1980s

Question 1

1980

Answer 1

• Jan - Soviets elected Karmal to head government in Afghanistan
• Jan - US ambassador from Moscow recalled
• Jan - Carter Doctrine - State of the Union Address
• April - failed Operation Eagle Claw
• Moscow Olympics boycotted by US
• Solidarity Labour Union formed led by Walesa
• By 1980 USSR couldn’t afford to be a superpower

Question 2

1981

Answer 2

• Iran-Contra affair
• Nov - Zero Option Failed
• Dec - Jaruzelski crushed Solidarity, forcing them underground

Question 3

1982

Answer 3

• START talks begin
• Nov - Andropov replaces Brezhnev

Question 4

1983

Answer 4

• 8 March - Evil Empire speech
• 23 March - Star Wars
• 1 Sept - KAL 007 shot down
• Oct - Reagan authorised occupation of Grenada
• Nov - Able Archer

Question 5

1984

Answer 5

• Jan - ‘Constructive Cooperation’ unveiled
• Feb - Chernenko replaced Andropov
• May - USSR boycotted Los Angles Olympics

Question 6

1985

Answer 6

• Jan - Reagan Doctrine, ‘defy soviet-supported aggression’
• March - Gorbachev replaced Chernenko
• Nov - Geneva Summit (R+G), broke the ice, no tangible agreements

Question 7

1986

Answer 7

• Solidarity re-emerged
• 26 April - Chernobyl
• Oct - Reykjavik Summit (R+G), G proposed zero zero option, SDI holdups, no outcomes, recognised mutual humanity

Question 8

1987

Answer 8

• By 1987 - Reagan’s defense spending cost $2 trillion
• Dec - Washington Summit (R+G), INF signed, G dropped demands over SDI to allow

Question 9

1988

Answer 9

• May-June - Moscow Summit (R+G), INF ratified, SDI disagreements, no longer ‘evil empire’
• Dec - New York, Fulton in Reverse, G addressed UN, announced withdrawal of Soviet troops from E europe
• Late 1988 - mass strikes by Solidarity

Question 10

1989

Answer 10

• Jan Bush President
• May - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia held Baltic Assembly in Tallin to discuss independence from USSR
• June - Democratic elections in Poland, Solidarity 100% of seats
• range of political parties formed in Hungary
• 19 Aug - Hungary opened boarders with Austria, hole in Iron Curtain, Antall new leader
• 23 Aug - Baltic Way, 2 million civilian chain, Molotov-Ribbentrov Pact commemoration
• 24 Aug - 1st non-communist gov in E Europe in Poland
• Oct - Sinatra Doctrine, new thinking, less soviet support to E Europe
• Oct - forced Honecker resignation in GDR, replaced with Krenz
• Nov - 1 mil protested in Berlin
• 9 Nov - Berlin Wall opened
• Nov - widespread demonstrations against Communism in Czechoslovakia, velvet revolution
• Dec - Havel became president of Czechoslovakia
• Dec - violent protests in Romania, 25 Dec Ceausescu executed
• Dec - Malta Summit (B+G), end of cold war

Question 11

1990

Answer 11

• Feb - Lithuania declared independence, 12 killed by soviet troops
• March - Estonia declared independence
• May - Latvia declared independence
• May-June - Washington Summit (B+G), further discussions of START
• Democratic elections in Romania, won by largely communist National Salvation Front
• 3 Oct - Germany reunited as a single country
• Dec - Walesa 1st President on united Poland

Question 12

1991