1. Proxy Wars - a war instigated by a major power which does not itself become involved.
(1950 – 1953)
Vietnam War (1955 – 1975)

2. Space Race
Founded in 1958

3. Espionage

4. Cuban Missile Crisis
90 miles
American Missiles (1959)
A 13-day standoff that was diplomatically resolved when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba if the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba – a recently communist leaning country under Fidel Castro
Secretly, the U.S. also agreed to remove their missiles from Turkey
Soviet Missiles (1962)

5. Goodbye to Stalin Stalin died of a stroke in 1953
 Nikita Khrushchev, one of few in Stalin’s close circle rose to power soon thereafter.
While Khrushchev was loyal to Stalin, he made major changes to loosen repressive Soviet policies once he took power, including:
Raising living conditions
Freeing political prisoners
Loosening artistic censorship
Closing the Gulag labor camps
**He criticized Stalin’s practice of arresting and deporting or eliminating opponents 

6. Freedom of expression and information were expanded
Gorbachev acquiesced to the breaking away of communist satellite countries (soviet bloc/buffer zone) as they one-by-one elected democratic forms of government. After agreeing to the reunification of East and West Germany, Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for achievements in international affairs.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Was the last soviet leader (1985 – 1991)
His goal was to democratize Soviet Russia
Under his leadership, two major policy changes were made,
GLASNOST “openness”
Freedom of expression and information were expanded
The press was allowed candor in their reporting and criticism
Stalinist rule was repudiated
PERESTROIKA “restructuring”
Policy of democratization
Multicandidate contests with secret ballots (voting)
Some limited free-market models were being tried
Gorbachev also started the process with the U.S. of de-nuclearizing.
The free-market, or privatizing the economy met with resistance from bureaucrats who were reluctant to relinquish their power over a centralized, government run economy.

7. THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

8. POLICY CHANGES UNDER YELTSIN
Boris Yeltsin
POLICY CHANGES UNDER YELTSIN
Freedom of the Press
Right to openly criticize the government
Allow for western popular culture to influence Russian traditional culture
Continued nuclear-arms reduction
President of Russia (1991 – 1999)
He believed in Democracy and a free market
Yeltsin played a large part in the collapse of the Soviet Union
Coup against Gorbachev
After Yeltsin renounced his Communist membership, he began demanding that Gorbachev step down.
Recent civil unrest in the constituent republics led to Gorbachev clamping down and using military force to control the situation
These republics were fighting for their independence and Gorbachev was fighting to keep the Soviet Republic united
CRITICISM-
Boris Yeltsin underwent impeachment proceedings – twice
The break from communist leadership was not without resistance and now that policies gave voice to the people and a parliament, they used it
THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION