The Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution is not about delicious red velvet cake but instead sweet freedom of a new government. Even better than a new government it was short and sweet as well. The Velvet Revolution took place in Czechoslovakia from November 17,1989 and ended December 29, 1989. Czechoslovakia was located in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east, and Poland to the north.When I choose this revolution I was intrigued by the name of it. Also, I wanted a non-violent revolution and that’s exactly what I found.
Before the outbreak of World War I, Slovakia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and declared its independence in October 1918, joining the Czech provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia to form the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia in the interwar period was the only functioning parliamentary democracy in eastern Europe. Even though it was the only functioning parliamentary democracy, the Czechs and Slovaks had issues that divided them from one another. In the Czech lands, they were more populated and industrialized than Slovakia’s. The Slovak population was also poorer, less educated, and extremely Catholic. The Prague government (Prague is the capital of Czechoslovakia; and why the government is called the Prague government) “attempted to address these economic inequalities by industrializing Slovakia in the 1920s but these efforts were cut short by the Great Depression (Merriman, Winter 2358). The result from the attempted fixes was the Slovaks grew resentful in the 1930s and a separatist movement began, which was led by Father Andrej Hlinka and Jozef Tiso.
In September of 1938, Czechoslovakia was dismembered due to the Munich agreement...
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...ca School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "Velvet Revolution." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2623-2626. World History in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "Slovakia." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2358-2359. World History in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. "1989." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1874-1880. World History in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
"The Velvet Revolution: A Peaceful End to Communism in Czechoslovakia." Tavaana. E-Collaborative for Civic Education, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
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. In 1945, after the holocaust and after World War II, Czechoslovakia was in a period of distress, which made people seek for communism as a solution. Communism, a totalitarian regime, was a form of government in which nobody was allowed to own any private property and the government controlled all economic activity. This government structure was not only corrupt, but it also caused more economic crisis in Czechoslovakia. Despite the rough situation that Czechoslovakia was going through, none of its
"World War II." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd Ed. Vol. 9. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 147-151. World History In Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
I have chosen to write my response paper on our course’s monograph Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy D. Snyder published by Basic Books in 2010. This text is considered revisionist history and has been very well received, even earning the 2013 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. Snyder’s was considerably unconstrained in his research. He has a reading knowledge of eleven European languages allowing him utilize a wide range of primary and secondary sources. These widespread sources allowed him compile a book containing many groundbreaking perspectives and conclusions.
Gesink, Indira. "Fascism, Nazism and Road to WWII." World Civilizations II. Baldwin Wallace University. Marting Hall, Berea. 3 April 2014. Class lecture.
By observing the recurring trends throughout history, an individual can conclude that the modern world has evolved through a series of revolutionary eras. Revolutions have occurred since the beginning of mankind and continue to progress into the future. Ranging from a sharp change in political organization or structure, to social divisions within society, all the way to forward-thinking innovations, revolutions have impacted the course of history in numerous ways. Although many revolutions are titled with a specific name to identify the precise location or particular group of people involved, such as the American Revolution or the French Revolution, there are many occurrences in which a revolution is simply identified with a categorization term. However, among all the revolutions that have occurred in known history, there is a specific revolutionary period that has aided in the progress of humanity in addition to establishing the early concepts that shape our modern world. Originating in Great Britain, the Industrial Revolution has transformed the lifestyles of people around the world. However, the progressive transformation introduced a series of outcomes contrary to the prior regime. The Industrial Revolution triggered the growth of Great Britain’s economy, reset the social class divisions, and led to the formation of political reformation.
“The story of post-revolutionary America,” writes Rosemarie Zagarri, “is the story of how American women and men sought to define – and ultimately to limit and restrict – the expansive ideals they had so successfully deployed against Britain.” In this excerpt from Revolutionary Backlash, Zagarri depicts the extreme radicalism of the American Revolution, while also suggesting that there were some constraints to its extremism. Unlike the normal way of life in European government and society, Americans desired a nation in which the inherent rights and freedoms of individuals were recognized and respected. While these rights and freedoms were ultimately achieved, many groups of people were still left out. Women of all kinds, people of color, and men of poverty were often unable to enjoy and appreciate America’s newfound rights and freedoms. Despite these limits and restrictions, however, the American Revolution was still extremely radical in the sense that it was able to surpass traditional, European political and social ideology.
