Who was resposinble for Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution in 1989?

Student dissidents played an important part within the resistance circles as well as making the most direct contribution to the Velvet Revolution. It was the students that acted (however unintentionally) as a direct catalyst to the Velvet Revolution. In a country with ubiquitous censorship, they distributed samizdats and organised secret lectures. Mejstřík states that he knew the protest on the 17th November 1989 would be different, because it was the first protests that the student union was actively participating in. Direct responsibility for starting the revolution has to be placed on university students protesting on the 17th. Although unintentionally, the violent suppression of the student demonstration struck a personal chord with the public. Both Falk and Mejstřík mention how the police attack affected the people. “It became personal ... because they [the public] felt like those were our kids that you beat up.” Mejstřík says. “The children of Prague were viciously beaten. It was the beginning of the end.”The policies of two key Cold War players, Gorbachev and Reagan, had a significant impact on Czechoslovakia and the build up of revolution. Spalding and Edwards write about the contribution that Regan had on the collapse of the Soviet Empire, especially his arms race that weakened the USSR. Pearson writes of Gorbachev’s reluctance to intervene militarily in the satellites as well as the “prohibitively expensive investment of military force at a time when the pruning of the military budget had the highest overall priority.” Both Spalding and Edwards mention that Reagan's ‘Evil Empire’ speech held significant importance to prominent leaders such as Lech Walesa. The speech is also mentioned by Mikloško, who feels that the election of Reagan “who labelled the Soviet Union an Evil Empire” was a significant event in the 80s. Although glasnost and perestroika played an important part in relaxing the Communist regime, Gorbachev’s most important policy was his “Sinatra Doctrine”, a policy that considerably weakened the Czech government’s control. Mejstřík himself mentions that “Gorbachev basically left us alone.”