University History Essay: Analyzing the Collapse of Communism

This historiographical essay examines the collapse of communism, analyzing the perspectives of three historians: Kenney, Kettenacker, and Saxonberg. The essay explores the key factors contributing to the fall of communist regimes, including economic stagnation, political corruption, and the impact of Gorbachev's reforms (Perestroika and Glasnost). It delves into the role of social movements, such as the Solidarity movement in Poland, and the significance of events like the fall of the Berlin Wall. The essay compares and contrasts the authors' arguments, highlighting their commonalities and differences in emphasizing the influence of Marxism, atheism, and the loss of legitimacy of communist governments. It also discusses the consequences of the collapse, including the rise of crime, the decline of US power, and the reunification of Germany, offering a comprehensive overview of this pivotal historical period.

Running head: HISTORY WAR AND REVOLUTION
HISTORY WAR AND REVOLUTION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Introduction
Communism, the dark tyranny that used to control about thirty different nations was
responsible for the deaths of more than 100 million of people during the twentieth century
and was suddenly collapsed1. This collapse can be related to many different reasons. Many of
these reasons were internal, while the others were due to external influence. It is to mention
that the ideology of communism was surrounded on the teachings and ideas of Karl Marx.
Under this system, every individual is seen to be equal to one another and the wealth is also
distributed equally among all the people. In other words, it was a system that is based on the
principle of collective ownership of both property and production. There were several reasons
for the collapse of this ideology such as the stagnation of the Soviet economy, the political
corruption, the lack of reforms etc. However, the key reason of all includes the radical
reforms of Gorbachev. The communist government lost their power after huge opposition and
strong unwillingness of President Mikhail Gorbachev to send the Soviet troops to their
rescue. The very first loss was the loss of power in Poland. However, this demand for the
reform spread across the eastern Germany and resulted in the end of the Berlin Wall.
This paper shall elaborate on presenting a historiography essay where the ways in
which the topic of “collapse of communism” is treated by different authors will be analysed.
Discussion
Book 1: A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989
Kenney in his book have shed light on the atmosphere of the turbulent years of the
social movements in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary, the
unpredictability of the street demonstrations and the regrets and hopes of the young
1 Rabe, Stephen G. The most dangerous area in the world: John F. Kennedy confronts communist revolution in
Latin America. UNC Press Books, 2014.

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participants during the fall of communism in Europe2. In the process of wondering about the
sudden fall of communism in the Eastern Europe, the Western observers have long been
focused on Vaclav Havel, Gorbachev, the failure of the regime and the storied opposition in
Poland. All these accounts have missed something and Kenney through his book have gone
back and uncovered the more complicated bubbling of events that have helped in preparing
the way for democracy. Melding his experience in the Solidarity-era Poland with the sense
and though process of a historian, the author of this book has taken the readers into the minds
and hearts of the revolutionaries across the Central Europe who are faded namelessly into the
daily life. He have shed light on the musicians, guerrilla theatre collectives’ subverting
traditions, artists, youthful social movements and the state power that emerged during the
1980s in Eastern Germany, Hungary, Poland, some parts of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and
most importantly, the Soviet Union. He has opined that the period that preceded the
beginning of the Soviet Union was earmarked with famine, failed governments and social
unrest. After several struggles, many of the small soviet republics joined together to form a
large conglomerate nation in the year 1922, named as Soviet Union.
According to Kenney, all these movements were quite active long before the glasnost.
Through some of these movements, people used to protest against the environmental and
military policies while the others sought to revive their national traditions and help the ones
at the societal margins3. There were many who crossed the forbidden borders just to meet
their families and counterparts in the neighbouring nations. All of them conquered apathy and
fear of bringing people out to the streets and the results was a ‘great revolution’ unlike any
other before. The revolution was full of non-violence, exuberant and light-heartedness, but at
the same time, was also a relentless political focus. It was a revolution that spread from one
nation to other in the stunning events in between 1988 and 1989.
2 Kenney, Padraic. A carnival of revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press, 2003.
3 Kenney, Padraic. A carnival of revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press, 2003.

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Book 2: Germany 1989: in the Aftermath of the Cold War
Kettenacker in this book has elaborated about the aftermath of the cold war in
Germany during the 1989. It provides a much-needed historical context for the discontents
and drama of the German Reunification4. He has taken into consideration the background
behind the division of the Germany and at the same time, has explained how the Berlin Wall
and its death trap borders is the most horrendous manifestation of the East-West antagonism.
He have claimed that according to the then politicians like Mrs Thatcher, “a united Germany
is bound to destroy the balance of power in the Europe” and this is why it is bad for the
Britain. It was the Cold War that brought the system of communism into Poland in the year
1945 and it gradually became wide-spread in the Eastern Europe throughout the twentieth
century. In the year 1989, the Berlin Wall was dismantles and the regimes in the Eastern
Europe got collapsed and the Cold War was brought to an end. This had a notable impact.
The fall of the communist regime in the Eastern Germany led to the German reunification- an
event that had a direct effect on the process of European integration. For integrating a
reunified Germany successfully into the Europe, it was very important to make the European
community stronger by means of forming a European Union that will comprise of an EMU
(Economic and Monetary Union) and a political union. According to Kettenacker, it was an
objective of the Maastricht Treaty of 19925. This reunification further accelerated the fall of
the communist governments in the country.
Book 3: The Fall: a comparative study of the end of communism in Czechoslovakia,
East Germany, Hungary and Poland
Saxonberg in this book again have discussed about the period during the end of
communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland claiming that the official
4 Kettenacker, Lothar. Germany 1989: In the aftermath of the Cold War. Routledge, 2014.
5 Kettenacker, Lothar. Germany 1989: In the aftermath of the Cold War. Routledge, 2014.

