Human and Physical Geography: Communism's Road to Collapse 

In the postwar years, the Soviet Union kept a firm grip on its satellite countries in Eastern Europe. These policies greatly hampered Eastern Europe's economic recovery. Nevertheless, by the 1960s, it appeared that communism was permanently established in the region. 
U.S.-Soviet Relations The early 1960s were troubling times for U.S.-Soviet relations. In 1962, for example, secret attempts by Nikita Khrushchev to build Soviet missile sites in Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis. When President John F. Kennedy demanded the removal of the missiles, people around the world feared nuclear war. Fortunately, Khrushchev agreed to removal. Tensions eased in early 1970s. Under Richard M. Nixon, brinkmanship was replaced by detente, a policy of lessening Cold War tensions. However, detente cooled during Jimmy Carter's administration in the late 1970s, and even more so when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. Fiercely anti-Communist, Reagan dramatically increased defense spending, putting both economic and military pressure on the Soviets. 
Reforms Under Gorbachev 
During the 1960s and 1970s, Leonid Brezhnev and the Politburo the ruling committee of the Communist Party-crushed all political disagreement and restricted freedom of speech and worship. After Brezhnev's death in 1982, the aging leadership of the Soviet Union tried to hold on to power. However, each of Brezhnev's two successors died after only about a year in office. Eventually, the Politburo chose Mikhail Gorbachev (mih-KYL GAWR-buh-chawf) as the party's new general secretary.
 
Past Soviet leaders had created a totalitarian state that rewarded silence and discouraged individual action. Gorbachev realized that economic and social reforms could not occur without a free flow of ideas and information. In 1985, he announced a policy known as glasnost (GLAHS-nuhst), or openness. Glasnost brought remarkable changes. The government allowed churches to open. It released dissidents from prison and allowed the publication of books by previously banned authors. Reporters investigated problems and criticized officials. 
The new openness allowed Soviet citizens to complain about economic problems. Gorbachev blamed these problems on the Soviet Union's inefficient system of central planning. In this system, party officials told farm and factory managers how much to produce and what wages to pay. To remedy these problems, Gorbachev introduced the idea of perestroika (PEHR-ih-STROY-kuh), or economic restructuring, in 1985.  In 1986, he made changes to revive the Soviet economy. Local managers gained greater authority over their farms and factories, and people were allowed to open small private businesses. 
Gorbachev also knew that for the economy to improve, the Communist Party would have to loosen its grip on Soviet society, and politics. In 1987, he unveiled a third new policy, called democratization. The plan called for the election of a new legislative body. In the past, voters had merely approved candidates who were handpicked by the Communist Party. Now, voters could choose from a list of candidates for each office. 
Soviet foreign policy also changed. Gorbachev realized that the Soviet economy could not afford be costly arms race that Ronald Reagan had launched. Arms control became one of Gorbachev's top priorities. In December 1987, he and Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This treaty banned nuclear missiles with ranges of 300 to 3,400 miles. 

The Breakup of the Soviet Union 
Ethnic tensions brewed beneath the surface of Soviet society. Non-Russians formed a majority in all the republics except Russia. As reforms loosened central controls, nationalist in Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldavia (now Moldova) demanded self-rule. Muslims in Soviet Central Asia called for religious freedom. 
The first challenge came from the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. In March 1990, Lithuania declared its independence. Fearing that Lithuania's example might encourage other republics to secede, Gorbachev tried to force the republic back into the Soviet Union. In January 1991, Soviet troops attacked unarmed civilians in Lithuania's capital, killing 14 and wounding hundreds. The assault and the lack of economic progress hurt Gorbachev's popularity. Looking for leadership, in June 1991, voters chose the reform-minded Boris Yeltsin as the first directly elected president of the Russian Federation.
  
