Cold War Finale Or is it?

Mulroney and international relations Prime Minister in 1984 Approach to international relations was the opposite of Trudeau Mulroney worked to forge closer links with the US and President Reagan (both held conservative values)

Star Wars In 1983 the US government proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative -a plan to create a defense shield, part of which would orbit the earth. Major protests in Canada -Star wars would provoke other nations to develop similar weapons

End of an Era Mid 1980s Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed massive cuts in the weapons of both superpowers The USSR could no longer afford the arms race and wanted to introduce democratic reforms

Perestroika and Glasnost Reconstruction and Openness A series of political, social, and economic reforms in the USSR that would help the communists countries run more efficiently and create better living conditions Encouraged people of East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania to ask the same

The Wall Came Down The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from undermining the socialist state, and preventing mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the government announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself.

To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

End of the Soviet Union Perestroika and Glasnost could not save the USSR from failing In 1991 the Soviet Union officially collapsed and the cold war was over Boris Yeltsin took over as leader of Russia while many soviet republics regained their independence

Communist China In May 1989, nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, protested for greater democracy and call for the resignations of repressive Chinese Communist Party leaders. For nearly three weeks, the protesters kept up daily vigils, and marched and chanted. Western reporters captured much of the drama for television and newspaper audiences in the United States and Europe

Tiananmen Square June 1989 On June 4, 1989 Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Some protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. At least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.