Greetings,
Since today is the 57th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, I'll celebrate with a history quiz based on the time when World War II effectively ended for Eastern Europe - 1989-90. For this quiz I'm excluding the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states, concentrating on the communist states between the USSR and Western Germany instead. The same country can be an answer for multiple questions:
1. What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?
2. Which country was the first to enjoy the "benefits" of the Brezhnev Doctrine? (Hint: It's the country that inspired the doctrine in the first place.)
3. What was important about the Brezhnev Doctrine in Poland in 1988?
4. In the summer of 1988, János Kádár, the traitor of 1956, was promoted. Why was this a good thing for Hungary?
5. Everyone remembers the collapse of the Berlin Wall, but where did the "Iron Curtain" first crack?
6. This country broke the communist's grip on power through environmental groups' demonstrations and a palace coup in November, 1989, by reformists in the communist party itself. The coup was prompted by a massacre of demonstrating minorities weeks earlier.
7. These three communist hold-out states each banned the distribution of Soviet periodicals like Pravda and Izvestia in mid-1989 because they were "too liberal".
8. In the 1980s, which of all the European communist states was considered the most liberal?
9. Which was the last to get the communists out of power?
10. What communist state angrily denounced the Soviet Union's apology to it in early November, 1989?
11. Another communist state also saw a massacre of its citizens weeks before the communists were ousted from power, and while this also was effectively a palace coup it was far bloodier. Coincidentally, the massacre also had something to do with a minority population.
12. Poland was the first Soviet Bloc country to break the communist stranglehold on the government through a power-sharing agreement in 1988. By August 1989 the communists were booted completely from power and the Dynamic Duo of Tadeusz Mazowiecki (prime minister) and Leszek Balcerowicz (finance minister) were able to do in a few months what the communists had failed to do in 15 years in Poland. What was it?
13. What isolated and extremely orthodox communist state began its divestiture of its communist ideology by allowing the United States and Soviet Union both to open embassies in its capital for the first time in almost 30 years in 1990?
14. What shocking image was the world shown on Christmas Eve, 1989?
15. Which European communist leader died in exile in Chile?
16. On the night of 10. November, 1989, Harold Jaeger had lots of questions but his bosses refused to answer any of them. What did he do?
17. What did the U.S., the U.S.S.R., Britain & France finally get around to doing on 12. September, 1990?
18. By 1990 post-communist Poland had procured the promised withdrawl of all Soviet military forces in the country, but what bizarre twist of events led the Polish government at one point to request they stay?
19. What Nazi German war crime in Poland did Russian President Boris Yeltsin expunge?
20. In December, 1989,, Alexander Dubcek, the new speaker of the assembly, stood on a balcony with the playwrite Vaclav Havel in a moment of deja vu. What was ironic about the moment?
21. What Romanian example prompted the Hungarian post-communist government in early 1990 to begin visiting Munkásörökség (Workers' Militia) members' homes?
Good luck folks -
Since today is the 57th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, I'll celebrate with a history quiz based on the time when World War II effectively ended for Eastern Europe - 1989-90. For this quiz I'm excluding the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states, concentrating on the communist states between the USSR and Western Germany instead. The same country can be an answer for multiple questions:
1. What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?
2. Which country was the first to enjoy the "benefits" of the Brezhnev Doctrine? (Hint: It's the country that inspired the doctrine in the first place.)
3. What was important about the Brezhnev Doctrine in Poland in 1988?
4. In the summer of 1988, János Kádár, the traitor of 1956, was promoted. Why was this a good thing for Hungary?
5. Everyone remembers the collapse of the Berlin Wall, but where did the "Iron Curtain" first crack?
6. This country broke the communist's grip on power through environmental groups' demonstrations and a palace coup in November, 1989, by reformists in the communist party itself. The coup was prompted by a massacre of demonstrating minorities weeks earlier.
7. These three communist hold-out states each banned the distribution of Soviet periodicals like Pravda and Izvestia in mid-1989 because they were "too liberal".
8. In the 1980s, which of all the European communist states was considered the most liberal?
9. Which was the last to get the communists out of power?
10. What communist state angrily denounced the Soviet Union's apology to it in early November, 1989?
11. Another communist state also saw a massacre of its citizens weeks before the communists were ousted from power, and while this also was effectively a palace coup it was far bloodier. Coincidentally, the massacre also had something to do with a minority population.
12. Poland was the first Soviet Bloc country to break the communist stranglehold on the government through a power-sharing agreement in 1988. By August 1989 the communists were booted completely from power and the Dynamic Duo of Tadeusz Mazowiecki (prime minister) and Leszek Balcerowicz (finance minister) were able to do in a few months what the communists had failed to do in 15 years in Poland. What was it?
13. What isolated and extremely orthodox communist state began its divestiture of its communist ideology by allowing the United States and Soviet Union both to open embassies in its capital for the first time in almost 30 years in 1990?
14. What shocking image was the world shown on Christmas Eve, 1989?
15. Which European communist leader died in exile in Chile?
16. On the night of 10. November, 1989, Harold Jaeger had lots of questions but his bosses refused to answer any of them. What did he do?
17. What did the U.S., the U.S.S.R., Britain & France finally get around to doing on 12. September, 1990?
18. By 1990 post-communist Poland had procured the promised withdrawl of all Soviet military forces in the country, but what bizarre twist of events led the Polish government at one point to request they stay?
19. What Nazi German war crime in Poland did Russian President Boris Yeltsin expunge?
20. In December, 1989,, Alexander Dubcek, the new speaker of the assembly, stood on a balcony with the playwrite Vaclav Havel in a moment of deja vu. What was ironic about the moment?
21. What Romanian example prompted the Hungarian post-communist government in early 1990 to begin visiting Munkásörökség (Workers' Militia) members' homes?
Good luck folks -
