, and shortly before midnight the guards at Bornholmer Straße open the gate.

    The rest is history

    The regulation was meant to take effect the next day with orderly visa procedures, and Schabowski had not been fully briefed. Other crossings opened the same night. Thousands crossed, and in the following days people began chipping away pieces of the Wall. Official demolition began in 1990, and Germany was reunified on 3 October 1990.

    Sources

    1. BookSarotte, Mary Elise. The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall. New York: Basic Books, 2014.
    2. BookHertle, Hans-Hermann. Chronik des Mauerfalls. Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 1996.

  6. The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia

    Event

    What happened

    On 17 November 1989 police beat student marchers in Prague. In the following days Civic Forum, led by Václav Havel, organises mass protests and a general strike on 27 November. The Communist Party gives up its monopoly of power in late November and December.

    The rest is history

    Havel was elected president by the parliament on 29 December 1989. The transition was largely nonviolent, which gave it the name Velvet Revolution. Czechoslovakia held free elections in June 1990, and in 1992 its leaders agreed to split the country peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

    Sources

    1. BookWheaton, Bernard, and Zdeněk Kavan. The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia, 1988-1991. Boulder: Westview Press, 1992.
    2. BookKenney, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

  7. Milošević, Kosovo and the rise of Serbian nationalism

    Event

    What happened

    After Tito's death in 1980, Yugoslavia faces economic crisis and growing tension between its republics. In 1987 Slobodan Milošević rises to lead the Serbian communists, and in 1989 Serbia curtails the autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina. At the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo on 28 June 1989, he speaks to a very large crowd at Gazimestan.

    The rest is history

    These steps alarmed Slovenes, Croats and Kosovo Albanians. In January 1990 the Communist League of Yugoslavia broke up at its final congress, and multiparty elections in 1990 brought nationalist parties to power in several republics. Historians stress that the causes of the breakup are debated, and include the economic crisis, the weakness of federal institutions and the choices of leaders in every republic.

    Sources

    1. BookJudah, Tim. The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
    2. BookWoodward, Susan L. Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after the Cold War. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1995.

  8. Slovenia and Croatia declare independence

    Event

    What happened

    On 25 June 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declare independence. In Slovenia the Yugoslav army fights a brief Ten-Day War and withdraws. In Croatia a much longer war begins, with heavy fighting around Vukovar and Dubrovnik and the creation of a Serb-held region in the Krajina.

    The rest is history

    The European Community recognised Slovenia and Croatia in January 1992. War spread to Bosnia and Herzegovina after its independence referendum, and the siege of Sarajevo began in April 1992. The Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 was later judged genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian war in December 1995. Fighting in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999 ended in June 1999, after NATO air strikes and the Kumanovo agreement. Milošević fell from power in October 2000.

    Sources

    1. BookSilber, Laura, and Allan Little. Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation. New York: Penguin, 1996.
    2. BookGlenny, Misha. The Fall of Yugoslavia. London: Penguin, 1992.

  9. The Wall fell because of a mistake

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the Berlin Wall fell by accident, because one official misspoke at a press conference. In this telling, the end of East Germany was a single blunder on one evening.

    The rest is history

    The slip was real, and Schabowski's words did bring crowds to the border that night. But the pressure behind it had built for months through mass emigration via Hungary, the Leipzig protests and the Soviet refusal to intervene. The regime was already losing control, and some form of travel opening was being prepared. The accident decided the timing and the manner, not the outcome. East Germany ceased to exist on 3 October 1990.

    Sources

    1. BookSarotte, Mary Elise. The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall. New York: Basic Books, 2014.
    2. BookHertle, Hans-Hermann. Chronik des Mauerfalls. Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 1996.

  10. Reagan's 'Tear down this wall'

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Many people believe that Ronald Reagan's 1987 demand at the Brandenburg Gate, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!', forced the Wall to come down. It is told as the moment the Cold War was won.

    The rest is history

    Reagan did speak these words in West Berlin on 12 June 1987, and the speech was widely reported. Some of his own advisers and the State Department had wanted the line removed. Historians generally see the Wall's fall as the result of Soviet reform, economic weakness and pressure from East Germans themselves, with Western policy as one factor among many. The Wall opened on 9 November 1989, two years after the speech.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryReagan, Ronald. Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, 12 June 1987. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States.
    2. BookSarotte, Mary Elise. 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.

  11. Ancient ethnic hatreds caused the Yugoslav Wars

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the Yugoslav Wars were the outbreak of ancient hatreds between Serbs, Croats and Muslims that had been held down by Tito and communism.

    The rest is history

    Historians widely reject this view. Different groups had lived side by side for long periods, and intermarriage was common in cities such as Sarajevo. Earlier violence, especially in the Second World War, was remembered and used by leaders, but the wars of the 1990s followed from political choices, economic crisis and the collapse of federal institutions. Propaganda and control of the media were used to stir fear. The tribunal in The Hague indicted and convicted political and military leaders for specific crimes.

    Sources

    1. BookMalcolm, Noel. Bosnia: A Short History. London: Macmillan, 1994.
    2. BookWoodward, Susan L. Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution after the Cold War. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1995.

  12. The Battle of Kosovo, 1389

    Folk tale

    The legend

    In Serbian tradition, Prince Lazar chooses a heavenly kingdom over an earthly one before the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. He and his army are defeated by the Ottomans, and Miloš Obilić slips into the sultan's tent and kills Murad I. The story becomes a national epic of sacrifice.

    The rest is history

    A battle was fought on the Field of Kosovo on 15 June (28 June in the modern calendar) 1389, and both Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad I died. Contemporary sources are thin, and the outcome was less clear than the legend suggests, since Serbian lords continued under Ottoman overlordship for decades. The heavenly-kingdom story and Obilić's deed come from later Church writing and epic songs gathered in the 19th century. The memory was used in political rhetoric, including at the 600th anniversary on 28 June 1989.

    Sources

    1. BookEmmert, Thomas A. Serbian Golgotha: Kosovo, 1389. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.
    2. BookJudah, Tim. The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

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