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most other countries as well. On the other hand, Schama viewed the French Revolution as unproductive and excessively violent.
Smith, Tony. The End of the European Empire: Decolonization after World War II. Lexington, MA: Heath, 1975. Print.
During the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson succeeded in defeating the incumbent, John Adams, and assumed the presidency. In terms of elections though, the election of 1800 itself was a fascinating election in that it a heavily-contested election and was effectively the first time political parties ran smear campaigns against each other during an election. The Republican Party attacked the Federalists for being anti-liberty and monarchist and tried to persuade the public that the Federalists were abusing their power through acts such as the Alien & Sedition Acts and the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion (Tindall and Shi 315). The Federalists, on the other hand, attacked Jefferson for his atheism and support of the French Revolution and warned that his election would result in chaos (316). By the end of the presidential election, neither Adams nor Jefferson emerged with his reputation completely intact. Still, rather than an election between Adams and Jefferson, the election of 1800 ultimately boiled down to a deadlock between Jefferson and his vice presidential candidate, Aaron Burr, who each held seventy-three electoral votes, resulting in the election was sent to the House of Representatives. In the end, the deadlock was resolved only by Alexander Hamilton, whose immense hate for Burr allowed Jefferson to claim the presidency. However, the election of 1800 was more than just a simple presidential election. The election of 1800 was the first peaceful transfer of power from the incumbent party to the opposition and represented a new step in politics, as well as a new direction in foreign policy that would emerge from Jefferson’s policies, and to this extent, the election of 1800 was a revolution.
The French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790’s (staff). Just like the American Revolution the French Revolution started with new ideas of enlightenment. French citizens started to uproot everything that was considered normal, things such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system, they wanted to redesign everything (staff). Although a lot of the attempts failed people continued to try to make the change.
Karl, Kenneth. Cracking the AP European History Exam New York: Princeton Review Publishing, 2004: 118-120
Also, if the new widened franchise had not been so inexperienced, the revolutionaries would have had an easier time replacing the old regimes, which had in fact not been that strong to start with. The reactionary regimes regained power so quickly because of all of these reasons and although the 1848 Revolutions had emphasised the “ineptitude and impotence”8 of the old sovereigns and governments, they brought with them too many resentments, grudges and radical changes, for which Europe was not yet ready.
The main concern of the new government was the transformation of Czechoslovakia from a state-controlled to a free market economy (Embassy of the Slovak Republic). Disputes arose between the two republics about reform process which focused on privatization, the encouragement of foreign investment, policy of macro-economic stabilization, price liberalization, and liberalization of foreign trade (Slovakia.Org, “20th Century”). The Czech Republic was more economically developed than the industrial-based economy of Slovakia (Slovakia.Org, “20th Century”). The transition to a market economy left the Slovak Republic to endure greater economic hardships than the Czech Republic (Sovakia.Org, “20th Century”). For example, the federal government chose to dramatically cut the country’s defense industry, resulting in a large decrease in industrial production and a large rise in unemployment in Slovakia (Slovakia.Org, “Slovak Economy”). This took place because the economy that rose out of the communist era in Slovakia was based on industrial production, particularly on weapons and military equipment (Slovakia.Org, “Slovak Economy”).
Dubcek immediately started trying to reform all aspects of the culture. There were many different reforms that he tried putting into effect. He strived for free speech, economic experimentation, open borders, and open debate in the political aspect of the country. The reforms specifically included liberalization of the country's repressive political environment, highly regimented economic system, and overly centralized administrative system, which has been come to know as the Prague Spring (Goldman 123). Also at this time, Czechoslovakia's culture consisted of artists, writers, jazz clubs, and other cultures of the West were very popular in Prague. Dubcek described it as creating "socialism with a human face" (www.wikipedia.com).
In the 1930s and 40s Europeans experienced violence and disorder on an unprecedented scale. Although Europe had seen mass social, political, economic, and cultural changes in the past, as with the Enlightenment, the revolutions of the 1860s and 1870s, even going as far back as the Renaissance, never before had Europe experienced such a massive shift in social structure and power dynamics as what resulted from World War II. The destruction of towns and cultural centers, the relocation of groups rigidly defined by ethnicity or nationality, and the reversal of power dynamics and the effect on nationalism changed the way the European defined their identity as a European. The European identity split according to the two postwar experiences of civilians