Europe in Transition

Abstract

Until the late 1980s, of all the regions of the world, Europe had experienced the least political change since, say, 1949, when the most important postwar political arrangements seemed more or less to have been consolidated. The change of the status quo appeared irreversible in the longer term, the nuclear stalemate proving sufficient both to prevent war and to prevent either side from imposing its will on the other. But the bipolar structure established after the war did contain inherent flaws, particularly within the Eastern sphere, which became apparent ultimately in the last days of the 1980s, when peaceful change was at work in Europe. A political earthquake shook Eastern Europe and a geographic East Central Europe was restored. The execution of Nicolae Ceausescu, the long-time tyrant of Romania, became a symbol of the final collapse of the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe.

The totalitarian system in the Soviet Union and in most of its satellites is breaking down, and our nations are looking for a way to democracy and independence. This is a historically irreversible process and, as a result, Europe will begin again to seek its own identity without being compelled to be a divided armory any longer.

Vaclav Havel¹

Only peace will emanate from German soil.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher²