The End of the Cold War Notes

Warm Up

I. The Cold War Begins to Thaw Détente – a policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the U.S. during the presidency of Richard Nixon U.S. moving away from the foreign policies of Containment and Brinkmanship that led to conflicts Want to talk and negotiate to avoid conflicts

I. The Cold War Begins to Thaw Factors that aided Détente: In the Soviet Union After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, new leaders bring changes to U.S.S.R. Nikita Khrushchev started a process of Destalinization – or removing the memory of Stalin Soviet Union became less strict and called for peaceful competition with capitalist countries Next leader, Leonid Brezhnev, focuses maintaining control of countries in the Warsaw Pact Cracks down on those speaking out against communism

De-Stalinization

I. The Cold War Begins to Thaw Factors that aided Détente: Outside the Soviet Union Changes in Soviet Union did not apply to countries under Soviet Influence Members of Warsaw Pact start showing signs of not wanting communism Brezhnev Doctrine – a soviet foreign policy that stated that the U.S.S.R. would use force in Eastern Europe to stop countries from acting against communism Oct.-Nov – protest put down in Hungary Aug – “Prague Spring” rebellion put down in Czechoslovakia

HungaryCzechoslovakia

I. The Cold War Begins to Thaw Factors that aided Détente: Sino-Soviet Split During the Chinese Civil War the U.S.S.R. supported Mao Zedong After Mao won, the two countries became allies By 1960s, their alliance would collapse Both wanted to spread communism, but have different types of communism U.S.S.R. stop sending aid and refused to share nuclear secrets As a result, China would open-the-door to U.S. for economic cooperation in the 1970s And the U.S.S.R. loses its biggest ally

I. The Cold War Begins to Thaw Examples of Détente Détente helped improve the relationship between the U.S. and U.S.S.R Washington-Moscow Hotline – a direct communication line between Washington D.C. and Moscow 1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits China – a capitalist and a communist country working together economically SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) signed by the U.S. and Soviet Union to limit intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles each country could have (SALT II never ratified by Congress) 1975 – Helsinki Accords – U.S. and Soviet Union plus 33 other countries agree to détente and cooperation between Western and Eastern Europe

II. The End of Détente Factors that ended Détente: U.S. President Carter Takes office in 1977 Concerned over the harsh treatment of protesters in the U.S.S.R. Carter Doctrine – U.S. would use military force if necessary to protect their interest in the Persian Gulf

II. The End of Détente Factors that ended Détente: War in Afghanistan (Dec – Feb. 1989) For most of the Cold War Afghanistan was neutral 1978 – a militant group with strong ties to the Soviet Union takes control of Afghanistan People opposed this new government Mujahideen, or holy warriors, fight against Soviet-backed government with money and weapons from the U.S. Soviet Union responds by sending their military Mujahideen use guerilla warfare and geography to fight U.S.S.R. would withdraw after 10 years and 15,000 deaths

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

II. The End of Détente Factors that ended Détente: U.S. President Reagan Takes office in 1981 and is fiercely anti-communist Increases military defense spending 1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) – a program to protect against enemy missiles Other Factors: Iran-Iraq War Iran Hostage Crisis U.S. support of Contras in Nicaragua

SDI

III. Fall of the Soviet Union Reasons for the Fall of the Soviet Union: 1)Economics – Soviet economy falls apart Can’t make enough money No competition between industries No incentive for workers to work harder Low quality good and few consumer products upsets people Can’t keep up with the costs The arms (weapons) race A war in Afghanistan Keeping control of Eastern Europe

III. Fall of the Soviet Union Reasons for the Fall of the Soviet Union: 2)Change in Leadership – New leader, new ideas 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes new leader of U.S.S.R. Not like older communist members and knows U.S.S.R. needs to change

III. Fall of the Soviet Union Glasnost (1985): Glasnost – or openness Allowed for the free flow of ideas and information Churches opened, political prisoners are released, banned books are published again, and reporters investigate problems and criticize government officials

III. Fall of the Soviet Union Perestroika (1987): Perestroika – or economic restructuring – changed the Soviet economy Previously used Central Planning, but it was inefficient Now allow for more local decision making in planning and opened small private business Want to keep communism, but make it more effective and productive

III. Fall of the Soviet Union Other Reforms: Democratization (1987) – gradual opening of the Soviet political system Voters could choose from a list of candidates for each office Before candidates selected for you Focused on arms control to decrease military spending Signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987

III. Fall of the Soviet Union Conclusion: Gorbachev’s changes take time - people grow frustrated with food shortages, inflation, and slow economic growth This transition period made the Soviet Union weak and opened the door for countries to break away

IV. The Breakup of the Soviet Union Soviet Union Control: Union of Socialist Soviet Republics – consist of Russia and 14 other countries/republics Soviet sphere of influence or satellite countries – consist of the countries in the Warsaw Pact (Hungary, Poland, Romania, East Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, and Czechoslovakia)

IV. The Breakup of the Soviet Union Revolutions of 1989: Starts with Poland A shipyard union, Solidarity, leads several strikes that force the communist Polish government to accept free elections 1989 – Lech Walesa is voted to be the President; previously the head of Solidarity Hungary was inspired by Poland; pass reforms and voted to disband the communist party in Hungary

IV. The Breakup of the Soviet Union Revolutions of 1989: East Germany followed next with protests for change in Oct. 1989, then the fall of the Berlin Wall in Nov. 1989; but it wouldn’t be until Oct that East and West Germany were reunited After that the rest of the countries in the Warsaw pact would pass changes to break away from communism Yugoslavia would also breakup into several countries, ending communism and Yugoslavia

IV. The Breakup of the Soviet Union Inside of the Soviet Union: March 1990 – Lithuania declared independence - Gorbachev sent Soviet troops to stop but attacking unarmed civilians June 1991 – Boris Yeltsin became the first directly elected President of Russian Federation Aug – A coup d’état (military overthrow) is attempted by the hardline (devoted) communist members to stop all of the changes Fails because the military refuses to follow orders As a result the Soviet Union and Communist Party had lost the support of the people and the military

IV. The Breakup of the Soviet Union Inside of the Soviet Union: On Dec 25, 1991, Gorbachev would resign as Soviet leader, the rest of the Soviet Republics would declare independence, and the official end of the Soviet Union Last time the flag of the Soviet Union would fly above the Kremlin (Russian Parliament) Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russian Federation all become independent countries after the fall of the Soviet Union

The End Video: Fall of the Soviet Union and End of the Cold War