Alliance for Germany a political party that was set up in East Germany calling for the unification of East and West Germany, which they felt would lead to an economic bonanza in East Germany. In March 1990 they won almost 50 % of the votes in East German parliamentary election thereby beating out the Socialist party. (p. 1040)






baby bust at the opening to the 21st century, Europe was experiencing falling birthrates that seemed to promise a shrinking and again population in the future. (p. 1052)






European Union the new name as of 1993 for the European Community. (p. 1044)






Gdansk Agreement a working class revolt in the Lenin shipyards of Gdansk that resulted in the workers gaining their revolutionary demands including the right to form free trade unions, freedom of speech, release of political prisoners, and economic reforms. (p. 1031)

Glasnost "openness," part of Gorbachev’s campaign to "tell it like it is" marked a break from the past were long banned writers sold millions of copies of their works, and denunciations of Stalin and his terror were standard public discourse. (p. 1033)

Great Russians party leaders that identified themselves with Russian patriotism, stressing their role in saving the country during WWII by protecting it from foreigners; they were leaders within the Communist party in non-Russian republics. (p. 1028)






Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) formed in 1998 by frustrated Kosovar militants who sought to fight for their independence. (p. 1049)






Maastricht treaty a treaty created in 1991 that set strict financial criteria for joining the proposed monetary union, with it single currency and set 1999 as the start date for its establishment. (p. 1051)






Paris Accord a general peace treaty that brought an end to World War II and the cold war that followed - it called for a scaling down of all armed forces and the acceptance of all existing borders as legal and valid. (p. 1040)

perestroika economic "restructuring" reform implemented by Gorbachev that permitted an easing of government price controls on some goods, more independence for state enterprises, and the setting up of profit-seeking private cooperatives to provide personal services for consumers. (p. 1032)






re-Stanlinization referring to the installation of a dictatorship in Russia that was collective rather than personal and where coercion replaced terror and that lasted until Gorbachev in 1985. (p. 1028)






shock therapy the Solidarity-led governments radical take on economic affairs that were designed to make a clean break with state planning and move to market mechanisms and private property. (p. 1035)

Solidarity led by Lech Walesa, this group of workers organized their free and democratic trade union and quickly became the union of a nation with a full-time staff of 40,000 and 9.5 million union members by March 1981. (p. 1031)






third way a plan for East German government supported by East German reform communists who wanted to preserve socialism by making it democratic and responsive to the needs of the people. They advocated going beyond failed Stalinism and capitalism, and called for closer ties, yet not unification, with West Germany. (p. 1040)






Velvet Revolution the moment when communism died in 1989 with an ousting of Communist bosses in only ten days; it grew out of popular demonstrations led by students, intellectuals and a dissident playwright. (p. 1035)