The Cold War ends Who Won?

OBJECTIVE By the end of the lesson, SWBAT describe elements and events that led to the end of the Cold War

Lightning ROUND rEVIEW 1. What was the Space Race? 2. What was the Vietnam War? 3. How did T.V. change culture?

Cold War The Cold War started in 1945 after World War II. The U.S. was trying to spread.....? The Soviet Union was trying to spread....?

Cold war - 1980’s By the 1980’s, the Cold War was starting to thaw. In 1985, President Reagan (U.S.) met with the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev They met about slowing down the arms race . Why would both countries want to slow down the arms race?

Arms Race The arms race was very expensive!! The Soviet Union was using most of its government resources on developing new weapons and the army! By slowing down the arms race, the world will become safer because there won’t be the development of deadlier and deadlier weapons.

Disarmament Eventually, the Soviet Union and the U.S. signed various treaties that lowered the number of nuclear weapons each country had. For Example, START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) allowed the U.S. and the Soviet Union to deploy only 6,000 nuclear warheads, and 1,600 intercontinental ballistic missiles. This was more symbolic than really reducing the chances of a nuclear disaster. Would this really reduce the chances of a nuclear disaster?

Nuclear DISASTER No, reducing the number of warheads to 6,000 would no get rid of the threat of a nuclear disaster because even one warhead can cause enormous destruction! Think back to Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and those were far weaker bombs).

START Nonetheless, the treaty showed that both sides were serious about creating a lasting peace between the two countries.

Soviet union The government of the Soviet Union started to loosen up on its control over its citizens. Gorbachev started letting people speak out more, and even start their own businesses. How do you think the U.S. thought about the Soviet Union becoming more Capitalist?

Perestroika Perestroika means “restructuring.” Gorbachev started to “restructure” the Soviet Union by allowing people to begin to open private businesses (businesses not owned by the government but by the people). He brought many parts of a capitalist system into the Soviet Union. Do you think the old school communists were happy with these changes?

Glasnost Gorbachev also led the Soviet Union through Glasnost, the beginning of “openness” The government was required to not be secretive. The media was not censored as much. People were allowed to express themselves in writing, speech, and art.

Gorbachev All these reforms were huge changes in the Soviet Union. He became the Time “Man of the Year” in 1988

Communist Countries Communist countries in Eastern Europe started breaking away from communism. They slowly started to privatize their businesses and many became capitalist in the late 1980’s. The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

The map becomes more blue Iron curtain breaks! The map becomes more blue

Berlin wall falls Remember Berlin? The city was split in half. In 1989, Berlin was reunited when Eastern Berlin stopped being communist! Berlin was unified. What differences do you notice about the two sides of the Berlin Wall?

Celebrate good times come on! berlin wall falling! Celebrate good times come on!

The FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION After 44 years, the Soviet Union realized that communism was not working. The government and banks were were broke. Services were not being provided for Soviet citizens. People wanted a change! They led a coup! A new Russian government that was not Communist was elected! How do you think the U.S. felt?

Conclusion The U.S. won the Cold War! Capitalism defeated Communism The Soviet Union stopped Communism in 1989. The Iron Curtain in Europe disappeared