Year 8 The Cold War Truman Ho Chi Minh Stalin Castro and Khrushchev John F Kennedy Gorbachev Berlin wall
2 Key people Stalin Leader of the USSR 1928-1953 Truman President of the USA 1945-1953 Khrushchev Leader of the USSR 1953-1964 Eisenhower President of the USA 1953-1961 Castro Communist leader of Cuba 1959-2011 Kennedy President of the USA 196 Ho Chi Minh Leader of North Vietnam 1954 1965 and leader of the Vietcong. Johnson President of the USA 1963-1969 Nixon President of the USA 1969-1974 Gorbachev Leader of the USSR 1985-1991 Reagan President of the USA 1981-1989
USSR/SU Cold War Iron Curtain Containment policy Truman Doctrine Marshall plan NATO Warsaw Pact Arms Race Peaceful Coexistence Domino theory Guerrilla war Vietcong Vietnamisation 3 Key terms Union of Soviet Socialists Republics / Soviet Union 1945 1989 when the world was divided between capitalist countries and communist countries. The division between West (capitalist) and East (communist) Europe. The USA policy of prevent communism spreading. The ideas of president Truman. It includes the Containment policy and the Marshall plan. Financial plan set up by the USA to rebuild Europe and prevent communism spreading. Military organisation under leadership of the USA set up in 1949. Canada and many west European countries joined and agreed on defending each other if one of them was attacked. Set up in 1955 by Stalin as a reply to NATO when West Germany joined NATO in 1955. The SU was the leading power and communist states in East Europe joined. Agreement was similar to NATO. Competition between the USA and the USSR in regards to who would have the most and the most powerful (nuclear) weapons. The idea that communism and capitalism could peacefully exist together as different systems. The USA idea that countries might fall like domino bricks for communism if neighbouring countries turned communist. A type of war that avoids large battles and relies on hit-and-run tactics instead. Communist group in South Vietnam fighting the USA and the corrupt government of South Vietnam. Training of the Vietnamese troops by the USA to take over the Vietnam war in order to get US troops back home. Glasnost openness policy by Gorbachev in which he reduced the control over media. Perestroika reform/restructuring policy by Gorbachev in which he introduced economic reforms
4 Key events 1945 February Yalta Conference. 8 th May VE day. July/August Potsdam Conference. August WW2 ends in South East Asia too. 1947 Truman doctrine is introduced. 1948 June, start of the Berlin Blockade. 1949 May, end of the Berlin Blockade. NATO is set up. Germany and Berlin are officially split up into 2 zones. 1953 Stalin, the leader of the USSR, dies, Khrushchev takes over. 1954 French out of Vietnam. Vietnam split in Communist North and Capitalist South. 1955 Warsaw Pact is set up. 1959 Cuban Revolution 1961 Bay of Pigs. Berlin Wall built. 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. 1965 First US troops to Vietnam begin of the Vietnam war. 1968 Tet Offensive. 1973 Last US troops out of Vietnam end of the Vietnam war 1975 South Vietnam becomes Communist. 1982 Star Wars (SDI) is set up by president Reagan increases tension in the Cold War. 1985 Gorbachev leader of the USSR beginning of change. 1987 USA and USSR sign the INF Treaty reduction and limiting of nuclear weapons by both super powers. 1989 Fall of communism in Eastern European countries. Berlin Wall falls as does the Iron Curtain. 1991 Collapse of the USSR.
5 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COMMUNISM (EAST) AND CAPITALISM (WEST) EAST Go vernment A one - party state. Only the Communist Party is allowed. In theory, the country is run by elected councils called Soviets. But as most members of the Soviets are Communists, the country is realty run by the Party. WEST A democratic state. Many part i es are allowed to stand in elections. The leader of the party w h i ch wins an election becomes the head o f the governmen t. :. \ : Human rights Strict limits on many human and civil rights e.g. limits on free speech, travel, worship etc. Dissidents ( i.e. people who try to break those limits) risk imprisonment. Fewer limits on human and civil rights than in the East, and some rights are guaranteed by' law. ( But until the 1960s many rights were denied to black Americans. ) Social Average living standards lowe r than in thewest. Wealth more evenly distributed, so fewer people are either rich or poor. Econom ic Cultur e A government - run economy : factories, farms, mines, shops, etc. are publicly owned. Profits are used for the public good. oonpabqa ANOTHER GREA"t:" SUCCESS FOR OUR LEADER! The media arc owned and run by the government. Newspapers, books, radio, films, TV arc strictly censored. A free - market economy : farms, factories, min e s, shops, etc. are privately owned. Profits go t o the company. The media are owned by private companie s and individuals. Newspapers, books, radio, TV and films are rarely censored.