The Communist Party hard-liners-the conservatives who opposed reform- were furious with Gorbachev. On August 18, 1991, they detained Gorbachev at his vacation home on the Black Sea and demanded that he resign as Soviet president. Early the next day, hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles rolled into Moscow. Protesters quickly gathered at the Russian parliament building, where Yeltsin had his office. On August 20, the hardliners ordered troops to attack the parliament building, but they refused. Their refusal turned the tide. On August 21, the military withdrew its forces from Moscow. 
The coup attempt sparked anger against the Communist Party. Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the party. The Soviet parliament voted to stop all party activities. Having first seized power in 1917 in a coup that succeeded, the Communist Party now collapsed because of a coup that failed. Estonia and Latvia quickly declared their independence. Other republics soon followed. By early December, all 15 republics had declared independence. 
Yeltsin met with the leaders of other republics to chart a new course. They agreed to form the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS, a loose federation of former Soviet territories. Only the Baltic republics and Georgia declined to join. The formation of the CIS meant the death of the Soviet Union. On Christmas Day 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation as president of the Soviet Union, a country that ceased to exist. 
Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin 
One of Yeltsin's goals as president of the Russian Federation was to reform the economy. He adopted a bold plan known as "shock therapy" an abrupt shift to free-market economics. Yeltsin lowered trade barriers, removed price controls, and ended subsidies to state-owned industries. 
In addition to economic problems, Yeltsin also faced war in Chechnya (CHEHCH-nee-uh), a largely Muslim area in southwestern Russia. In 1991, Chechnya declared its independence, but Yeltsin denied the region's right to secede. In 1994, he ordered 40,000 Russian troops into the breakaway republic. Russian forces reduced the capital city of Grozny (GROHZ-nee) to rubble.   
In 1999, as fighting raged, Yeltsin resigned from his second term and named Vladimir Putin as acting president. 
Putin dealt forcefully with the rebellion in Chechnya-a popular move that helped him win the presidential election in 2000. Nonetheless, the fighting in the region dragged on for years. In July 2002, Russia said it would begin pulling some of its 80,000 troops out of Chechnya, Russia had made and broken such a promise before. Then, in October 2002, Chechen rebels seized a theater in Moscow, and more than 150 people died in the rescue attempt. 
The nation's economic problems continued, and some observers wondered whether democracy could survive. Experts estimated that there were between 30,000 and 50,000 homeless children on the streets of Moscow-about half younger than 13. Other indications of a society experiencing severe stress included high rates of domestic violence and unemployment, a steep population decline, and declines in the standard of living and the average life expectancy. 
Poland-Solidarity and Beyond 

Even before Gorbachev, Poland pushed for reforms. In 1980, Polish workers at the Gdansk shipyard went on strike, demanding government recognition of their union, Solidarity. When millions of Poles supported the action, the government gave in to the union's demands. Union leader Lech Walesa (lehk vah-WHEN-sah) became a national hero. The next year, however, the Polish government banned Solidarity again and declared martial law. 
In the 1980s, public discontent deepened as the economic crisis worsened. In August 1988, defiant workers walked off their jobs. They demanded raises and the legalization of Solidarity. In April 1989, the military leader, General Jaruzelski  (YAH-roo-ZEHL-skee), legalized Solidarity and agreed to hold Poland's first free election since the Communists took power. In elections during 1989 and 1990, Polish voters voted against Communists and overwhelmingly chose Solidarity candidates. They elected Lech Walesa president. Like Yeltsin, Walesa adopted a strategy of shock therapy to move Poland toward a free-market economy. Inflation and unemployment shot up. By the mid-l 990s, the economy was improving. Nevertheless, in the elections of 1995, voters turned Walesa out of office in favor of a former Communist, Aleksander Kwasniewski (kfahs-N'YEHF-skee). 

