Describe the key features of the Revolutions of 1989 (6 marks)

The collapse of communism in the Eastern Bloc was brought about by a combination of economic instability, social unrest and political turmoil, which culminated in the Revolutions of 1989. Chronic debt had crippled the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s and the countries' Communist governments had to impose austerity measures, leading to civil unrest as many of the affected programmes had previously protected and improved living standards. In Poland, the workers' union Solidarity emerged as an opposition movement to the government which led to Jaruzelski's government imposing martial law in 1981. Poland was the first country to revolt against a delegitimised government in 1989. A domino effect followed, as Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania all revolted. Poor economic planning and recessions led to dissent and hostility against the governments that that had caused price rises and wage stagnations. A desire for a complete overhaul of political systems and economic structures across the Eastern Bloc meant that citizens, who had lost confidence in the Communist regimes that governed them, rose up against them.