The%20Contemporary%20Western%20World%20(since%201970)

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Chapter 29 The Contemporary Western World (since
1970)
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The New Europe 1. The Soviet Union broke up into
its fifteen constituent republics in December
1991. The new states included Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia,
Moldavia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania,
Latvia, and Estonia. They are loosely joined in
the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Independence unleashed many of the people's
frustrations which have turned some states such
as Georgia and Azerbaijan into war zones. In
Russia, Chechnya became involved in a brutal war
as it tried to secede and create its own
independent republic. 2. The unification of
Germany in 1990 became a possibility when the
Soviet Union declared it would no longer support
the leaders of the East German Communist Party
following popular demonstrations opposing the
communists. 3. Czechoslovakia peacefully divided
itself into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on
January 1, 1993, when the Czechs and Slovaks
could not agree on the makeup of the new state.
4. Yugoslavia fell into violent civil war in
1991 (see Acetate 96, Map 29.2). 5. In 1988,
demonstrations forced the military government in
Poland to agree to free parliamentary elections.
This was followed in December 1990 with the free
election of a president, Lech Walesa, the leader
of Solidarity. 6. The people of Hungary rejected
communism in March 1990 with elections which
committed the nation to democratic government and
a free market economy. 7. The iron rule of
Nicolae Ceausecu and his wife in Romania was
brought to an end in 1989 following his plan for
rapid urbanization which featured the bulldozing
of entire villages. 8. Although Bulgaria
experienced elections in 1991 which brought a new
government coalition, the Socialist Party (the
former Communists) remains a potent political
force. 9. Albania experienced the consequence of
the 1989 upheavals when antigovernment
demonstrations in 1990 led to promises of reform.
In March 1991 free elections were held though
unrest still continues. Questions 1. Why did
the breakup of the Soviet Union have an impact on
the restructuring of Europe? 2. What is the
consequence of the creation of several new
nations for Europe, especially the former Soviet
states?
The New Europe
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• From Cold War to Post-Cold War Toward a New
  World Order
• Détente
• Missile treaties
• Helsinki Agreements
• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979
• Olympic boycott by the United States, 1980
• Ronald Reagans evil empire
• The End of the Cold War
• Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931)
• New thinking
• Autonomy for Communist regimes in Eastern Europe
• Gulf War

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• Toward a New Western Order
• Revolutionary change in the Soviet Union,
  1964-1982
• Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982)
• Brezhnev Doctrine right to intervene if
  socialism threatened
• Emphasis on heavy industry
• Agricultural problems
• Ruling system based on patronage
• Gorbachev Era
• Perestroika (restructuring)
• Glasnost
• Political reforms

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• Call for a new Soviet parliament, 1988
• Congress of Peoples Deputies elected 1989
• 1988-1990 nationalist movements erupt
• Lithuania declares independence, 1990 rejected
  by the Congress
• Gorbachev arrested, August 19, 1991 coup fails
• Ukraine votes for independence, December 1991,
  others follow
• December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigns and turns
  power over to Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia

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• Eastern Europe The Collapse of the Communist
  Order
• Poland
• Solidarity
• General Wojciech Jaruzelski outlaws Solidarity,
  December 1981
• Free parliamentary elections, 1988
• President freely elected by the populace, April
  1990
• Hungary
• Elections, March 1990

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• Czechoslovakia
• Charter 77
• Communist government collapses, December 1989
• Czechoslovakia splits into the Czech Republic and
  Slovakia, January 1, 1993
• Romania
• Nicolae Ceausescu (1918-1989)
• Bulldozing of villages
• Bulgaria
• Albania

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The Lands of Former Yugoslavia 1. After World
War II Yugoslavia was led by Marshal Tito (Josip
Broz) who pulled together by force of personality
the various ethnic groups of the nation (see
Acetate 79, Map 24.3B). His death in 1980 began
a decade of instability that blossomed into full
civil war. In 1990 non-Communists won elections
in the republics of Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia leading to
calls for a new federal structure for Yugoslavia.
Negotiations failed and in June 1991 Slovenia
and Croatia declared independence. Serbia,
determined to maintain a united Yugoslavian state
that it could dominate, moved against Croatia in
September when Croatian Serbs demanded safeguards
against discrimination. Serbian forces,
including irregulars, soon captured one-third of
Croatia's territory. 2. Serbian nationalism was
very dangerous because Slobodan Milosevic, leader
of the Serbian Communist Party, rejected
independence of the republics without new borders
to accommodate Serbian minorities who did not
wish to live outside the boundaries of a Greater
Serbian state. Serbs constituted 11.6 percent of
Croatia and 32 percent of the population of
Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1981. 3. In 1992 Croatia
and Serbia decided to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Muslims of Bosnia were a particular target as
Serbia pursued a policy of "ethnic cleansing."
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
became a war zone. The war has become less for
territory and more of religion and ethnicity. By
mid-1993, Serbian forces had acquired seventy
percent of Bosnia and by 1995 there were about
250,000 Bosnians dead (mostly civilians) while
two million were left homeless. NATO agreed to
send 60,000 troops (20,000 American) to act as a
peace keeping force. 4. A formal peace treaty
based upon the peace negotiations at Dayton,
Ohio, was signed in Paris on December 14, 1995.
The agreement split Bosnia into a loose union of
the Serb Republic (with 49 percent of land) and
the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (with 51 percent of the land). A
force of 60,000 troops from NATO has been
assigned to monitor the frontier between the new
political entities. 5. In 1999 the ethnic
cleansing and destruction was repeated in Kosovo
where a Kosovar rebellion had begun. NATO
responded to atrocities with a bombing campaign
aimed at bringing down Milosevic. The bombing
campaign ended in June 1999 with an agreement for
NATO troops to act as peace keepers (Russia also
sent troops). Questions 1. How did the
collapse of the Soviet Union contribute to the
problems of the former Yugoslavia? 2. What is the
purpose of "ethnic cleansing"?