Germany Reunites 
Inspired by Poland, Hungary launched sweeping reforms. East Germany's 77- year-old party boss, Erich Honecker, dismissed reforms as unnecessary. Then, in 1989, Hungary allowed vacationing East German tourists to cross the border into Austria. From there they could travel to West Germany. Thousands of East Germans took this new escape route to the west. In response, the East German government closed its borders entirely. Protests broke out across East Germany. Honecker lost his authority with the party and resigned on October 18, 1989. 
In June 1987, President Reagan had stood before the Berlin Wall and demanded: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Two years later, the new East German leader, Egon Krenz, opened the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. By the end of 1989, the East German Communist Party had ceased to exist. 
With the fall of Communism in East Germany, many Germans began to speak of reunification-the merging of the two Germanys. Germany was officially reunited on October 3, 1990, under the leadership of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The newly created Germany faced serious problems. Eastern Germany's railroads, highways, and telephone system had not been modernized since World War II. Its industries produced goods that could not compete in the global market. As inefficient factories closed, millions of workers lost their jobs. In 1998, voters elected a new chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, of the Socialist Democratic Party. Schroeder started out as a market reformer, but the slow growth of the German economy made the task of reform difficult. Although Germany had the world's third largest economy, it was the slowest-growing economy in Europe in the early years of the 21st century. Germany's unemployment rate was among the highest in Europe, and rising inflation was also a continuing problem. Nonetheless, Schroeder won reelection in 2002. 
Changing Political Boundaries-Czechoslovakia 
In Czechoslovakia, a conservative government led by Milos Jakes resisted all change. On October 28, 1989, about 10,000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square in the center of Prague. They demanded democracy and freedom. Hundreds were arrested. Three weeks later, about 25,000 students inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall gathered in Prague to demand reform. Following orders from the government, the police brutally attacked the demonstrators and injured hundreds. 
The government crackdown angered the Czech people. Huge crowds gathered in Wenceslas Square. They demanded an end to Communist rule. On November 25, about 500,000 protesters crowded into downtown Prague. Within hours, Milos Jakes and his entire Politburo resigned. One month later, a new parliament elected Czech playwright Vaclav Havel (VAH-tslahv HAH-vehl), a popular critic of the Communist government, president of Czechoslovakia. 
Reformers launched an economic program based on shock therapy. The program caused a sharp rise in unemployment. It especially hurt Slovakia, the republic occupying the eastern third of Czechoslovakia. Unable to agree on economic policy, the country's two parts -Slovakia and the Czech Republic-split into two countries on January 1, 1993. Havel, who had resigned because of the split, was elected president of the Czech Republic. After winning reelection in 1998, Havel stepped down as president in 2003, in part because of ill health. The Czech parliament chose Vaclav Klaus, a right-wing economist and former prime minister, to succeed him. The economy of the Czech Republic slowly improved in the face of some serious problems. 
Ethnic Conflicts and Challenges-Yugoslavia
 
Yugoslavia, a federation of six republics, was plagued by conflict among its eight major ethnic groups-Serbs, Croats, Muslims, Slovenes, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians, and Montenegrins. Ethnic and religious differences dating back centuries caused these groups to view one another with suspicion, At the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic (mee-LOH-sheh-vihch) asserted leadership over Yugoslavia. 
In June 1991, the Serbian-led Yugoslav army invaded Slovenia and Croatia, after both republics declared independence from the federation. After months of bloody fighting, both republics freed themselves from Serbian rule. Then, in early 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence. (In April, Serbia and Montenegro formed a new Yugoslavia.) Bosnia's population included Muslims (44 percent), Serbs (31 percent), and Croats (17 percent). While Bosnia's Muslims and Croats backed independence, Bosnian Serbs strongly opposed it. Supported by Serbia, the Bosnian Serbs launched a war in March 1992. During the war, Serbian military forces used violence and forced emigration against Bosnian Muslims living in Serb-held lands. Called ethnic cleansing, this policy was intended to rid Bosnia of Muslims. 
 
In December 1995, leaders of the three factions involved in the war signed a UN- and U.S.-brokered peace treaty. In September 1996, Bosnians elected a three-person presidency, one leader from each ethnic group. 
The Balkan region descended into violence again in 1998. Serbian military forces invaded Kosovo, a province in southern Serbia made up almost entirely of ethnic Albanians, as an independence movement grew increasingly violent. In response to reports of atrocities-and the failure of diplomacy to bring peace- NATO began a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. This caused Yugoslav leaders to finally withdraw their troops from Kosovo.
In the early years of the 21st century, there were conflicting signs in Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosevic was extradited to stand trial for war crimes. (Milosevic died before his trial was completed.) A large portion of the country's foreign debt was erased. Despite an independence movement in Kosovo, parliamentary elections under UN supervision took place in November 2001 without violence. Nonetheless, in February 2003, Yugoslavia's parliament voted to replace what remained of the federation with a loose union of Serbia and Montenegro. Outright independence for each could come as early as 2006. (It has not happened yet, 2007.)