 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the party and leader of the Soviet Union -> the last leader of the USSR 1. Economic problems 2. Lagging behind in high technology 3. Decline in the standard of living

 The _______ ________ Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invades Kuwait -> USA organizes a coalition and drives him out

 US efforts to prevent Iraq’s takeover of Kuwait was declared by President G.H.W. Bush to be part of a _________ _______ _______ -> in which the US would lead the world in maintaining peace and stability

 _______________ was the leader of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Communist Party during the 1970’s -> a long period of economic stagnation and decline  _____________ ______________ said the Soviet Union would use military force to keep communist regimes in power in all of Eastern Europe

 ______________ = “restructuring” = reform of the economy  ____________ = “openness” = political and social reform = encouragement of public and open discussion

 The Soviet Union disintegrated in > it was replaced by a new and voluntary unit called the ___________ ___ __________.

 ____________ is first ever democratically elected leader of Russia -> transition from communist economic system to free market economic system -> privatization, shock therapy, corruption, inflation, economic chaos, rise of the oligarchs, inequality -> rise of organized crime and social change -> loss of international prestige, power and status

 1999 Yeltsin suddenly resigns and names ______________ as his successor -> adopts more assertive/independent role in international relations  Stabilizes the economy  Benefits from massive rise in revenues from oil resources  Begins to limit political rights and freedoms

 _____________ = independent noncommunist labor union in Poland 1. Workers 2. Intellectuals 3. Catholic Church  __________ ________ leader of Solidarity and will be the first democratically elected president of non-communist Poland

 PLAYWRIGHT/DISSIDENT -> LEADER OF THE “VELVET REVOLUTION” -> FIRST DEMOCRATIC LEADER OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

 1989 communist Czechoslovakia collapses -> Czechs and Slovaks disagreed over the makeup of the new state -> in 1993 there was a peaceful division of the state into two new countries

 The last communist leader of East Germany

 In the summer and fall of 1988 massive emigration and demonstrations broke out across East Germany -> borders with the West opened and hundreds of thousands celebrated and began to destroy the Berlin with sledge hammers

 Leader of the Serbian communist party in Yugoslavia -> Serbian nationalist -> tried to maintain Serbian control over Yugoslavia -> fought a war with Croatia

 Bosnia and Kosovo were regions of Yugoslavia that split from Serbian control after fighting bitter and bloody wars in the early 1990’s and in 1999

 Serbian policy of killing or forcibly removing Bosnian Muslims from their lands -> 250,000 Bosnians were killed by 1995 and 2 million fled

 West German policy of chacellor Willy Brandt in the 1970’s -> “opening to the east” -> West Germany tried to establish closer connections with East Germany