What Happened Behind the Iron Curtain?

While Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued, for a period of thirty-six years until February 1991, the former Iron Curtain countries, which were a part of the Warsaw Pact, and are now all members of the European Union and NATO, and the Soviet Union until December 1991 Concerns of the countries that are part of Russia and are trying to move away from the influence of Russia are increasing.

While the terms Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact, Iron Curtain are familiar to most of us, they may not mean much to the under-middle-aged. You may also be wondering who the seven people in the black and white photo below are.

In the photo, the person in the middle is Mikhail Gorbachev. Former head of state of the Soviet Union, the most important country of the Warsaw Pact. The other six are the heads of state of the six Eastern European countries that are members of the Warsaw Pact.

The photo was taken in 1987, at the meeting of the Defense Cooperation Organization Warsaw Pact of the Iron Curtain countries in Berlin, the capital of East Germany. Four years after this photo was taken, both the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union would disintegrate.

At photo; except Mikhail Gorbachev in the center, from left to right, President of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák, President of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov, President of East Germany Erich Honecker, President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu, President of Poland Wojciech Jaruzelski and Hungarian president János Kádár. You may be interested in who these people are and their stories after the fall of the iron curtain.

Mikhail Gorbachev is the eighth and final leader in the seventy-year history of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991. Lenin was the most powerful person in the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1924. He died while he was on duty. Leader of the Soviet Union for twenty-nine years from 1924 to 1953, Stalin served before, during and after the Second World War. He died while on duty. Malenkov served a brief six-month term in 1953. Khrushchev (Khrushchev) served for eleven years, from 1953 to 1964. Brezhnev (Brezhnev) served for eighteen years, from 1964 to 1982. He died while on duty. Andropov served for two years, from 1982 to 1984. He died while on duty. Chernenko (Chernenko) served for one year from 1984 to 1985. He died while on duty. Gorbachev (Gorbachev) served for six years, from 1985 to 1991.

Gorbachev dissolved both the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union in 1991.

Gustáv Husák led Czechoslovakia, which is now divided into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, for twenty-one years between 1968 and 1989. In 1968, after the Prague spring, which began with Dubček's reforms, the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia and overthrew Dubček. Gustáv Husák, who was replaced by Dubček in 1968 by the Soviet Union, resigned from his post during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. He died two years later in 1991.

Todor Zhivkov (Jivkov) was the leader of Bulgaria for thirty-five years, from 1954 to 1989. In Bulgaria, the Turks were forced to take the Bulgarian name and migrate to Turkey during the time of Jivkov. Zhivkov, who was overthrown by a coup in 1989, died in 1998.

Erich Honecker was the leader of East Germany, which would later unite with West Germany, for eighteen years, from 1971 to 1989. Honecker was dismissed in 1989 and died in 1994 in Chile.

Nicolae Ceaușescu (Ceaușescu) was Romania's leader for twenty-four years, from 1965 to 1989. Ceausescu, who was overthrown by the coup in 1989, was sentenced to death in the court established by the putschists and died by shooting with his wife Elena.

Wojciech Jaruzelski was the leader of Poland for nine years, from 1981 to 1990. He resigned in 1990 and handed over his duties to union leader Lech Walesa. Jaruzelski, who retired from the army in 1991, passed away in 2014.

János Kádár was the leader of Hungary for thirty-two years, from 1956 to 1988. After the Hungarian leader Imre Nagy's decision to leave the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary and replaced Imra Nagy with János Kádár. Kádár resigned in 1988 and died in 1989.

In short, by 1991, all the leaders in the photo had a regime change in their countries, the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union were dissolved, and all leaders, including Gorbachev, were displaced.

Formerly included in the Soviet Union and now part of the European Union and NATO members There are also n former Soviet Republic countries. Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are among these countries. Of these countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been admitted to both the EU and NATO.