The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe

by Gale Stokes

Gale Stokes' The Walls Came Tumbling Down has been one of the standard interpretations of the East European revolutions of 1989 for many years. It offers a sweeping yet vivid narrative of the two decades of developments that led from the Prague Spring of 1968 to the collapse of communism in
1989. Highlights of that narrative include, among other things, discussions of Solidarity and civil society in Poland, Charter 77 and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and the bizarre regime of Romania's Nikolae Ceausescu and his violent downfall. In this second edition, now appropriately
subtitled Collapse and Rebirth in Eastern Europe , Stokes not only has revised these portions of the book in the light of recent scholarship, but has added three new chapters covering the post-communist period, including analyses of the unification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union,
narratives of the admission of many of the countries of the region to the European Union, and discussion of the unfortunate outcomes of the Wars of Yugoslav Succession in the Western Balkans.

Genres: History, Politics, European History, Nonfiction, Soviet Union

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Andrew Davis]

Following the Yalta Conference at the end of the Second World War, the Russian imperialism moved to set up his loyal regimes in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, their administrated part of Germany, Bulgaria and Romania. This book summarises dissatisfaction of people living there and their struggles to save at least some elements of freedom and social justice in their lives. Finally, in seventies when the moral bankruptcy of communism could not be hidden any longer, a mass dissatisfaction led to open questioning of principles imposed from abroad and gradual takeover of power by opposition, facilitated by miraculous period in Soviet Russia when the system attempted to restructure and open to the world.

The author moves from one country to another in a series of short essays narrating their history in each decade after the war. Each chapter is supported by an impressive list of notes referring to details of events.

I have read this book with interest and was glad to refresh the memory of so dramatic events that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century.

[Austin Barselau]

The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1993) examines the twilight decades of the Soviet project in Eastern Europe and the process by which the countries of the Warsaw Pact rejoined the mainstream of European development. Gale Stokes, the late professor of history at Rice University, traces what he calls an “era of disillusion and dissolution” beginning in 1968—an age of mounting ideological fatigue and social unrest that ultimately gave way to political reform in the late 1980s.

Stokes takes a close, comparative look at several nations within the Soviet orbit—including Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia—emphasizing the distinctive paths each followed as communism unraveled. He examines the cascade of largely peaceful revolutions that swept the region in 1989 and the subsequent negotiated transitions to pluralist politics and market-oriented economies and how the speed, forms, and outcomes of that process varied across the region.

As Stokes demonstrates, the collapse occurred gradually, then suddenly. Within just a few years, the Soviet bloc had vanished, leaving a constellation of newly independent nations to gather the fragments of their past and chart uncertain futures.

[Alexandra]

This is the kind of book they warn you about in the new books

[G]

An excellent, accessible overview of the Cold War and its aftermaths in Central and Eastern Europe with a particular emphasis on Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and the former Yugoslavia.

Stokes views the impetus for change in these countries largely coming from indigenous reform-minded elites (both inside and outside of government), as well as the actions of hundreds of thousands of citizens. Factors such as the failures to fulfill desires for pluralism and consumer goods, as well as the effect of western loan obligations are discussed in detail.

Stokes rightly downplays the contributions of the Reagan administration, noting that the biggest external player with influence over these proceedings was the Soviet Union, which collapsed not due to SDI but due to Gorbachev's (naive) political reforms, which caused the government to lose control. Other factors include the war in Afghanistan, inflation and the drop in oil prices etc.

The biggest strength of Stokes' book is not treating the Central and Eastern European countries as a monolithic bloc. Instead Stokes acutely dissects the various unique factors shaping each country's motives during the period

[Adam F]

"In the twentieth century, Eastern European nations have found it difficult to follow paths of their own choosing"

Really interesting to read about the fall of communism as it was understood in 1993. The introduction takes the position that no one would ever again be able to look at communism with hope and optimism and so on, which feels very naive in big 2026.

The period where Communist leaders knew that the system was cooked but kept brutalizer reformers and dissidents anyways was no bueno.

[Olivia]

Read this for one chapter on Czechoslovakia for my IB history exams, but ended up reading the whole thing. Very informative and detailed!

[Bethany]

This book took me an age to finish, but not because it wasn't interesting. It is by far one of the most interesting books I have ever read for school, though that may be because it's in my field. The writing was totally accessible and Stokes wrote it almost in a way that told an interwoven narrative rather than simply as a textbook. I am so happy I finished it once the class was over.

[Jonathan]

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