The Romanian Revolution of 1989 – What do we know and why is there not much information about it? This is part of the questions I have been asking myself. The fact is that few people have written about the actual events that took place during the fall of Communism in Romania in 1989. The more and more I looked into it, the more I realized that the only sources I found described the events but there was not a lot of explanation to as why or what caused the events not to mention the controversies of the revolution. In the process of finding thorough information, I came upon the Romanian Revolution of 1989 by Peter Davies. This book contributed to my research paper with a different view on the revolution as well as explanations to why the events took place and in what way they developed. The author goes into great detail whether the events of 1989 should be considered a coup d’état or a revolution. So how did the powerful Ceausescu regime come to an end so fast and how did the Ion Iliescu and the National Salvation Front come to power? This book explains it all!
This book has great detail and is one of the few contributions to our understanding of the collapse of Ceausescu’s dictatorship. The birth of democracy in Romania came with a lot of violence and involved the mass’s actions in order to take over the dictatorship. Peter Davies goes into great detail about the leaders and their implications in the revolution and his main goal is to provide as accurate and as credible a narrative of the revolution as possible (Davies p.6) The book is written in a way that the reader is put into the events and walked through them with a narrated explanation behind the event. Out of all the revolutions that happened in Eastern Europe, the Romanian...
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...t really opened my mind and will help along with my historical paper. One person cannot do a lot but as soon as you involve a lot of people, things can change very fast. What I Have learned from this research is that when things start to change it can change very fast. No matter how powerful the government is, it is always up to the people to step up. Fortunately there are very brave people in this world who are willing to lose their lives for the good of the others.
Bibliography
Davies, Peter. The Romanian revolution of December 1989. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 20072005. Print.
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COMMUNIST REGIME: WHY DIDN’T CZECHOSLOVAKIA RESIST? Heda Margolius Kovály’s memoir, “Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968” recounts her experience of the Holocaust and the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia, during the 20th century.
I felt like the author could clearly show the true contributing factors of the civil war. As an admirer of history, I could use utilize his book for references later on in my academic studies. The book is 127 pages chronicling the events that led to the civil war. Holt gives novices history readers a wonder firsthand look into the world of young America pre-civil war. His book brought out new ways to approach the study of pre-civil war events. The question whether the Civil War was inevitable or could have been derailed was answered in The Fate of Their Country. Holt places the spotlight on the behaviors Politicians and the many congressional compromises that unintendedly involved the actions of the residents of American. These factors at hand placed the Civil war as inevitable. Most of the politician’s views in The Fate of Their Country were egotistical and shortsighted which left gaps in American’s social future. To consider the subject of why, first we need to understand the contributing causes, America’s great expansion project, the Manifest Destiny the driving factor behind the loss of virtue and political discord.
Imre Nagy, Premier of Hungary, responded to Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s policies with attempts for reform that seemed anything but socialist. Nagy advocated for an increased development of agriculture and a reduction in what he considered to be “excessive industrialization,” (Nagy, 425). Going directly against Stalin’s policies, Nagy also believed that “Greater tolerance is to be shown in religious questions,” (Nagy, 426). Nagy’s views directly contradicted previous socialist thought, which advocated for strong industry and oppression of religion in all its forms. Nagy’s views caused him to be removed from his position, but he had sparked a fire of ideas in Hungary. In 1956 a revolt broke out, which partially stemmed from a desire to reinstate Nagy. However, the Soviet Union cracked down on Hungary, which resulted in bloodshed. Hungary had revolted and declared independence from the Warsaw Pact. The USSR descended upon Hungary leaving many dead. This violent uprising is akin to the Marquis in France during WWII. The Marquis “were fighting for the liberation of their country,” via “violent means,” (Hallie, 9). Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed depicts the Marquis in an essentially negative light. The uprising in
A war starting was really overwhelming for everybody but there was not time to complain, but to take actions the government quickly realized that with men fighting in the front line a demand had to be satisfied. Political and social leaders ...
Although Milosevic was a key figure during this period whose actions undoubtedly influenced the chain of events that unfolded, I believe his power-seeking motives were not unique to him; his actions in the former Yugoslavia could have been committed by a number of others who had the same desire for power driving them. Nevertheless, as he was president of Serbia and essentially commander-in-chief of Serb forces who carried out unconscionable acts of cruelty against Muslims and other non-Serb civilians, particularly in the attempt to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina, he bears responsibility for his actions as an authority figure. Though his main goal seemed to be focused on territorial expansion of the Serbian state, he led military forces to deport and murder non-Serb civilians in massive numbers and therefore was in vi...
