35 years ago today, June 4, 1989, Poles ousted the communist party in the first partly free elections since WW2. The election set off a chain of events that led to the opening of the Berlin wall. The USSR's European empire had collapsed by the end of the year.

Also on June 4, 1989, the Chinese army fired on Tianamen Square protesters, ending any hope of political change. The Tianamen massacre helped inspire the Chinese communist party to create the total surveillance state they are completing today.

Finally, on June 4, 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian revolution, died. But the Islamic Republic survived.

If any one of those events had ended differently, we would be living in a different world. Nothing about history is inevitable.

Anne Applebaum

@anneapplebaum

@TheAtlantic and @SNFAgoraJHU Author of Gulag, Iron Curtain, Red Famine, Twilight of Democracy. threads: anneapplebaum2000

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Anne Applebaum@anneapplebaum

35 years ago today, June 4, 1989, Poles ousted the communist party in the first partly free elections since WW2. The election set off a chain of events that led to the opening of the Berlin wall. The USSR's European empire had collapsed by the end of the year.

Anne Applebaum

Anne Applebaum
@anneapplebaum