Background
| Eastern Bloc |
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Soviet Socialist Republics
Armenian SSR · Azerbaijan SSR Byelorussian SSR · Estonian SSR Georgian SSR · Kazakh SSR · Kirghiz SSR Latvian SSR · Lithuanian SSR Moldavian SSR · Russian SFSR · Tajik SSR Turkmen SSR · Ukrainian SSR · Uzbek SSR |
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States of the Eastern Bloc
People's Republic of Hungary People's Republic of Poland Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Romanian People's Republic / Socialist Republic of Romania German Democratic Republic (East Germany) People's Republic of Albania People's Republic of Bulgaria Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia |
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Related organisations
Cominform · COMECON Warsaw Pact World Federation of Trade Unions World Federation of Democratic Youth |
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Dissent and opposition
Goryani Movement · Ukrainian Insurgent Army Romanian anti-communist resistance 1953 uprisings in Plzeň · in East Germany 1956 protests in Georgia · in Poznań Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Novocherkassk massacre Prague Spring Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia 1968 Red Square demonstration Solidarity · Jeltoqsan · Braşov Rebellion April 9 tragedy · Black January · Charter 77 |
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Cold War events
Marshall Plan · Berlin Blockade Tito–Stalin split · 1948 Czechoslovak coup 1961 Berlin Wall crisis 1980 Moscow Olympics |
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Decline
Revolutions of 1989 Polish Round Table Agreement Fall of the Berlin Wall Fall of communism in Albania Singing Revolution Collapse of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia January 1991 in Lithuania · in Latvia |
After World War II, the Baltic States had been fully incorporated into the USSR after military occupation and annexation first in 1940 and then again in 1944. Mikhail Gorbachev introduced "glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika" (restructuring) in 1985, hoping to stimulate the failing Soviet economy and encourage productivity, particularly in the areas of consumer goods, the liberalisation of co-operative businesses and the service economy. Glasnost rescinded limitations on political freedoms in the Soviet Union which led to problems within the non-Russian nations occupied in the build-up to war in the 1940s.
Hitherto unrecognised issues previously kept secret by the Moscow government were admitted to in public, causing dissatisfaction within the Baltic States. Combined with the war in Afghanistan and the nuclear fallout in Chernobyl, grievances were aired in a publicly explosive and politically decisive manner. Estonians were concerned about the demographic threat to their national identity posed by the influx of individuals from foreign ethnic groups to work on such large Soviet development projects as phosphate mining.
Access to Western emigre communities abroad and, particularly in Estonia, informal relations with Finland and access to Finnish TV showing the Western lifestyle also contributed to widespread dissatisfaction with the Soviet system and provoked mass demonstrations as repression on dissidents, nationalists, religious communities and ordinary consumers eased substantially towards the end of the 1980s.
Massive demonstrations against the Soviet regime began after widespread liberalisation of the regime failed to take into account national sensitivities. It was hoped by Moscow that the non-Russian nations would remain within the USSR despite the removal of restrictions on freedom of speech and national icons (such as the local pre-1940 flags). However the situation deteriorated to such an extent that by 1989 there were campaigns aimed at freeing the nations from the Soviet Union altogether.
Read more about this topic: Singing Revolution
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