With Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 and then the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the era of Communism in Czechoslovakia could not continue. The political situation in Czechoslovakia had definitely relaxed during the 1980's but the Czechoslovak leadership was still opposed to movements to significantly reform the system. By 1988 there were organized demonstrations demanding change, but the real beginning of the peaceful revolution was on November 17, 1989. This was the fifty year anniversary of a demonstration that had been held to protest the Nazi occupation in Czechoslovakia. Protestors demanding democratic reforms filled the streets and soon were met by the riot police who injured 167 people with night sticks. This ignited more people and some worker's unions to join what had initially been a group of students protestors. The period between November 18 and November 25 was marked by demonstrations throughout Czechoslovakia. On November 25 and 26, there were massive demonstrations of almost 750,000 people at Letna Park in Prague and on November 27 there was a general strike (the first of many). Vaclav Havel led protestors and demanded the resignation of the Communist government, the release of prisoners of conscience and an investigation of the November 17 police action. The Communist leaders stepped down and in December, Vaclav Havel was elected president and Alexander Dubcek was elected Speaker of the General Assembly.
Despite the new leadership's political inexperience, many positive changes were quickly made. The new government focused on integrating into the western economy by making travel and trade between Czechoslovakia and the West much simpler than it had been before. Visas became easy to obtain and currency restrictions were reduced. Measures were set forth to ensure fair parliamentary elections and in 1990 95% of the population voted in an election about which there were no significant complaints.
Havel was intent upon moving towards the free-market economy and a revised form of federalism. Havel wished to keep the Czech and Slovak republics together but in August 1992, the two separate republics declared a formal separation and the Czech Republic with Prague as its capital came into being.
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