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 starter activity
Why did the Cold War
end?
Gorbachev and the end of Cold War
DISCUSSION: WHAT DO WE
THINK/NO AT THE MOMENT?
(specific events/themes)
Problems Facing the USSR in the
1980s
Afghanistan had become "Russia's Vietnam".
 Russia could not afford the arms race.
 The Soviet economy was backwards - factories and mines were decrepit
and out of date.
 Backward industry was causing increasing environmental problems - eg
pollution, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion of 1986, and the Aral
Sea dried up.
 Many people were much poorer than the poorest people in the capitalist
West - unrest about shortages was growing.
 Crime, alcoholism and drugs were out of control in Soviet towns.
 The Soviet system had become corrupt and out of date - instead of dealing
with problems, the government just covered them up (eg Chernobyl, 1986).
 Many people were dissatisfied with the Soviet police state and censorship
GENERALLY ARGUED THAT THE COLD WAR ENDED DUE TO
THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR – THIS IS LAREGLY ASCRIBED TO
INTERNAL EVENTS RATHER THAN AS A US ‘ACHIEVEMENT’

Key Events

1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to try to prop up the communist
government there, which was being attacked by Muslim Mujaheddin fighters. This
immediately caused a rift with America, which boycotted the 1980 Olympics.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan became president of the USA. As a strong anti-communist,
he called the Soviet Union the "evil empire" and increased spending on arms. The
US military developed the neutron bomb, cruise missiles and a Star Wars defence
system using space satellites.

By 1985, the Soviet Union was in trouble. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became
leader of the USSR.
How did Gorbachev improve
relations with the US?
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1985, Gorbachev & Reagan met at Geneva to discuss arms
reduction
1987, Gorbachev & Reagan signed Intermediate-range Nuclear
Forces treaty removing medium range nuc. weapons from
Europe
SALT developed into START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks)
What was so
significant about
the 1995
meeting?
How did Gorbachev reform the
USSR?
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Why were hard-line Communists
extremely critical of this book?
Identified key problems:
Communist bureaucracy; low
industrial output; high
inflation; social probs –
alcoholism; human rights
Perestroika – free market
economics
Glasnost – openness in govt
Political prisoners released
(e.g. Andrei Sakharov)
How did the Soviet
control of Eastern Europe
collapse?
 Your task
Find out why
& how
Communism
collapsed in
each of the
states
highlighted in
blue on this
map
Poland, 1989

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1989, Poland – free elections held for 1st time
since WWII
Lech Walesa elected president
1st non-Communist leader in Eastern Europe
since 1945
East Germany, 1989

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1000s fleeing every year by
1989
Demonstrations in E.
German cities during state
visit by Gorbachev
East Germany – Erich
Honecker’s troops refused to
shoot protestors
Honecker forced to agree to
reforms
Nov 1989, Berlin Wall pulled
down
What makes this one of the most powerful images
of the entire Cold War era?
Czechoslovakia, 1989

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24 November 1989, massive
anti-Communist demo in
Prague
Dubcek (former leader) &
Havel (playwright) rallied
support of crowds
December 1989, Communist
leader resigned & replaced by
Havel
1990, free elections held
Hungary, 1989
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Communist leader, Imre Pozgay accepted need
for reform
Ban on opposition parties lifted
Communist Party renamed Socialist Party
1990, free elections
Romania, 1989

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Coup
Communist dictator
Nicolae Ceauşescu &
wife Elena shot
Bulgaria, 1989

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November 1989 Communist leader resigned
1990 free elections
Baltic States, 1990

1990, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia declared
independence from USSR
USSR, 1991
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Communists criticised G. for
allowing collapse of USSR
Reformers wanted complete
abolition of Communism
Feb. 1990, anti-Communist
demo in Moscow
May Day 1990, G. booed
Mounting opposition to Communism
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1991, G. under house arrest by hard-line Communists
Boris Yeltsin, an advocate of market economy &
reform, gathered support from Russians to resist the
coup
Coup demonstrated the unpopularity of Communism
& popularity of reformers
Boris Yeltsin new Russian president
Boris Yeltsin
 Discussion
What is this 1992 US cartoonist trying to say about the political problems
facing America after the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe?