Chapter 19: Central Eastern Europe
By: Jamie Castner
The Czech Republic
-Type of Government: Democratic
-Velvet Revolution: Revolution without bloodshed that resulted in the election of a democratic parliament.
-Bohemia: Contains many resources and contains Czech's capital city Prague.
-Moravia: Too inefficient to compete in World Market.
-Challenge the country faces: Acid rain and industrial pollution has destroyed forests.
Slovakia
-Population Size: Over 5 million people
-Collective Farming: Workers are being paid by the government and they share the profit from the products.
-Challenge the country faces: Economy
Hungary
-Type of government: Non-communist government
-Size of the country: Size of the state of Indiana
-Country's nickname: "bread basket" of Europe
-Challenges the country faces: Unemployment, government in debt., and reducing government debt.
Romania
-Nicolae Ceausescu: Second leader, led nation to economic chaos, executed in 1989.
-Economic chaos example: Energy was so scarce that television aired only 2 hours each night.
-American soft drink maker: Entrepreneurs have made small fortunes selling soft drinks in Romania.
-Multiplier effect: Eleven new jobs have been added to Romania's economy for each job that the soft drink company created.
-Challenges that the country faces: Poverty.
Bulgaria
-Type of Government it once had: Communist, but now they have a democratic government.
-Challenges the country faces: When they turned into a democratic government, their economy went into a tailspin.
Albania
-Nickname: Europe's hermit
-Effect of isolation: Caused Albania to be one of the poorest nations in Europe.
-End of Communism: Albania has received billions of dollars from foreign nations and from Albanians who have relocated to live in other countries.
Yugoslavia
-Effect of Communism ending: all that was left of Yugoslavia were the republics of Serbia and Montenegro.
-Why the country broke apart: The other Balkan Nations made themselves independent.
Serbia/Montenegro
-Economic disaster: GDP reduced by half, unemployment raised, break up of Yugoslavia, and wars that followed.
Croatia
-Conflict between the Croats and the Serbs: Their differences in language and practices have been highlighted by frequent conflicts between Serbs and Croats.
Slovenia
-Impact on industry: Slovenia was expected to recover quickly from the problems brought by war and independence.
Bosnia/Herzegovina
-Conflict among peoples: Long-standing hostilities among different groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina erupted into war when Communist control ended.
-Resources: Abundant mineral resources