The End of the Cold War

Reagan’s Cold War policy  Reagan built up both convention armed forces and the U.S. nuclear arsenal  1983 – announced the Strategic Defense Initiative  Invasion of Grenada in 1983 to remove a revolutionary government  Direct military involvement in the Middle East  Aid to Latin Americans resisting communism  INF Treaty (1987) reduced numbers of missiles in Europe

The Iran-Contra Affair  The Reagan administration secretly supported Nicaraguan Contras using profits from arms sales to Iran.  These actions were in violation of an arms embargo and American laws about international intervention.

Foreign Policy under George H.W. Bush  START I treaty (1991) called for dramatic reductions in U.S. and Soviet stockpiles of long-range nuclear weapons  Failure to react to Tiananmen Square massacre brought criticism from human rights activists  Operation Just Cause (1989) – Invasion of Panama to remove Manuel Noriega  Operation Desert Storm (1990) – U.S.-led UN forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqi control

The Collapse of Soviet Control  Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev encouraged policies of glasnost and perestroika in Eastern bloc nations.  In Poland, free elections replaced Communist rule with Solidarity, a labor alliance.  November 9, 1989 – East Germany began allowing travel to and from West Germany, and the wall came down.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union  A failed coup in August 1991 prompted the republics to seek independence.  Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991 – and on January 1, 1992 the USSR ceased to exist.