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organizations played a significant role in bringing down the ideology compared to the
opposition6. He in this book has examined the reason behind the quick fall of communism
and why the process was different from one country to other. He claimed that the collapse of
communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland laid the groundwork for
the modern day’s perceptions about capitalism and democracy. He have opined that every
one of these countries is richer today than it was under the communism rule and the ones who
took the path of market economy have remained egalitarian. In the year 1989, Velvet
Revolution started at Czechoslovakia. It was a non-violent transition of powers that was
aimed at overthrowing the communist government in the country7. Again, millions of jubilant
Germans in Germany brought down the most visible symbol of division in the year 1989 at
the heart of the Europe (the Berlin Wall) with the same aim of bringing the communist
government to an end. By the 1990, the earlier communist leaders were out of their power,
free elections were held and the Germany was whole again. This further resulted in the
dislocation of the Soviet Union. Saxonberg have claimed that the reform movement that
ended the communism in the East Central Europe started in Poland8. Solidarity movement
had forced the Communist government of Poland for recognising it in the year 1980 through
a wave of strikes that achieved global or international attention. It emerged as a reaction to
the policies that are introduced by the Polish Communist Party in the year 1980.
Comparing and contrasting the books
The three books effectively drew a historical map of secret reunification of Europe
and different social movements in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland.
However, certain things are common in all the books. The very first is that it was Marxism
6 Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013.
7 Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013.
8 Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013.

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that was the decisive factor behind the collapse of communism. “Marxism is “an unattainable
utopic as an infallibly scientific enterprise”9. Both Kenney and Kettenacker have claimed
that the two often remarked reasons behind the end of the communism system were the
effects of atheism on the soul and on the economic vitality. Saxonberg too in this context
have claimed that communism set out for destroying the “human capital” on which a free
polity and economy are based10. Furthermore, in doing so it sowed the seeds of its own
destruction. In majority part of his book, Saxonberg have explored about the events that
resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall during 1989 including the talks among the Polish
communist leaders, mass demonstrations in the Hungary and the Solidarity Union, which
altogether resulted in an open elections for the very first time since the Second World War.
All the three books have concluded that the fall or collapse of the Communism and
Communist government was the result of the solidarity movement, radical reforms of
Gorbachev, stagnation of the Soviet economy, the political corruption and the lack of
reforms. Kenney have put forward a strong argument about the loss of legitimacy of the
Communist governments and in this regard, he is significantly supported by Kettenacker and
Saxonberg too. Both the authors have opined that the collapse of communism in the Eastern
part of Europe could be explained by the loss of legitimacy of diverse communist
governments, especially the Soviet Union.
Kenney have led emphasis on the cultural changes and social upheavals after the
collapse of communism. He has claimed that the event has increased the rates of crime and
levels of corruption within the Russian government significantly. The Russian mafia that had
struggled for surviving at the height of communism steeped in to fill the power void. Also the
government infrastructure too evaporated at the time of collapse. On the other hand
9 Kenney, Padraic. A carnival of revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press, 2003.
10Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013.

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Kettenacker, has shed light on the US Power. He claimed that when the United States became
capable of becoming the dominant international superpower in the years after the fall, Russia
gained grown in several years11. The power of United States started to decline due to the fact
that the world was entering into a new step where the authority of the traditional governments
all around the world was destabilising. Dissolution of the USSR left U.S. being the only true
world superpower that freed the government in United States from the constraints that were
imposed by the existence of the threat from powerful rival. This further led the government in
US to intervene the militarily. Saxonberg again have emphasised on the consequences of the
fall of Berlin Wall12. There was a complete reform of politics in the Eastern Germany.
Communists at that time ceased to be a strongly influential party in the Germany after the
reunification. The countries like Poland have developed some strong relationships with the
NATO and EU post wall falling. In the year 2004, about ten states joined the European Union
along with many other earlier Soviet States like Hungary, Estonia, Malta, Poland, Cyprus,
Slovenia, Latvia, Slovakia and Lithuania.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis it is to conclude that ever since its beginning in a
century ago, communism- the economic and political ideology that calls for government-
controlled and classless society where everything is shared equally- has seen a stunning series
of surges and declines. The Berlin Wall stood firm and ugly since the year 1961 when
President Ronald Reagan went to Germany and stood there challenging Mikhail Gorbachev
for tearing down the wall. Gorbachev’s reforms have helped in making communism come to
an end. These reforms include Perestroika, Glasnost and the arms race with the U.S. that left
the Soviet Union in debt. It is also to conclude that the collapse of communism was not the
11 Kettenacker, Lothar. Germany 1989: In the aftermath of the Cold War. Routledge, 2014.
12 Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East
Germany, Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013.

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result of the Cold War and the American policies, but it was more to do with the issues that
were faced by the USSR at home and abroad. With the same, youth movement also have to
do a lot with the fall of communism. They contributed significantly in the destruction of the
national boundaries and the death of nationalism. Furthermore, it has also been found that this
collapse has led to several consequences, both positive and negative, but, in short it can be
stated that the fall was not been as prosperous one as it was hoped during the initial years.
However, every one of these countries is richer today than it was under the communism rule
and the ones who took the path of market economy have remained egalitarian.

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References:
Rabe, Stephen G. The most dangerous area in the world: John F. Kennedy confronts
communist revolution in Latin America. UNC Press Books, 2014.
Kenney, Padraic. A carnival of revolution: Central Europe 1989. Princeton University Press,
2003.
Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: A comparative study of the end of Communism in
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013.
Kettenacker, Lothar. Germany 1989: In the aftermath of the Cold War. Routledge, 2014.