6 COLD WAR BEGINNINGS 1945 The Alliance of Britain, Russia and the USA are winning World War Two. The USA and Britain are advancing from the west with Russia advancing from the east. They have encircled Nazi Germany and are closing in fast. February 1945 The big 3 meet at Yalta. The leaders are Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt. They agree to:- Divide Germany into 4 zones Divide Berlin into 4 sectors Free elections in Poland Form a United Nations Investigate reparations for Germany May 1945 The USSR end the war by reaching Berlin first and placing their flag on the Reichstag. July/August 1945 the big 3 meet at Potsdam. The leaders are Truman, Stalin and Atlee. Stalin now wants Eastern Europe to be in the USSR s sphere of influence. They agree to:- Establish the 4 zones in Germany Set reparations Establish the border of Poland near the River Oder Bring Nazi war criminals to trial. They argue about Eastern Europe, the atomic bomb and how much reparations Germany should pay. The USA was worried that communism would spread all over Europe and possibly the rest of the world..they called this the Domino theory. President Truman makes a speech to Congress called the Truman Doctrine. In the speech he warns of the need to support Europe financially in order to prevent freedom being lost in the form of Communism. The Doctrine has two main ideas:- Containment The idea that from 1947 the USA would fight to prevent Communism spreading. The Marshall plan an aid programme of $17bln is available to rebuild Europe after the war. This would also be useful as the USA would be able to trade with Europe again if it had recovered. The USSR saw the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan as a way in which the USA tried to control Europe. Stalin forbade the Easter European countries to apply for Marshall Aid. 1948 COLD WAR CRISIS BERLIN In June 1948 Stalin decided to block Berlin to prevent the USA, Britain and France supplying West Berlin. Why did he do this? 1) The USSR were angry that the USA introduced a new strong currency to Berlin called the Deutschmark. It made the Soviet Ostmark worthless. 2) 3,500 skilled workers were leaving the Soviet sector of Berlin to work in the west. 3) The Communists wanted to test USA, Britain and France and gain control of the council of the whole of Berlin. 4) The USSR were upset at the way Marshall Plan money was making Germany strong. The USSR wanted to keep Germany weak to allow for Communism to thrive. May 1949 The Berlin Blockade fails. Because the US/British provide the city with supplies through the air for 11 months.
7 THE IRON CURTAIN are shown in green. Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe. Communist countries In 1946 Winston Churchill made a speech in the USA. He said: Twenty million Russians died during the Second World War, so Stalin said he wanted a buffer zone of friendly states around Russia to make sure that Russia could never be invaded again. Stalin was planning the takeover of Eastern Europe. During the war, Communists from the occupied countries of Eastern Europe escaped to Moscow and set up Communist governments in exile there. As the Red Army drove the Nazis back, it occupied large areas of Eastern Europe and Churchill agreed that Eastern Europe could be a Soviet "sphere of influence". In the countries that the Red Army "liberated", communist-dominated governments took power. The Communists made sure that they controlled the army, set up a secret police force, and began to arrest their opponents. Non-Communists were gradually beaten, murdered, executed and terrified out of power. By 1949, all the governments of Eastern Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard line Communist regimes. In 1946, in a speech at Fulton in the USA, Churchill declared that an Iron Curtain had come down across Europe, and that Soviet power was growing and had to be stopped. Stalin called Churchill's speech a "declaration of war". In 1947, Stalin set up Comintern - an alliance of Communist countries designed to make sure they obeyed Soviet rule. A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory... An iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe. The Communist parties, which are very small. have been raised to power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain democratic control... This is not the liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials for permanent peace. The Iron Curtain remained in place for the next 45 years. What was it? It was a line of watchtowers and barbed wire fences. Travel across the Iron Curtain was almost impossible for people wanting to go from East to West.
