The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe'

A crucial part of the revolution of 1989 was the rise in self-confidence on the part of East Europeans. They became unwilling to accept previously tolerated strictures. In 1989, this unwillingness was particularly pronounced among East Germans, who had seemed relatively restrained in contrast with Solidarity in Poland and reformers in Hungary. In the fall of 1989, however, several factors contributed to give East Germans the courage they needed to change their future.

Gorbachev's numerous hints to East German leaders and citizens that nonviolent reform was the order of the day removed the fear that the Soviets would act where the East German leadership had not. Economic grievances contributed as well. Enough was enough, ran the general sentiment. The sixteen-year wait for a car and the twenty-five-year wait for a telephone were no longer tolerable. Although the deprivation was not as bad as that experienced in Poland and Romania, it was still painful. In 1986–87, roughly a hundred thousand people living in thirty-five thousand houses had no heat in the depths of winter. In 1988 and 1989, consumers discovered that it was increasingly difficult to find meat (except on the black market). The comparison with the success of West Germany's economy exacerbated the resentment. And repeated missteps by the ruling East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) intensified anxieties.

East Germans decided that in order to improve their lives, they must either leave the country, confront their ruling regime, or accept what would come. In other words, they faced a choice between exiting, voicing their discontent, or staying quiet. At first, Hungary's September 1989 announcement that it would allow East Germans to travel through Hungary to Austria made the exit option the most attractive.

This announcement was the result of Hungarian Minister President Miklós Németh's decision to change sides at the end of the Cold War. In spring 1989, he and Gorbachev had seemed to be like-minded souls, agreeing in a March conversation that there was "no difference between pluralism in a single-party system and in a multi-party system."

Political liberalization in Hungary over the summer, however, had an unexpected consequence. Not only Hungarians but also East Germans sought to take advantage of the May 1989 cutting of the fence on the Hungarian border to Austria. Due to treaty obligations, Hungary was not supposed to let East Germans utilize this new gap in the iron curtain; but East Germans came and camped at the border anyway.

At first a holiday atmosphere prevailed, but the crowds grew restless as conditions became wet and swampy in the waning days of a Central European summer. Nervous Hungarian border guards even shot one East German after an altercation on August 21. It was clear that something had to give.

In a hastily arranged secret meeting on August 25, 1989, outside of Bonn, Németh and his foreign minister, Gyula Horn, informed West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher that they would no longer prevent East Germans from crossing the "green border" into Austria and then going onward to the FRG. The Hungarian leaders were wisely seeking to make a virtue out of the necessity of resolving the unstable situation.

Németh kept his word and opened the border to East Germans in September. Dramatic scenes filled television screens worldwide as a mass exodus ensued. By the end of the month, roughly forty thousand had exited—far more than the Hungarian leadership or indeed anyone else had anticipated. This opening was one of the single most important events leading to the breakdown of the old Cold War order.


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Motorbike breakdown cover, Separate or add on?

Consumer assistance website for the area of car and motorcycle breakdown cover, Breakdownchoices.co.uk reports that motorbike breakdown cover has recently shown a huge rise in popularity. The factors contributing to this jump are, increased weight of motorcycles creating a situation where is no longer practical for the operator to push the motorbike to a repair centre, complexity of the motorcycles themselves requiring greater technology and a wider range of tools for repair, and a general unwillingness of motorbike operators to wait in unfair weather conditions for assistance.

These factors led to Breakdown Choices adding to their website charts and analysis for breakdown cover comparison featuring motorbike cover. An important feature of this analysis is that many of the United Kingdom’s better known breakdown cover providers do not offer motorbike breakdown cover. Breakdown Choices has sifted through all of the United Kingdom’s best cover providers to furnish visitors to the site with a definitive list of the best cover alternatives.

As many of these companies listed are primarily car breakdown cover providers this allows anyone wishing to compare breakdown cover an excellent opportunity to choose either separate motorbike breakdown cover or to purchase said cover as an additional option to their current or planned automobile cover. Prices for motorbike breakdown cover as shown on breakdownchoices.co.uk begin at £28.50 from RAC. One must always remember whenever purchasing breakdown cover that basic cover will only allow for towing to the nearest garage. It is recommended that purchasers opt for more complete or level three protection.



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