...force of permanent revolution. This revolution requires becoming aware of how much we desire stability, how easily we internalize the domination of others, and how much we believe that we lack the power to act on our own. “You cannot take what you have not been given, and you must not give yourself, You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit or it is nowhere (Le Guin 301). Humanity is capable of great harm, even when the larger society doesn't teach harm. With great effort, desire, and positive social models humanity is capable of a cooperative and wholly beneficial social structure, it only takes some revolution.
Have you ever thought of changing society, or making a difference ? It doesn’t take a lot of people. One person can make a huge difference. People should have their own rights. One of the lots of other amounts of people should not be controlled. An individual should have the power to change society. History supports that because so many people can change the world and make things right. Like an example for Jackie Robinson, “After his retirement Robinson stayed a baseball legend”.
Wole Soyinka's essay "Every Dictator's Nightmare" in the April 18, 1999 edition of the New York Times magazine seems almost prescient in light of the events currently occurring geopolitically. The recent events occurred in Egypt are certainly representative of the themes present in Soyinka's essay; “the idea that certain fundamental rights are inherent to all humanity" (476). Soyinka, the 1986 noble peace prizewinner for literature, portrays not only his well-formed persona in his essay, but also his well formed thoughts, devoid of literary naiveté common in so many of today’s writers. The essay portrays societies as corrupted, but with some elements of innate nobility. The existence of societies is guaranteed by the realization that every individual has undeniable basic rights. Soyinka also presents an overview of the enslavement of individual cultures; to the forces of religion, dictatorship, economic pressures, forced labor, and ideology; presenting the reader strong examples of the world's failure to respect individual human rights throughout history. In his essay, Soyinka’s explores the employment of irony and contradiction, in explaining the paradoxes that have riddled the historical search for just societies.
Hungary is in Central Europe, Northwest of Romania. It was “a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its collapse during World War I” (Factbook). After World War II, the country fell to Stalin’s regime. The announcement of Hungary’s removal in the Warsaw Pact caused a vast riot. The Hungarian Revolution was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic and its Soviet-forced policies. It was the first major threat to Soviet control since the USSR's forces drove out the Nazis at the end of World War II. In spite of the failure of the revolution, it was exceedingly significant, and came to play a position in the downfall of the Soviet Union years later.
"You're a human being, not an animal. You have the right to be loved" (262). "Son of the Revolution" by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro was a book that showed how inhumane many of the aspects of Chinese life were during the Cultural Revolution. The book followed Liang Heng through many of his childhood memories to his departure from China in his twenties. The book applied a real face to the important movements during the Cultural Revolution, the effects that "the cult of Mao" had on society and Heng, and the way the period affected Heng's personal family life.
Todd, Allan. (2009) Democracies and Dictatorship: Europe and the World 1919-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Tomkinson, John L. (2008) The Cold War: Themes in Twentieth Century World History for the International Baccalaureate.
1848 was described as “a sunny spring of the peoples abruptly interrupted by the winter of the princes”. “It has often been said.that in 1848.European history reached its turning point and failed to turn”4. There are a variety of reasons that can be given for the failure of the Revolutions, these include the divisions amongst revolutionaries, the continuing social and economic problems of the countries involved, the difficulty in replacing the old regimes and the problem of the new inexperienced electorates. There does not appear to be one clear, defining reason which led to the old regimes regaining power after the 1848 Revolutions. All the factors seem to be equally important and to some extent, connected.
To begin, one must look at why the Solidarity Movement in Poland succeeded where so many other revolutionary movements across the Eastern Bloc didn’t. World War II had devastated Europe physically, mentally, and economically. By 1980 “Poland was among the Eastern Bloc countries whose societies were still in the grips of the post-World War II system of totalitarian, communist rule” (Pearce 7). However, in contrast to many of the neighboring countries, Poland was able to maintain bits and pieces of free enterprise and civic associations under communist rule. Nevertheless, the Poles were frequently subjected to the brutal suppression of their rights, freedom of movement, and expression (Pearce 7). Despite these suppressions, the Polish working class had always been well organized to protest against the actions of the communist regime, and “frequent clashes between workers and the authorities began in the late 1940s and were repeated in 1956, 1970 a...
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead.
Robert D. Kaplan’s article “The Coming Anarchy," is best summarized by the following quote, which identifies the different factors that he evaluates throughout his article, “To understand the events of the next fifty years, then, one must understand environmental scarcity, cultural and racial clash, geographic destiny, and the transformation of war.” (Kaplan, 1994) This is the framework that he uses to make his supporting arguments and thus this summary will be broken down into these four main parts.