8 THE COLD WAR IN THE 1950 s Consequences of the Berlin Blockade: C Cold War got worse E East and West Germany were now split permanently. N NATO and the Warsaw pact were formed as two opposing military alliances. A Arms Race got serious! Stalin has no bargaining power since he does not possess an atomic bomb. The USA do have them. After the Berlin Blockade the USSR developed an atomic bomb. In 1953, Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev became the Soviet leader. He was a jolly man, who said to prevent the most destructive war in history, there needed to be "peaceful co-existence" between the superpowers. He said Stalin was a terrible tyrant and he wanted to "de- Stalinise" Eastern Europe getting rid of the most extreme policies that existed under Stalin s leadership. Everyone hoped that it would improve East-West relations. It did not. In fact, the period 1953-1964 was a time of great danger in the Cold War. Why did 'peaceful co-existence' not work? 1. Khrushchev's statement that he wanted to "de-stalinise" Eastern Europe led to anti-soviet rebellions in 1956 in Poland and Hungary, and Khrushchev sent in Russian troops to re-establish Soviet control with force. Many people got killed and imprisoned. 2. Russia and America waged an arms race, developing nuclear weapons. 3. Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955 to rival NATO. America responded by increasing the number of NATO troops in Germany. 4. Russia and America competed in every way possible - eg in sport, and in the space race. Russia launched the first satellite - Sputnik - in 1957, and sent the first man into orbit - Yuri Gagarin - in 1961. President Kennedy promised to put a man on the moon by 1969. This was not just a propaganda war, it was a clash of ideologies as both sides tried to prove that their way was best. 5. Both sides spied on each other. The Americans also used U2 spy planes to spy on Russia. 1959 Khrushchev is on holiday near the Black Sea when he notices US nuclear missiles on the opposite shore pointing at the USSR. The missiles are on NATO bases in Turkey. Khrushchev realises that he will never be able to balance the arms race unless he can get USSR missiles closer to the USA. His problem was that there were no Communist countries in North or South America at this time.
9 The Berlin Wall By the 1960s Berlin was still divided - the USSR controlled the East and the USA guaranteed freedom in the West. Thousands of refugees escaped to West Berlin each day - much to the embarrassment of the USSR - so in 1961 Khrushchev closed the border and ordered the construction of a wall to stop people leaving. West Berlin was a worry and an embarrassment for the Soviet Union in 1961: Nearly 2,000 refugees a day were fleeing to the West through west Berlin - hardly proof of the Soviet claim that the Communist way of life was better than capitalism! Many of those leaving were skilled and qualified workers. The Soviets believed (rightly) that West Berlin was a centre for US espionage. During a meeting in Vienna in June 1961, therefore, Khrushchev demanded that the US leave West Berlin within six months. Kennedy refused and instead guaranteed West Berlin's freedom. On 13 August, Khrushchev closed the border between East and West Berlin and started building the Berlin Wall. All crossings from East to West were sealed, except one: Checkpoint Charlie. In official announcements, Khrushchev claimed the wall was being built to protect East Berlin and East Germany from US spies and agents. However, this was a way of diverting attention away from his main reason: to stop the flow of people leaving East Germany. But, Khrushchev was not willing to risk war, at this point he was behind the USA in the Arms Race. At first, the Russians regarded it as a propaganda success, but as time went on, it became a propaganda disaster - a symbol of all that was bad about Soviet rule. In 1963, President Kennedy visited West Berlin and made his famous 'I am a Berliner' speech next to the Berlin Wall: There are many people in the world who really don't understand what is the great issue between the free world and the communist world - let them come to Berlin! There are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the communists - let them come to Berlin! All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ['I am a Berliner']. President Kennedy, 1963 Consequences Khrushchev ordered the East German leader to avoid any action that would increase tension. Kennedy said It s not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war. The wall became a symbol of division between the Communist East and the Democratic West.
Cuban Revolution In May 1959 Fidel Castro leads a Communist revolution in the Cuban capital, Havana. He replaces Batista. He was supported by the USA because he was anti communist. He was however corrupt and not popular amongst the Cubans. Many Cubans fleeing Cuba for Florida, USA. These people become known as the Cuban exiles. These exiles hope that the USA will try get rid of Castro. President Eisenhower tells the CIA to investigate ways to overthrow Castro. The USA stops trading with Cuba but Castro meets Khrushchev and they agree a trade deal to swap Cuban sugar and tobacco for farm machinery and military equipment. 10 The Cuban Missile Crisis Bay of Pigs invasion In April 1961 the new US President Kennedy orders the Cuban exiles to attack the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The aim of the mission is to remove Castro from power. The attack is a disaster with the exiles being defeated very easily. Some of the reasons: 1) The exiles were outnumbered 1,700 to 200,000. 2) The exiles were inexperienced and poorly trained. 3) Castro heard about the invasion beforehand and was well prepared. The result of the Bay of Pigs: Kennedy lost prestige with the CIA. Castro agreed to allow the USSR to place missiles on Cuba - within 90 miles of Florida. Remember page 8? Check again! Why did the USSR place missiles on Cuba? 1) To test JFK he looked weak over the Bay of Pigs. 2) To make the arms race more equal by cutting down missile detonation time to US cities. 3) To support Communist Cuba. 4) To provide Castro with better security after the Bay of Pigs affair. Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 14 Oct Kennedy is handed U2 spy plane pictures which show the presence of nuclear missile bases on Cuba. They are 10 days from completion. Further pictures show USSR ships heading for Cuba with missiles on board. 16 Oct Kennedy forms EX-COM (a group of chief advisers to discuss the problem). The main ideas at this stage revolve around bombing and invading Cuba. Eventually they decide on a blockade of Cuba using US warships. 22 Oct Kennedy appears on US television to announce the crisis. He offers the USSR the chance to negotiate whilst threatening to use full retaliatory power if they attack the blockade line. Khrushchev denies the existence of the bases. 24 Oct The USSR ships slow down or stop. It is the first sign that the USSR might back down. Dean Rusk, Secretary for State, makes the famous quote, We re eyeball to eyeball and the other guy just blinked. 25 Oct No word from the USSR. The public are expecting a nuclear war and begin to panic buy food. 26 Oct Khrushchev makes contact to negotiate a solution with Robert Kennedy, John s brother. 27 Oct The deal is nearly wrecked when a US U2 spy plane is shot down over Cuba. 28 Oct The crisis is declared over when the USSR and USA sign a deal. THE DEAL TO END THE CUBAN CRISIS:- The USSR promised to dismantle nuclear bases on Cuba. The USA promised to remove missile bases from Turkey and to not attack Cuba. IMPORTANT Remember that the US part of the bargain was kept secret.. The consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis were:- 1) The USA and USSR set up a telephone hot line to ensure that they could speak about any crisis before it developed. 2) In 1963 they agreed the nuclear test ban treaty. 3) Relations between the USA and USSR now improved. There was a determination never to get that close to war again. 4) In 1964 Khrushchev retired from his position as Soviet leader. He emerged as the loser from the crisis.
11 THE CAUSES OF THE VIETNAM WAR Vietnam used to be a French colony although the French leaders were often corrupt and unpopular. The country had Catholic leaders in a Buddhist country. In 1949, the same year of the Berlin Blockade ending, China became Communist. In 1953 North Korea became Communist. The USA now feared that the domino effect was taking hold in Asia. With their containment policy they needed to stop it. During WW2 the Japanese invaded most of South-East Asia. Ho Chi Minh created a fighting force to remove the Japanese. He called this the Vietminh. They drove out the Japanese at the end of WW2. Ho Chi Minh was a communist. After the war Ho Chi Minh was disappointed to see the return of the French. Nothing changed and the peasant farmers became weaker and poorer as the corrupt government thrived. Ho Chi Minh s Vietminh declared war and between 1946 and 1954 fought the French. In 1954 the French were defeated. They surrendered at DIEN BIEN PHU. 1954 THE GENEVA CONFERENCE With the French defeated the major powers of the World met in Geneva to discuss South East Asia. At the Geneva Conference it was agreed that Vietnam would be split. The North would be led by Ho Chi Minh and would be run in a Communist way. The South would be led by Ngo Diem and would be Capitalist. The USA agreed voluntarily to fund and support Diem (who was very corrupt and not popular) President Eisenhower of the USA was happy 1958 THE VIETNAM WAR STARTS. One of the agreements at Geneva was that elections would be held in the South. In 1958 Eisenhower banned elections as he was worried that the Communists would win. This infuriated HO CHI MINH and the North Vietnamese forces invaded the South. The Vietminh had now become the VIETCONG. The VIETCONG were supplied by China and the USSR. They had built underground tunnels to get the supplies to South Vietnam. It was called the Ho Chi Minh trail.
