1989 Sarotte international history events that have significance beyond borders Cold war Warsaw pact vs NATO Berlin wall down November 9th 1989 East german govt held press conference this night and in the room were foreign reporters including Tom Brochav and the guy making the announcement in the press conference was only supposed to mention slight change in East germans and visas not that the borders were to be opened This news got to TVs and east germans came to walls and the border guards had no instructions so they let people in and once this footage got out the wall started slowly coming down Cold war order in Europe thus collapsed what next Berba Bolai mother of east german revolution Bottom up approach of activism but do not get to shape world order the heavyweight politicians came forward What interested sarotte was the day after o What happens when the cameras go down o When you re forced to create a new political order o Like today in Tunisia Conduct of US foreign policy leaders who saw their chance acted with skill speed and regard for the dignity of the Soviet union even two decades later it is hard to see hwo the process of German unification could have been handled any better o very congratulated literature to the US o Sarotte realized literature around this topic was actually false when she went to research in order to further prove what had been written After doing research in all those places sarotte realized that the facts did not support what previous authors had written Sarotte book Why was there disconnect between revolutions from below and above activists and politicians Actors in all countries used the language of architecture to conceptualize their understanding of events and policy She kept seeing architectural phrases again and again as metaphors for countries create a blank home a roof Suggests understanding of 1989 90 as competition between alternative architectures Restoration Revivalism Heroism Prefab o Restoration restore year 1945 four victors in charge say 1989 was end of WWII hold WWII peace conference East German Idea Architecture o Revivalism revive Germanic confederation from previous centuries but between just two states Architecture Take older structures and update it for present use West German idea o Heroism Ambitious but ill defined plan to unite Europe from Atlantic to Pacific Gorbechev Why don t you merge NATO and Warsaw pact Why doesn t Soviet Union just join NATO Architecture o Prefab Take prefabricated structures from Cold War western europes and duplicate them in the east expand NATO EC DM Architecture Take prefabricated design and duplicate it End of USSR At the end of 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist The independent regions had by then withdrawn from soviet union remaining instead in a loose confederation of independent states whose inter relations are still being defined Gorbechev went into retirement disgruntled and largely forgotten o He ahd to have his 80th bday in London because he is SO disliked in Russia GOING on in Tunisia and Egypt right now 16 11 2011 03 37 00 16 11 2011 03 37 00