Cold War · 1989

1989: revolutions across eastern Europe

In a single year communist rule ended in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. Most of it happened peacefully, with candles and keys; in Romania it ended in gunfire. Students follow the domino run of 1989 from Budapest to Prague and Timișoara.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1960
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In a single year communist rule ended in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. Most of it happened peacefully, with candles and keys; in Romania it ended in gunfire. Students follow the domino run of 1989 from Budapest to Prague and Timișoara.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Order the events of 1989 in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Romania.
  • Explain why the Soviet Union did not intervene in 1989, unlike in 1956 and 1968.
  • Compare the peaceful Velvet Revolution with the violent end of Ceaușescu's rule.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1960

The bloc in 1960

Open the map in 1960 and find the countries between the Soviet Union and West Germany: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany. All had communist governments. Which ones border the Soviet Union itself?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1960

Prague, November

Zoom in on Prague. On Wenceslas Square hundreds of thousands jingled their keys in November 1989. Ask the atlas: "Why was it called the Velvet Revolution?"

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1960

Timișoara, December

Travel to Timișoara in western Romania, near the Hungarian border. The Romanian revolution began here on 16 December 1989. Ask the atlas: "What happened in Timișoara in December 1989?"

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. In June 1989 Hungary reburied Imre Nagy, the leader executed after the uprising of 1956. Why was a funeral such a powerful political act?
  2. The protesters in Prague rang keys and lit candles. Why did they choose such peaceful symbols?
  3. Václav Havel went from prison in the spring to the presidential castle in December. Why do you think a playwright was chosen to lead?
  4. Romania was the only country where the change was violent. What was different about Ceaușescu's rule?
  5. Gorbachev let the governments of eastern Europe fall. Was that a choice or a loss of control?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Catherine the Great, who used Russia's power to control her neighbors. Then compare: in 1989 Gorbachev chose not to use Soviet power. What might have happened if he had?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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