12 The Vietnam War Part 1 (to 1968) Why did the US get involved in Vietnam? 1) CONTAINMENT policy and Domino theory US policy since 1947 to stop Communism spreading. 2) GENEVA CONFERENCE in 1954 The US started to support the South Vietnamese government. Remember that Eisenhower banned elections. 3) DIEM His death left a power vacuum in which it was likely that Vietnam would become Communist quickly. The US wanted to prevent this from happening. 4) TONKIN RESOLUTION The attack on the Maddox and the solution offered by Congress in 1965. 1963 Both Kennedy and Diem are murdered. Diem is killed by his own troops. The VietCong are now taking an increasing control of South Vietnamese villages. 1964 It is estimated that 65% of South Vietnamese villages are controlled by the VC at this stage. President Johnson needs an excuse to get into the war. He places the US destroyer, the USS Maddox, in the Gulf of Tonkin provoking the North Vietnamese navy. It works as they are attacked. Johnson approaches Congress to ask for the necessary measures to react to the situation. This is called the TONKIN RESOLUTION. It is passed 504-2. The USA can now send troops to Vietnam. 1965 The first 3,500 troops arrive in March. The troops are drafted by the government. The average age of the US soldier was 19. Operation Rolling Thunder starts with the US bombing North Vietnamese ports. THE VIETCONG GO GUERRILLA Guerrilla warfare involved secret attacks and ambushes. When the enemy slept or retreated the VC attacked. If the US attacked the VC went into hiding in the Ho Chi Minh trail tunnels. Remember that China and the USSR were still supplying the VC and North Vietnamese army with the weapons to fight the war. From 1965 onwards the US used two main attack strategies. SEARCH and DESTROY was the thorough search of a South Vietnamese village by the US marines. They arrived in helicopters, machine gunning the landing area as they landed, before searching villages. After the search the village houses, possessions and animals were destroyed by fire. The idea was that the VC would not be able to live off the land. The South Vietnamese peasants were angry by this policy and many started to support the VC rather than the USA. From 1965 onwards the US used napalm and Agent Orange in increasing amounts. They were designed to burn the jungle to reveal the Ho Chi Minh trail and to wear the VC down. Again it resulted in the loss of support of the USA by the locals. Kim Phuc, a 9 year old South Vietnamese girl, was photographed by the US burning as she escaped a napalm attack in her village. That image and other news about atrocities committed by the US troops, started the process of changing US public attitudes towards the war. 1968 THE TET OFFENSIVE In January 1968 there was supposed to be a ceasefire during the Chinese New Year (called Tet). The VC used this to launch a surprise attack on 7 major cities in South Vietnam hoping to win the war. The offensive even reached Saigon where the US media (ABC and NBC) were. Suddenly film footage of the fighting and the views of soldiers were shown on US television. The Tet Offensive failed as the VC did not make the breakthrough to win the war. However, it changed public opinion and turned Vietnam into a MEDIA WAR. A turning point had been reached. The USA realised it couldn t win this war unless it would invest more men and material; something most people were not willing to do.
1969 President Nixon becomes the 4th President to tackle the problem of Vietnam. Nixon introduces VIETNAMISATION. The idea is that South Vietnamese troops will be trained to fight the Vietnam war with funding and weapons from the USA. At intervals, a few thousand US troops will be brought home at a time. Nixon starts peace talks in Paris with North Vietnam., but they fail. Nixon starts bombing Laos and Cambodia. The bombing of Laos and Cambodia will lead to those governments eventually choosing to become Communist. 13 VIETNAM WAR PART 2 (To 1969-1974) 1973 The USA finally pull out of Vietnam after agreeing peace terms with the North Vietnamese army. At this point Saigon was about to come under the control of the VC forces. Despite this Nixon declares that the Vietnam was has been a huge success. Many returning US soldiers are disrespected by the US public. In April 1975 Saigon falls and all of Vietnam becomes Communist. The Peace movement Even before the Tet offensive many people in the US didn t support the war in Vietnam, that number grew after Tet. Reasons for protests: Costs: the US spent $500.000 to kill 1 enemy soldier and just $53 a year to help the poor. Many thought that was wrong. Social inequality: White, rich young men managed to avoid joining the army whilst poor, black men couldn t. It showed very clearly that there was no equality between black and white Americans. Many musicians protested via their music. For example in 1970 John Lennon reaches number 1 in the charts with Give Peace A Chance. The protest movement gathers pace. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sing in 1970 in their song Ohio about the event at Kent State University where the National Guard killed 4 students protesting against the Vietnam War. These killings damage the image of the government. Edwin Starr s, War (1970) got straight to the point: War, What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Creedence Clearwater Revival sang Fortunate Son (1969). The lead singer said he was prompted to write Fortunate Son after seeing news coverage of the wedding of David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon (both children of US presidents) He wanted to protest the fact that not everyone would bear the burden of the war: Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand. Which refers to the social inequality in the US. Many protest songs against the Vietnam war have been made. Some even after the end of the war, such like Billy Joel s song Goodnight Saigon in 1982. VIETNAM WAR: THE CONSEQUENCES FOR USA 1) They were defeated and Containment had failed for the first time since 1947. 2) 74,000 US troops were killed and many returned with psychological issues stemming from the war. 3) Many US soldiers that handled Agent Orange later contracted cancer. 4) The US public had a long period of reflection about their position in the world. Many wanted to thaw the Cold War and that certainly started to happen in the 1970 s. FOR VIETNAM 1) 1 million civilians of North Vietnam were killed and 600,000 of South Vietnam were killed. 2) Many South Vietnamese fled abroad in hand crafted rafts when Saigon fell. These people were called BOAT PEOPLE and they settled in countries all over the world, including Europe. 3) Napalm and Agent Orange caused huge famines in Vietnam for many years after the war. 4) The Vietnam war increased the great poverty that peasants lived in.
