The End of the Cold War – Mikhail Gorbachev. Soviet leadership was in crisis Brezhnev died 1982...

The End of the The End of the Cold War – Cold War –

Mikhail Mikhail GorbachevGorbachev

• Soviet leadership was in crisis

• Brezhnev died 1982 (from 1964)• Yuri Andropov died 1984• Konstantin Chernenko died 1985

• Mikhail Gorbachev – only 54 in 1985 (youngest since Stalin)

WEAKNESSES IN THE WEAKNESSES IN THE SOVIET BLOCSOVIET BLOC

• West did not realise the USSR was on the edge of disaster

• Soviets spending too much money on the Arms Race & Afghanistan (25% GNP – USA was only 7%)

• Soviet industry was lazy & inefficient

• Communist Party = corrupt – selling materials on the black market rather than sharing it

• Quantity & quality was failing

• Detente – had left the USSR in huge debt to the West

• Soviet bloc – v. Polluted

• Aral sea had dried up – overuse of water for farmlands

• Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant – 1986 = disaster – deaths & radiation poisoning

• Standard of living was lower than the West

• Communist party officials lived in Luxury

• People were fed up – 1/5 of soldiers were alcoholics – people made jokes of the system.

NEW SOVIET POLICIESNEW SOVIET POLICIES• Gorbachev introduced:

1. Perestroika – restructuring• Changed economic policies to allow competition – also on

consumer demand – businesses had to pay for themselves through profit not Govt money

2. Glasnost – Openness• Ending corruption, no punishments for just disagreeing

with Govt – instead open debate

3. Cut back on global commitments

USA RESPONDSUSA RESPONDS• President Reagan relaxed his aggressive anti-

soviet stance

• Cut military spending as USSR had done before

• RR & Gorbachev met several times:• 1985 – Geneva – cut weapons by 50%• Dec 1987 – INF Treaty – dismantle all medium &

short range weapons

• 1989 – Gorbachev won noble peace prize • Dec 1989 – Gorbachev met George Bush (new

President) to announce the end of the cold War

Tear down this wallTear down this wall• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWDrTXMgF8

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0uTYAyiHqA

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO_ymlznJR0

THE COLLAPSE OF THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISMCOMMUNISM

• Many people imprisoned for disagreeing with the USSR were released

• People were allowed to buy & sell for profit – for the first time in 60 years (pre Stalin)

• Hard line Communists were horrified – said Gorbachev was stirring up trouble

• Once he allowed freedom of speech – the media & people openly said they wanted rid of Communism (esp. In Eastern Europe)

TROUBLE IN EASTERN TROUBLE IN EASTERN EUROPEEUROPE

• People = increasingly discontented

• March 1989 – Gorbachev told the Communist leaders, the Red Army would no longer protect them

• Other political parties were allowed to be formed

• The soviet Union disintegrated.

The Fall of the Soviet The Fall of the Soviet UnionUnion

• Using pages 132-33, create a flowchart explaining the fall of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev was widely respected in the West

for his willingness to reform and the fact

that his policies had ledto the break-up of Eastern Europe.

As a result, Gorbachev officially

announced thedissolution of theSoviet Union andhis resignation asPresident on 25 December 1991.

Leading members of thecommunist party believedGorbachev had severely weakened communism.

They organised a coup on 19 August 1991 which

removed him from power.

Gorbachev was away fromthe capital at the time

and was prevented fromreturning. The new gvt

declared a state ofemergency and aimed to restore the power of the

Soviet Union.

The new gvt lasted 3 days. Boris Yeltsin,

played a crucialrole in defeating

the coup. he called upon the people to resist the new regime.

21 Aug Gorbachevreturned and resumed

his position as Soviet leader, and announced it was his goal to save

communism. But the coup had damaged

his authority.

Gorbachev’s finalattempt to save

the Soviet Union was a new constitution which gave Soviet republics greater independence.

However the leaders of these countries did

not accept as theywanted full

independence.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut5t3hWyAwQ• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnYXbJ_bcLc• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=zmRPP2WXX0U&feature=related

THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNIONTHE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION• 1990 – 3 Baltic states declared independence from the

USSR – Latvia, Lithuania & Estonia.

• To many Russians it seemed Gorbachev had done little to prevent the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

• Feb 1990 – 250,000 people campaigned against Communism

• May Day parade – Gorbachev was booed

• August 1991 hard line communists led a coup against Gorbachev

• Imprisoned him in his home in Dacha

• It seemed as if the USSR was going to return to the bad old days

• Boris Yeltsin – the new President of the Russian Republic – led a demonstration against the coup

• He was seen as a hero

• He went on to disband the Soviet Communist Party

• He formally ended the USSR in December 1991

• Gorbachev resigned as Soviet President - and the red flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time