• The Lands of Former Yugoslavia

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• Reunification of Germany
• Unrest due to economic problems
• Communist government falls, November 1989
• Economies of West and East Germany united, July
  1, 1990
• Politically unified, October 2, 1990
• Yugoslavia
• Death of Tito in 1980
• Divisions between Slovenes and Serbians
• Non-communist parties win elections in Slovenia,
  Coatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia and
  call for federalist structure, 1990
• Slbodan Milosevic rejects these efforts without
  new border arrangements to accommodate Serb
  minorities

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• After the Fall
• Virtually no experience with democratic systems
• Rapid conversion to market economies
• Western Europe The Winds of Change
• Economic recessions, 1973-1974 and 1979-1983
• Increase in the price of oil
• Unemployment
• Integration of economies European Economic
  Community
• Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty)
• European Community became the European Union,
  1994
• Decline of communist parties

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• From West Germany to Germany
• Willy Brandt (1913-1992), 1969-1974
• Ostpolitik
• Rise of neo-Nazis
• Problems of union
• Great Britain Thatcher and Thatcherism
• Conservatives gain political power, 1979
• Political changes of Prime Minister Margaret
  Thatcher (b. 1925)
• Broke power of the labor unions
• Austerity to control inflation
• Hard line toward communism
• Rebuilds the military
• Falklands War, 1982

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• Anti-tax riots force Thatcher to resign, November
  1990
• Uncertainties in France
• François Mitterand (1916-1995) , 1981-1995
• Socialistic policies
• Unemployment
• Reforms
• Nationalization
• Economic weaknesses of the 1990s
• Confusion in Italy
• Economic crisis, 1970s
• Political problems

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• United States Domestic Turmoil
• Shift to the Right
• Richard Nixon (1913-1994) elected in 1968
• Visits China, 1972
• Ends Vietnam war, 1973
• Resignation, August 9, 1974
• Jimmy Carter (b. 1924), 1976-1980
• Stagflation high inflation and unemployment
• Oil embargo, 1973
• 53 hostages held by Iran
• Ronald Reagan (b. 1911), 1981-1989
• Reverses the welfare state
• Military buildup
• Supply-side economics

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• George Bush (b. 1924), 1989-1993
• Economic downturn
• William Clinton elected 1992
• The Development of Canada
• New Directions and New Problems in Western
  Society
• Transformation in Womens Lives
• Decline of the birthrate
• Women in the workforce
• Womens Movement
• Abortion
• Womens studies
• Ecology
• International womens conferences

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• The Growth of Terrorism
• Left and right wing terrorist groups
• Militant nationalism
• International terrorism
• Guest Workers and Immigrants
• Need for labor in the 1950s and 1960s
• Unemployment rises in 1970s
• Non white foreigners
• The Environment and the Green Movements
• Environmentalism
• Green parties

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• The World of Western Culture
• Recent Trends in Art, Music, and Literature
• Abstractionism and Abstract Expressionism
• Pop Art
• Postmodern
• Serialism
• Theater of the Absurd
• Philosophical Dilemma Existentialism
• Reflects the anxieties of the twentieth century
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
• Albert Camus (1913-1960)
• Absence of God
• Hope in ones self

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• Revival of Religion
• Karl Barth (1886-1968)
• Karl Rahner (1904-1984)
• Pope John XXIII, 1958-1963
• Pope John Paul II, 1978-
• The New World of Science and Technology
• Military-Industrial Complex
• Space race
• Transistor
• Computers
• E.F. Schumacher (1911-1977), Small is Beautiful

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• Explosion of Popular Culture
• Support of the economic system
• Popular Culture and the Americanization of the
  World
• Motion pictures
• Television
• Popular music
• Experimentation in rock and role
• Growth of Mass Sports
• Olympics
• Popular Culture Toward a New Globalism
• Toward a Global Civilization?
• Problems are global not just national
• Nongovernmental organizations