The End of the Cold War

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The End of the Cold War

• Chapter 15
• Section 5

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Inferior Russian Economy

• The USSR emerged from WWII as a superpower
• Soviet Union controlled many E. European
  satellite countries
• For many people, the countrys superpower status
  brought few rewards and no increase in standard
  of living
• Consumer goods were inferior and workers were
  poorly paid
• Because workers had lifetime job security, there
  was little incentive to produce high-quality goods

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Technological Successes in the Soviet Union

• Still, there were some important technological
  successes
• One example was Sputnik I, the first artificial
  satellite, launched in 1957
• Keeping up with the United States in an arms race
  also strained and drained the Soviet economy
• Then, in 1979, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan
  and became involved in a long war similar to
  Vietnam
• The Soviets had few successes battling the
  mujahedin, or Muslim religious warriors, creating
  a crisis in morale in the USSR

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Sputnik I
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the
Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The
world's first artificial satellite was about the
size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds,
and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on
its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new
political, military, technological, and
scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch
was a single event, it marked the start of the
space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
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Afghanistan
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New Soviet Leadership

• A new Soviet leader named Mikhail Gorbachev
  emerged in 1985 who favored changes to the USSR
• Gorbachev urged economic and political reforms
  for the USSR
• He called for glasnost (openness) in Soviet
  society
• Gorbachev ended censorship and encouraged people
  to discuss the countrys problems openly
• Gorbachev also called for perestroika, or a
  restructuring of the government and the economy
• His policies fueled unrest across other countries
  in the Soviet empire

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Mikhail Gorbachev
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Unrest in Eastern Europe

• Eastern Europeans, thirsty for political and
  economic changes, demanded an end to Soviet rule
• Previous attempts to defy Soviet authority had
  failed
• Examples When Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia
  (1968) challenged communist rulers, the Soviets
  sent in military forces to crush the revolts

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Democracy Movement in Eastern Europe

• By the end of the 1980s, a powerful democracy
  movement was sweeping across Eastern Europe
• In Poland, Lech Walesa led Solidarity, an
  independent, unlawful labor union demanding
  economic and political changes
• When Gorbachev declared he would not interfere in
  Eastern European political and economic reforms,
  Solidarity was legalized
• A year later, Walesa was elected president of
  Poland

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Lech Walesa Leader of Solidarity Movement
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Fall of Eastern European Dictatorships

• Meanwhile, East German Communist leaders resisted
  reform, and thousands of East Germans fled to the
  west as the border between Hungary and Austria
  opened
• In Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel, a dissident
  writer, was elected president
• One by one, communist governments fell in Europe
• Most changes happened peacefully, but Romanian
  dictator Nicolae Ceausescu refused to step down
  and he was executed (Dec. 25, 1989)
• The Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and
  Estonia) regained independence after 50 years of
  Soviet control

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Nicolae CeausescuDictator of Romania
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Fall of the Berlin Wall

• President Ronald Reagan asked Mikhail Gorbachev
  to remove the Berlin Wall that separated West
  Berlin from East Berlin
• Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall - these
  were the famous televised words that Reagan said
  to Gorbachev, the leader of the former Soviet
  Union, in reference to the Berlin Wall that had
  divided residents of West Berlin from East Berlin
  since the wall was constructed in 1961

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Fall of the Berlin Wall

• The fall of the Berlin Wall happened nearly as
  suddenly as its rise. There had been signs that
  the Communist bloc was weakening, but the East
  German Communist leaders insisted that East
  Germany just needed a moderate change rather than
  a drastic revolution. East German citizens did
  not agree. As Communism began to falter in
  Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in 1988 and
  1989, new exodus points were opened to East
  Germans who wanted to flee to the West. Then
  suddenly, on the evening of November 9, 1989, an
  announcement made by East German government
  official Günter Schabowski stated, "Permanent
  relocations can be done through all border
  checkpoints between the GDR (East Germany) into
  the FRG (West Germany) or West Berlin."
• People were in shock. Were the borders really
  open? East Germans tentatively approached the
  border and indeed found that the border guards
  were letting people cross. Very quickly, the
  Berlin Wall was inundated with people from both
  sides. Some began chipping at the Berlin Wall
  with hammers and chisels. There was an impromptu
  huge celebration along the Berlin Wall, with
  people hugging, kissing, singing, cheering, and
  crying.
• The Berlin Wall was eventually chipped away, into
  smaller pieces (some the size of a coin and
  others in big slabs). The pieces have become
  collectibles and are stored in both homes and
  museums.
• After the Berlin Wall came down, East and West
  Germany reunified into a single German state on
  October 3, 1990.

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Berlin Wall Speech (June 12, 1987)

• Please watch President Reagans speech
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWjWDrTXMgF8

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Fall of Eastern European Dictatorships

• By the end of 1991, the remaining Soviet
  republics had all formed independent nations
• The Soviet Union ceased to exist after 69 years
  of communist rule
• In 1992, Czechoslovakia was divided into two
  separate countries Slovakia and the Czech
  Republic
• Additionally, some communist governments in Asia,
  such as China, instituted economic reforms only
  but no political reforms

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Fall of Eastern European Dictatorships

• North Korea is hardline communist with no
  political or economic reforms
• Vietnam implemented some economic reforms
• Cuba is still communist and has lost much
  economic support from the former Soviet Union

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Powerpoint Questions (16 points)

• 1. Why was the Soviet economy inferior? (provide
  examples)
• 2. What did the Soviet Union launch in 1957?
• 3. Who were the mujahedin?
• 4. What country did the Soviet Union invade in
  Afghanistan
• 5. Who became the new Soviet leader in 1985?
• 6. What does glasnost mean?
• 7. Explain perestroika.

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Powerpoint Questions (16 points)

• 8. What two countries challenged Soviet rule in
  the 1950s and 1960s? (2 points)
• 9. What was Solidarity? Who was its leader? (2
  points)
• 10. Who was the Romanian leader who refused to
  step down from power and who was ultimately
  executed?
• 11. What action did President Ronald Reagan
  demand from Soviet leader Gorbachev?
• 12. What happened to the Soviet Union by 1991?
• 13. Into what two countries was Czechoslovakia
  divided? (2 points)

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The End