I believe it did. After all, Pope John Paul’s pressure on the Soviet Union to allow dissent in Eastern Europe was another aspect of the larger diplomatic effort to force the Soviet Union to hold to their promises under the Helsinki agreements. And as for Solidarity, it grew to the point where the Polish military had to take control of the country-in effect, overthrowing a failing communist regime and replacing it with a military regime, albeit temporarily. For all intents and purposes, Mikhail Gorbachev was in a position where he had to choose between mass repression and liberalizing the system, and he chose the latter. As it turned out, there were just too many fault lines in the system-especially nationalism and the failing economy-for the system to survive. -Dr. Michael Blodgett 349th Air Mobility Wing Historian [email protected]

Thanks 👍