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| 1987, Dec. 17 |
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| Milos Jakes replaced Gustáv Husák as head of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. | 1 |
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| 1988, Oct. 10 |
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| Jakes named Ladislav Adamec premier after the resignation of Lubomir Strougal, who had been premier for 18 years. Adamec wanted change at a slower pace. | 2 |
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| 1989 |
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| THE 1989 REVOLUTION (Velvet Revolution). On Jan. 15, 5,000 demonstrators in Prague's Wenceslas Square commemorated Jan Palach, who had burned himself in 1969 in protest against the Soviet invasion. Václav Havel and other dissidents were arrested; Havel was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment on Feb. 21. | 3 |
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| 1989, Feb. 2 |
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| More than a thousand artists demanded the release of all political prisoners in the country. | 4 |
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| Feb. 9 |
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| Milos Jakes declared that the government would not discuss matters with “anti-Socialist” groups. | 5 |
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| May 13 |
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| Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia began. It was to be completed by June 1991. | 6 |
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| May 17 |
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| Václav Havel was released from prison after serving half his sentence. | 7 |
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| Aug. 14 |
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| Two Slovakian human rights activists were detained by the police after a search of their homes. | 8 |
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| Nov |
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| Opposition groups formed Civic Forum, and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against the Communist government. On Nov. 24, the Communist Party Politburo resigned; on Nov. 28 the National Assembly approved and promulgated constitutional changes on the abolition of the Communist monopoly in power. | 9 |
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| Dec. 17 |
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| Opening of border with Austria. The wire fencing between Czechoslovakia and Austria was cut ceremonially by foreign ministers of both countries. This followed the decision of the Czechoslovak government on Nov. 30 to open the border and remove all fortifications. Tens of thousands of Czechoslovakian citizens crossed the border in the next few days. | 10 |
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| Dec. 28 |
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Alexander Dub ek, the 1968 reformist leader, was elected chairman of the National Assembly. | 11 |
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| Dec. 29 |
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| Václav Havel was elected president, thus becoming the first noncommunist head of state since 1948. He was reelected in July 1990. | 12 |
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