Why Should The United States Have Avoided The Velvet Revolution

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The Velvet Revolution as a whole was based off of Communism and therefore, if Czechoslovakia had never become communist, they would’ve always had freedom. In order for them to have avoided this they should have avoided the termination of a large loan, handled the strikes with more power, and gotten support from Great Britain and the United States. Following World War II, the Czechoslovakians were not apart of the Soviet Union and they had a large loan with the United States. Soon after the war, America became anxious that the country might have too much soviet influence and they became worried when Eduard Benes, President, strongly opposed, “the political rehabilitation and possible rearmament of Germany” (Communists 1). America withdrew

On the contrary, during and after the revolution, the people of Czechoslovakia favored a more democratic government where the power resides in the people, not just the rulers. The communist ways began in 1948 when “Benes gave in to communist demands and handed his cabinet over to the party” (Communists 1) after many acts of protest that he could no longer control. Many people fought to change their government in their country to go from a parliamentary democracy to a communist government. They wanted to change their form of leadership because the United States terminated a loan with them and they were gaining Communist influence from all over the soviet union (Communists 1). This shows how the country was very persistent in obtaining the type of government that they wanted through many protests, strikes, and getting others involved. On the other hand, during and after the Velvet revolution, the people had resentment toward a communist government and most were glad that they managed to abolish it. The former Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, stated, “‘ I think that our transformation was a success. The basic goal associated with the fall of communism was freedom. November 1989 gave us this freedom” (Czech 1). Even their own leader was rejoicing in the new

The revolution, surprisingly, lasted a little over a month which was a really good thing considering that many other revolutions can last years upon years. It only consisted of two unapproved marches, an emergency meeting, a two-hour strike, and a proposition and revisions to change their government from corrupt communism to having freedom with a democratic one. The uprising became “the model of a well-executed peaceful revolution, one that hopeful revolutionaries have sought to emulate ever since” (Lynch 1). It also resulted in “the country split, also peacefully, into the Czech and Slovak republics” (Lynch 1). About 25 years after the revolution had ceased, many countries felt impacted by what the Czechs did and revolted against their own governments as well. This included Prague, Budapest, and Romania. Prague and Budapest revolted against their government during an event to commemorate the Velvet revolution through chanting and signs. It was the “fourth large anti-government demonstration in a month” (Velvet 1) which showed how passionate they were about changing their government. Also, Romania elected a new president who had views that supported a democratic government which the people preferred. All in all, the Velvet Revolution had tons of positive outcomes that not only gave their country many more opportunities with freedom but also helped give other