14 The end of the Cold War The decline of Communism was not a result of American policies and the Cold War, but more to do with the problems faced by the USSR at home and abroad In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to try to prop up the communist government there, which was being attacked by Muslim Mujahidin fighters. This immediately caused a rift with America, which boycotted the 1980 Olympics. President Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as the 'evil empire' 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. Gorbachev passionately believed in Communism and that it could work. He believed that a reformed Communist style of government could give people pride and belief in their country. Gorbachev was also aware that the standard of living in the West was significantly better than in the USSR. This was humiliating because Communism was meant to make life for the people of the USSR better. He began to reform the Soviet system by allowing perestroika and glasnost. 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 worn out and out of date. Backward industry was causing increasing environmental problems eg pollution. An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 caused huge environmental and health problems, and the Aral Sea dried as result of poor farming policies which created more problems for farmers. 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. He withdrew from Afghanistan. He realised that the USSR could not afford the arms race, he began talks with the US President Ronal Reagan. He opened the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) with the USA. They signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 1987 in which they agreed to reduce and limit their nuclear weapons. As in 1956 a relaxation by the Soviet government encouraged revolutions in Eastern Europe only this time, the USSR did not have the means or the will to impose military control. More about this on the next page.
15 The collapse of the Soviet Union Gorbachev s new thinking In 1985 Gorbachev called the leaders of the Warsaw Pact together. He said he no longer wanted the SU to intervene in the affairs of other communist countries. In 1988 he went a bit further and announced he wanted to withdraw large numbers of Soviet troops, tanks and aircraft from other Communist states. Finally, in 1989 he made it clear that he would not support the regimes of the Warsaw Pact members with the Soviet army, and they would have to listen to their own people. Consequences of new thinking in Eastern Europe May 1989: Hungarians begin dismantling the barbed-wire fence between Hungary and non-communist Austria. June 1989 In Poland, free elections are held for the first time since the Second World War. Eastern Europe gets its first non-communist leader! September 1989 Thousands of East Germans on holiday in Hungary and Czechoslovakia refuse to go home. They escape through Austria into West Germany. October 1989 There are enormous demonstrations in East German cities when Gorbachev visits the country. He tells the East German leader Erich Honecker to reform. Honecker orders troops to fire on the protestors but they refuse. November 1989 East Germans march in their thousands to the checkpoints at the Berlin Wall. The guards throw down their weapons and join the crowds. The Berlin Wall is dismantled. November, 1989 The Czech government opens its borders with the West, and allows the formation of other parties. December 1989 In Romania there is a short but very bloody revolution that ends with the execution of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. March 1990 Latvia is the first USSR republic declaring itself independent from the USSR. The collapse of the USSR October 1990 The Berlin Wall had been torn down and East and West Germany were reunited. The new Germany was even allowed to become part of NATO. 1990-1991 Many of the republics in the USSR demanded independence. Gorbachev did not want to break up the USSR, but in the end he had little choice. August 1991 A group of hard-line Communists called the Gang of Eight tried to overthrow Gorbachev as they believed he was threatening Communism, but failed. December 25 th 1991 Gorbachev survived the coup, but his authority was weakened. In a televised speech, he announced his resignation and the end of the Soviet Union
16 Thinking Questions 1. Why was there a Cold War? 2. Who was to blame for the Cold War? 3. Why did the USSR build the Berlin Wall? 4. Who won the Cuban Missile Crisis? 5. Why did the USA get involved in Vietnam 6. What were the main reasons for the USA loosing the Vietnam war? 7. How did people in the USA respond to the Vietnam war? 8. Who won the Cold War why? 9. Who helped to end the Cold War more Reagan or Gorbachev? 10. Why did the USSR collapse?