Revolutions of 1989

The Revolutions of 1989 were part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of Communist rule in the Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term "Springtime of Nations" sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848.

Leadup to revolution

By the late 1980s, people in the Caucasus and Baltic states were demanding more autonomy from Moscow, and the Kremlin was losing some of its control over certain regions and elements in the Soviet Union. In November 1988, Estonia issued a declaration of sovereignty, which would eventually lead to other states making similar declarations of autonomy.

The Chernobyl disaster in April 1986 had major political and social effects that catalyzed or at least partially caused the revolutions of 1989. One political result of the disaster was greatly increased significance of the new Soviet policy of glasnost. It is difficult to establish the total economic cost of the disaster. According to Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union spent 18 billion rubles (the equivalent of US$18 billion at that time) on containment and decontamination, virtually bankrupting itself.

Poland

Coordinates: 52°N 20°E / 52°N 20°E / 52; 20

Poland (Polish: Polska [ˈpɔlska]), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska, listen ), is a country in Central Europe,bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine and Belarus to the east; and the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) and Lithuania to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 71st largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, as well as the most populous post-communist member of the European Union. Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions.

The establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe. The Commonwealth ceased to exist in the years 1772–1795, when its territory was partitioned among Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria. Poland regained its independence (as the Second Polish Republic) at the end of World War I, in 1918.

Chris Niedenthal

Christopher Jan Niedenthal (born 21 October 1950 in London) is a British-Polish photographer and photojournalist. A member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers, his pictures were published in a number of internationally renowned newspapers and magazines, among them Newsweek, Time, Der Spiegel and Forbes. In 1986 he received the World Press Photo prize for a portrait of János Kádár.

He is best known for his series of photographs documenting life behind the Iron Curtain, as well as the history of Solidarność. His picture of an Armoured Personnel Carrier standing in front of Warsaw's "Moscow" cinema screening "Apocalypse Now" became one of the icons of the Martial Law in Poland.

Biography

Chris Niedenthal was born 1950 in London, to a family of Polish World War II-era refugees. His father used to be a public prosecutor in Vilna until the war, after 1945 he was forced to settle in the United Kingdom, where he started working for the ministry of education. Niedenthal's mother had been working for the emmigree Polish Telegraphic Agency. He first visited Poland in 1963 and since then he was regularly visiting the country of his parents.