It is 20 years since Eastern Europe's communist regimes were swept into the history books by a tide of people power. 1989 truly was one of those years that the world shifted on its pivot. Some things did change -- we are living with their consequences still
One was a military strongman, intent on saving his country from "catastrophe." The other was an electrician from the shipyards of Gdansk set on leading his countrymen to freedom. Yet both played their part in Poland's transformation from communism
Richard Blystone was CNN's senior correspondent in Europe throughout 1989. Here he recalls how the the divided continent had simply become the only reality that most people on either side of the Iron Curtain knew
