Review Timeline (no not the book)

1968 = (unofficially called) THE Decade OF DEATH and just general unrest

• April 4, 1968 → Martin Luther King Jr assassinated
• May 16, 1968 → Paris Demonstrators
• June 6, 1968 → Robert Kennedy assassinated
• August 21, 1968 → Soviet tanks invade Prague
• November 5, 1968 → Nixon elected

And now, here are the details on SOME of these events

1. Paris Demonstrators → students and workers riot against their unresponsive government, the Vietnam War, and the nuclear arms race. It especially shook the foundations of the French government.
2. Soviet tanks invade Prague, Czechoslovakia → This Communist satellite state feels the wrath of the Soviet Union as Czechoslovakia experiments with democracy.  The Soviets are so ruthless that a student even incinerates himself in protest.
• Does this sound familiar?
• Think back to the Hungarian Revolution → once again, a small nation seeking independence from the USSR is abandoned by the West
• Why would the West abandon them?
• The nations recognize that the USSR is a monster and do not want to present any possibility for a new war.
• So what becomes of Czechoslovakia?
• In 1989, it breaks into the Czech Republic and Slovakia following the end of the Soviet Union.

The Western Attitude

On a lighter note, let's check out the culture of the  "Golden Sixties"

• Britain was the forerunner for clothes and accessories.
• Individualism and youth culture were bolstered by new inventions like the TV and transistor radios.
• Skirts got shorter and boots got taller for girls while men grew their hair and wore pointed shoes
• The economy was booming in the EU, helping to spread European culture (especially Britain's) to the US.

Old People's Response to the Rise of Youth Culture

Good Bye 60s - Hello 70s!

• 1) Sadly, the decade begins with the infamous Munich Massacre
• 1972, Palestinian terrorists take Israelis prisoner in the Olympic village.
• At this time, terrorism involved bartering rather than simple destruction.
• 2) 1975 → Helsinki Accords (AKA "the USSR is really power lol" - Everyone)
• They solidify the post WWII borders
• Why weren't they recognized before?
• Well, the Soviets weren't supposed to stay in the Baltic States. They were just to nurse the nations back to health...
• These accords are really a "recognition of reality" that the USSR was really powerful and that it could really take any territory it wanted.
• This "recognition of reality" reminds us of Nixon's recognition of the People's "Republic" as China even though it was communist, and the recognition of the Soviets as the proper rulers of Russia (both are events that preceded the Helsinki Accords).

Russia to the rest of the world

• 3) THE European Union
• 1972 → The first step towards the euro is taken by the EU as it allows its currencies to fluctuate against each other.
• Why was level of monetary responsibility important for these newly united nations?
• They had spent the 3 wars between 1870 - 1945 trying to kill each other (Franco-Prussian War and the World Wars)
• Now countries like Germany and France were trying to get along for the sake of avoiding yet another war.

The real Message of the EU

• January 1, 1973 → Denmark, Ireland, and the UK formally enter the EU (making 6 into 9 yay mathh))
• The UK got a lost of special privileges (ex. They got to keep their own currency) 
• June 7-10, 1973 → The members of the European Parliament are elected for the first time 
• Members were from pan-European political groups: Socialist, Conservative, Liberal, Green, etc.

• 4) 1979
• Margaret Thatcher elected (yes, a woman)
• ALSO Brezhnev Doctrine
• Partially plagiarized from the Truman Doctrine, BUT it's a support for any Communist state against capitalism
• What weakens the Soviet Union (and basically begins its downfall)
• Soviets invade Afghanistan to (terrible idea)
• They immediately retreat (like a short version of US was in Vietnam)
• The government's failure to gain a victory started a desire to change the ruling state
• Kind of like the reaction to Alexander II's reforms after the Crimean failure -- i mean war.

And Finally, the 80s where we mostly talked about the US in Europe but like watevs

• 1980 → Miracle on Ice (Yay everyone's fave movie) → the Arms Race but on ice
• America beats Soviets :)

Remember this??

The Reaction of Easter Berliners to the eventual fall of the Berlin Wall

• 1987 → Reagan demands Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall
• Previous to this, Gorbachev had been implementing changes to bring the Soviet back on par with the rest of the world economically
• Berliners think his reforms will bring freedom and tear down the wall in 1989 under George H. W. Bush's presidency
• 1989 → The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia
•  The end of communism in Czechoslovakia which included no blood shed and split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (as we discussed earlier)