Shortly after World War II, the Soviet government began to impose communist rule throughout Eastern Europe. Backed by the power of the USSR, these communist governments (virtually part of the USSR) would rule the Eastern Bloc with an iron fist through the Warsaw Pact. This pact, signed in 1955, forced many war-affected countries to sign an alliance with the USSR, effectively making them satellite states.1 Many unjust government policies and lack of many civil liberties would spark a revolution throughout Europe. Countries like Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Czechoslovakia all participated in the great revolutions of 1989. Poland was the key player in this “Autumn of Nations”2. It was a great nation that had been devastated by war just a few years ago during World War II. The Polish people, nationalist and strong, had to constantly face the burdens imposed on them by more powerful nations. The Polish people needed a strong leader to bring them independence. Lech Walesa was born as if to respond to this demand. Lech Walesa was no different from any other working-class man in post-war Poland. He loved his family, his mother and his country like any other good Catholic. He had such patriotic gravitas, however, that he would eventually spark ideas of revolution among many of his supporters. His passionate battles against the communists would eventually lead to Polish independence. Poland had not experienced true independence for almost a century and a half. It was constantly occupied by other nations, even though its roots went back as far as any other European civilization3. Thanks to the Warsaw Pact, Poland was dominated by a very strong communist party with Soviet ideals. Poland was a strong Catholic country. The USSR was strictly middle of paper......outraged, it promised many reforms to the Polish people. Walesa had a lot of electoral support, but not a lot of Solidarity support. He still decided to run as first president of the new Poland. Although he won the election in a landslide, his popularity quickly fell. He was too ambitious and didn't think like a politician. Walesa was a man of the people who could lead and organize revolution, but he could not manage a new nation. Most of Walesa's reforms were never really felt in Poland. True capitalism could not be achieved in Poland. The government instead takes the form of a socialist government. Although Poland gained great support in Europe due to its central role in the fall of the USSR, this support would be short-lived. This was due to some decisions that, in a way, isolated Poland from its neighbors, such as NATO..