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Transcript
THE COLD WAR ENDS In the 1980s, new U.S. President Ronald Reagan helped win the Cold War against the Soviet Union President Reagan’s strong anti-communist policies and the collapse of communist economies brought the Cold War to an end by 1991 Reagan took a strong stand against the USSR, calling it “an evil empire” To restore America’s position as a dominant superpower, Reagan spent over TWO TRILLION DOLLARS on the American military Reagan’s most ambitious program was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), called “Star Wars”: satellites designed to protect the U.S. from missile attacks Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1982, at a time when the USSR was facing serious problems “The government pretends to pay us, and we pretend to work.” Communism did not offer incentives for hard work; by the 1980s, the USSR had low industrial and agricultural production The USSR spent 50% of its budget on the military: the arms race, fighting an expensive war in Afghanistan, and maintaining troops and tanks in Eastern Europe Soviet leaders faced the impossible task of competing with SDI and taking the arms race into space The Soviet government restricted freedom of speech and did not allow democratic elections, so no alternative opinions were offered Gorbachev recognized that communism was failing; he wanted to make reforms Gorbachev began three major reforms to save the communist system in the Soviet Union Gorbachev introduced glasnost (“openness”) to encourage freedom of speech and to allow expression of new ideas “Be Bold, Comrade! Openness Is Our Strength!” Perestroika relaxed some government controls over farms and factories to make production more efficient; it allowed citizens to open small businesses “Don't Be Afraid of Work.” Democratization allowed citizens to vote for Communist politicians (but Communists only) In addition to his economic reforms, Gorbachev changed Soviet foreign policy Reagan’s SDI plan forced Gorbachev to admit that the USSR could not afford to keep up with arms race Gorbachev withdrew Soviet tank divisions from the communist nations in Eastern Europe In 1989, Gorbachev ended the nine year war in Afghanistan Reagan was able to work with Gorbachev to reduce Cold War tensions Reagan visiting Moscow in 1988 In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to disarm all medium-range ICBMs Rather than saving the communist system in the USSR and Eastern Europe, Gorbachev’s reforms helped bring an end to communism In 1989, a surge of democratic revolution swept through the Eastern European communist satellites Eastern European nations broke from Soviet control and created democracies Gorbachev did not use the Soviet military to stop these revolutions In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down by celebrating East Berliners and West Berliners; this was the symbolic end of communism and the Cold War Ethnic nationalism and desire for democracy led to the break-up of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991 In 1990, the Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union In 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart and 15 new nations were formed The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the true end of the Cold War The Death of the Soviet Union WHAT CAUSED THE USSR TO BREAK UP AND COMMUNISM TO FALL? Reagan’s strong stand against the communism and outspending the USSR in the arms race they could not afford Gorbachev’s introduction of reforms made the flaws of communism as an economic system clear to the Russian people Gorbachev allowing Eastern European countries to have a taste of democracy and freedom made those countries want more; they broke free of the Soviets’ influence Revamped and redone by Christopher Jaskowiak Thanks to Brooks Baggett for several of the slides