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This book reassesses a defining historical, political and ideological moment in contemporary history: the 1989 revolutions in central and eastern Europe. It considers the origins, processes and outcomes of the collapse of communism in eastern Europe. The book argues that communism was not simply an 'unnatural Yoke' around the necks of East Europeans, but was a powerful, and not entirely negative, historical force capable of modernizing societies, cultures and economies. It focuses on the interplay between internal and external developments as opposed to an emphasis on Cold War geopolitical power struggles and the triumphalist rhetoric of how the 'freedom-loving' USA 'defeated' the 'totalitarian' Soviet Union. The book also approaches the East European revolutions from a variety of angles, emphasizing generational conflicts, socio-economic and domestic aspects, international features, the 'Gorbachev factor', and the role of peace movements or discourses on revolution. It analyses the peace movements in both parts of Germany during the 1980s from a perspective that transcends the ideological and geopolitical divides of the Cold War. The history of the East German peace movement has mostly been written from the perspective of German unification in 1989-1990. Many historians have read the history of the civil rights movement of 1989-1990 backwards in order to show its importance, or ignored it altogether to highlight the totalitarian character of the German Democratic Republic.
developments as opposed to an exclusive emphasis on Cold War geopolitical power struggles and the populist triumphalist rhetoric of how the ‘freedomloving’ USA ‘defeated’ the ‘totalitarian’ Soviet Union. Our contributors have subsequently approached the East European revolutions from a variety of angles, emphasising in turn generational conflicts (Junes, chapter 5), socio-economic and domestic aspects (Pullmann and Simeonova, chapters 8 and 10), international features (Borhi, chapter 6), the ‘Gorbachev factor’ (Buckley and Grieder, chapters 3 and 4), and the role of peace