Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

THE HISTORY OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE 37

POST-MODERNISM

THE EUROPEAN UNION

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

1961 Soviet cosmonaut

Yuri Gagarin becomes

the first man in space

1968 A period of liberalization in

Czechoslovakia known as the

“Prague Spring” ends with Soviet

invasion

1980 Strikes in Poland

lead to the formation

of the Solidarity

Movement

1985 Mikhail

Gorbachev

becomes Soviet

leader, launching a

wave of reforms

1989–90 Following the

fall of the Berlin Wall,

Communist regimes

throughout Eastern

Europe are replaced

by democratic

governments

1991 Slovenia and Croatia declare

independence from Yugoslavia;

fighting erupts between Croats

and Serbs

1992 Bosnian Serb

forces begin the siege

of Sarajevo

1995 The Dayton

Agreement brings

to an end the

wars in Croatia

and Bosnia

1999 Tension between Serbs and

Albanians in Kosovo leads to the

NATO bombing of Serbia

2004 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,

Poland, Hungary, the Czech

Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia

join the European Union (EU)

2007 Romania and

Bulgaria join the

European Union

1977 Invented by a

local mathematician, the

world’s first Rubik’s

Cube goes on sale

in Budapest

1983 Romanian President Ceaušescu orders the construction of

the House of the People, now known as the Palace of Parliament

(see pp572–3) in Bucharest

1984 In Belgrade, work

commences on St Sava

(see p555), the world’s

largest Orthodox church

2006 Opening of Kumu Art Museum

(see p105), Tallinn’s ultra-modern art

museum, designed by Finnish

architect Pekka Vapaavuori