Europian Revolution (Iron Curtain)

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IRON CURTAIN

The Iron Curtain - boundary dividing Europe into
two separate areas from the end of World War II
in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The Soviet Union blocked itself and its
satellite states from open contact with the West
and non-Soviet-controlled areas. On the east
side of the Iron Curtain were the countries
influenced by the Soviet Union.
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Autumn of Nations

• Revolutionary wave

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• Late 1980s and early 1990s
• A revolutionary wave resulted in the end of
  communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.
• In November 1988, Estonia issued a declaration of
  sovereignty, which led to other states making
  similar declarations of autonomy.

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Dissolution of Soviet Union

• The Chernobyl disaster in April 1986 had major
  political and social effects that catalyzed the
  revolutions of 1989.
• To reform the distraught Soviet Union, the
  democratization of the Communist Party was
  promoted through Party Secretary Mikhail
  Gorbachevs policies of perestroika and
  glasnost

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Glasnost and Perestroika

• Perestroika -reconstruction of the political and
  economic system established by the Communist
  Party.
• Politically, contested elections were introduced
  to reflect the democratic practices of Western
  society and allow citizens to have a say in
  government.

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Glasnost and Perestroika

• The term Glasnost means openness and was the
  name for the social and political reforms to
  bestow more rights and freedoms upon the Soviet
  people. Its goals were to include more people in
  the political process through freedom of
  expression
• Glasnost also permitted criticism of government
  officials, encouraging more social freedoms like
  those that Western societies had already provided
• Glasnost and Perestroika eventually helped cause
  the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the
  Cold War, which had lasted from 1945 to 1991.

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The Bulgarian Resistance
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Anti-Axis resistance during World War II

• It consisted of armed and unarmed actions of
  resistance groups against the Wehrmacht forces in
  Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Bulgaria authorities.
• Participants in the armed resistance were called
  partizanin (a partisan) and yatak (a helper, or a
  supporter, someone who provides cover for someone
  else).

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The Sobolev Action

• The Communists had long despised the pro-German
  policy of Prime Minister Bogdan Filov and even
  campaigned in 1940 for a political pact with
  Moscow.
• Bulgaria's adhesion to the Axis - German forces
  entered Bulgaria on 12 March 1941 .
• August 1941 The Bulgarian Communist Party set
  up the resistance movement to oppose the
  pro-Nazi government.
• 22 June 1941 - The German attack on the Soviet
  Union sparked the rage of Communists and
  Russophiles in Bulgaria.

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Battle of Moscow (1941-1942)

• Wehrmacht suffered a major defeat.
• This destroyed the myth of the invincibility of
  the German army, and showed that the blitzkrieg
  in the Soviet Union had failed.
• These events led to a rise in the partisans'
  manpower and prestige, they halted the export
  of grain to Nazi Germany, friendly relations with
  the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United
  States, the restoration of civil freedoms,
  denunciation of non-constitutional laws,
  cessation of military actions against civil
  population.
• In August 1943 the Bulgarian Social Democratic
  Workers Party joined the FF.

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National Liberation Movement
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National Liberation Movement 

• It is an Albanian resistance organization that
  fought in World War II.
• General Council many communist figures and
  known nationalist figures like Myslym Peza.
• The Albanian National Liberation Army was created
  by the NLM.
• The NLM was transformed to Albanian National
  Liberation Front and then replaced by the
  Democratic Front.

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Albanian resistance background

• 7 April 1939 Italy invaded Albania
• 8 November 1941- creation of the Albanian
  Communist Party Groups of 5-10 people engaged in
  various acts of sabotage to the Italian forces.
• June and July 1942 - interruption of all
  telegraphic and telephone communications in
  Albania
• Italians gave up on governing Northern Albania.

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Communist control over partisans

• Partisan bands - fifty or sixty men including a
  communist commissary.
• The non communist commanders had the freedom to
  do exactly what they were told.
• Operated both politically and militarily.
• Protected liberated zones

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Mukje Agreement

• The Mukje Agreement - a treaty signed on August
  2, 1943 in the Albanian village of Mukje between
  the nationalist Balli Kombëtar and the communist
  National Liberation Movement.
• The two forces worked together in fighting off
  Italy's control over Albania.

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Albanian government

• April 1944 - After the German Winter Offensive
  the communist partisans regrouped, attacked the
  Germans and gained control of southern Albania
• May - a congress of the National Liberation Front
  was held in Përmet, an Anti-Fascist Council of
  National Liberation was elected as Albania's
  provisional government.

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Enver Hoxha

• Enver Hoxha - chairman of the council's executive
  committee and the National Liberation Army's
  supreme commander, defeated the last Balli
  Kombëtar forces in southern Albania by the end of
  July .
• Enver Hoxha served as prime minister up to the
  elections of December 1945, in which the
  Democratic Front won 93 of the vote.

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Background of Bulgarian resistance

• The Communists despised the pro-German policy of
  Prime Minister Bogdan Filov.
• The Sobolev action (1940) - political pact with
  Moscow
• 12 March 1941 - German forces entered Bulgaria
  as a result of Bulgaria's adhesion to the Axis.
• 22 June 1941 - The German attack on the Soviet
  Union sparked the rage of Communists and
  Russophiles in Bulgaria.

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Bulgarian Resistance 

• August 1941 - the Bulgarian Communist Party set
  up the resistance movement to oppose the pro-Nazi
  government.
• Armed and unarmed resistance groups against the
  Wehrmacht forces and the Kingdom of Bulgaria
  authorities.
• partizanin (a partisan) - participants in the
  armed resistance.
• yatak - a helper, or a supporter, someone who
  provides cover for someone else

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Combat groups of BCP

• Carried out arson and demolition of arms, clothes
  and fuel warehouses, communications, factories
  and transport lines.
• Assassinated prominent Bulgarian politicians,
  army and police leaders, and Wehrmacht officers.
• Activities impaired the image of Hitler's
  supporters in Bulgaria.
• Battle of Moscow. (1941-1942) - the Wehrmacht
  suffered a major defeat