Revolution 1989

For more than 40 years after the Second World War the Iron Curtain divided Europe physically, with 300 km of walls and barbed wire fences; ideologically, between communism and capitalism; psychologically, between people imprisoned under totalitarian dictatorships and their neighbours enjoying democratic freedoms.

When the Berlin Wall fell on a chilly November night it seemed as though the open wounds of the cruel twentieth century would at last begin to heal. The Year of Revolutions appeared as a beacon of hope for oppressed people elsewhere who dared to dream that they too could free themselves.

In a dizzying few months of almost entirely peaceful revolutions the people s will triumphed over tyranny. An entire way of life was swept away. Now, twenty years on, Victor Sebestyen reassesses this decisive moment in modern history.

“This pacy and vivid survey of the remarkably swift collapse of the Soviet empire is a considerable achievement.”

A highly readable synopsis of some of the most rapid days in modern history. - The Age

Victor Sebestyen was born in Budapest. He was an infant when his family left Hungary as refugees. As a journalist, he has worked on numerous British newspapers. He reported widely from Eastern Europe when Communism collapsed in 1989. At the London Evening Standard he was foreign editor, media editor and chief leader writer. His first book, TWELVE DAYS, was highly acclaimed.

For more than 40 years after the Second World War the Iron Curtain divided Europe physically, with 300 km of walls and barbed wire fences; ideologically, between communism and capitalism; psychologically, between people imprisoned under totalitarian dictatorships and their neighbours enjoying democratic freedoms.When the Berlin Wall fell on a chilly November night it seemed as though the open wounds of the cruel twentieth century would at last begin to heal. The Year of Revolutions appeared as a beacon of hope for oppressed people elsewhere who dared to dream that they too could free themselves.In a dizzying few months of almost entirely peaceful revolutions the people s will triumphed over tyranny. An entire way of life was swept away. Now, twenty years on, Victor Sebestyen reassesses this decisive moment in modern history.

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