People
United States Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead (1985 - 1989), confirmed that [Name] had “no intention of detaching the states of Eastern Europe from the Soviet Union” ; Whitehead explained that [Name’s] objective was to sign a nuclear arms agreement with the Soviet Union.
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States (1981 - 1989)
[Name of Country] recognised that Central Europe was under the Soviet Union’s Sphere of Influence. President John F. Kennedy reiterated this sentiment when he met the General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev during the Vienna Summit in 1961.
The United States
“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States, on June 12, 1987
Mary Elise Sarotte, a Washington Post Reporter, described the series events leading up to [Name of Event] as an accident, saying “one of the most momentous events of the past century was, in fact, an accident, a semicomical and bureaucratic mistake that owes as much to Western media as to the tides of history.”
The Fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989)
[Name] and [Name] believed that the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army’s (Red Army) presence in Eastern Europe made the region stable.
Henry A. Kissinger, United States Secretary of State (1973 - 1977), and Hal Sonnenfeldt, United States Department of State Counselor (1974 - 1977).
In 1989, [Name of Country] was pushing for change, while the United States and the United Kingdom were more inclined to defend the status quo.
The Soviet Union
“Private trips aboard can now be applied for without prerequisites, conditions, or family relationships…” ; Reporter: “When does this go into effect?” ; “According to my information… Immediately. Without delay.”
Gunter Schabowski, German Democratic Republic Spokesperson, on November 9, 1989
[Name of Document] prescribed that the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) would not establish or maintain diplomatic relations with any state that recognized the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
The Hallstein Doctrine (September, 1955 - October, 1962)
[Name] informed Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985 - 1991) that he intended to dismantle Hungary’s border protection system ; [Name] was criticized by Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu (1965 - 1989) and East German General Secretary Erich Honecker (1971 - 1989) for his decision.
Miklos Nemeth, Provisional Prime Minister of Hungary (1989 - 1990)
[Name of Country] opposed the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany); [Name of Country] feared that a reunified Germany would seek to gain additional territories it had lost after the Second World War.
The United Kingdom
“This is a very simple question - it’s a question about power, nothing else”
Erich Mielke, German Democratic Republic Minister of Security, on August 31, 1989
The Polish Government, in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest, initiated talks with Solidarnosc (The Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity”) ; Following [Name of Event], the Polish Government allowed Solidarnosc to compete for a hundred seats in the Polish Parliament's Lower Chambers
Polish Round Table Agreement (February 5, 1989 - April 5, 1989)
[Name] passed top-secret Soviet documents to the Central Intelligence Agency between 1972 and 1981, including the Soviet Union’s plans for the invasion of Western Europe; former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski described him as the first Polish Officer in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Ryszard Kuklinski, Colonel of the Polish People’s Army (1968 - 1981)
[Name of Country] was not concerned with the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army’s (Red Army) presence in Eastern Europe, instead [Name of Country] was concerned with the United States and Japan’s growing economic power.
France
“It is the firm view of our Western European partners that to preserve European stability… there should be no regime change in Hungary… [Hungary] should not impinge upon the Soviet Union’s security, military and political interests”
Imre Szokai, Deputy Head of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party Central Committee's Foreign Relations Department, in July, 1989
“The United States respected the course followed by Polish authorities and had carefully avoided interfering in Poland’s internal affairs. It is a policy that the White House expects to continue” ; Polish President Wojciech W. Jaruzelski interpreted the United State’s response as a ‘green light’ for [Name of Event].
Martial Law in Poland (December 13, 1981 - July 22, 1983)
[Name] was ordered by Major Manfred Sens to turn away East German citizens from the Berlin Wall’s Bornholmer Strabe Border Crossing following Gunter Schabowski’s Press Conference ; [Name] disobeyed Major Manfred Sen’s orders and opened the Bornholmer Strabe Border Crossing
Haral Jager, Lieutenant Colonel of the East German Passport Control Unit (1981 - 1989)
East German citizens discovered additional escape routes to the West via Federal Republic of Germany’s Embassies in [Name of City, Name of Country] and [Name of City, Name of Country]
Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Warsaw, Poland
“The Poles do not expect any help from outside. They do not place their faith in Reagan… Although they are happy to receive every gesture of solidarity made by the outside world, they are perfectly aware that they must, and will, place their faith only in themselves.”
Adam Michnik, Polish Dissent, on December 13, 1981
[Name of Document] described the Plastic People of the Universe, a Czech Rock Band, as “long-haired, neurotic drug addicts, and mental cases who took delight in the grossest of perversions and deliberately sing vular, anti-social songs”
Rude Pravo, the Communist Party of Czechoslovaki’s Newspaper.