European History ~ End of the Cold War~ideas for essays

I showed this ppt.(which I made for conversion to Active/Inspire) The idea is that students contribute as it goes along, and then write a paper.

Choose ONE of these to investigate:

The Solidarity Movement in Poland~

The Second Prague Spring, the “Velvet Revolution”

See ABC-Clio analysis as well.

Fall of the Berlin Wall. CBC archives give you the whole story.

See ABC_Clio Analysis The end of Communism in Romania (by far the most bloodshed here),,5056190,00.html

The Fall of the Soviet Union (articles by Archie Brown and Malcolm Brinkworth) documents available from former GDR archives

For Monday, May 23 rd

Use your research as the basis for a thoughtful paper of approximately 3 pages.

Choose ONE of these questions:

Earlier in the year you considered the common characteristics of the revolutions of the recent revolutions in the Middle East with the Revolutions of 1848. Many commentators also likened those revolutions to this way in which Communism was overthrown in 1989. In what ways are they comparable? Think about some of the same factors that you considered in your previous essay: role of technology, role of religion, and the influence that these revolutions had on each other.

Are all these countries better off than they were before 1989? Explain, and justify your answer. What criteria would go into such an evaluation? Freedom, material comfort, quality of life? Has there been a resurfacing of old ethnic hatreds since the end of Communism?

end of the cold war


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