24) The Ending of Cold War Tensions

Question 1

when did arms negotiations resume under Bush

Answer 1

September 1989
Gorbachev was loosing control in Eastern Europe and thus his ability to negotiate with the US from a position of power was diminishing
Nevertheless they continued talks with the hopes of finalising START

Question 2

Malta Summit

Answer 2

December 1989
Discussed: a closer economic relationship, that G would not use force in eastern Europe, that Bush would not intervene in Germany OR the Baltic states, the rapid change in Europe

Question 3

outcomes of Malta

Answer 3

kind of marked the end of the Cold War
paved the way for more treaties such as START and the CFR treaty
G agreed to end the superiority in military capability held by the USSR in Europe

Question 4

Criticism faced by Gorbachev

Answer 4

hard line communists criticised his capitalist approach to communism, the USSR was slowly moving away from a state controlled economy to a market driven one

Question 5

CFE treaty

Answer 5

November 1990
conventional forces in Europe
Warsaw and NATO member pledge to limit their forces in Europe

Question 6

when was the Warsaw pact disbanded

Answer 6

July 1991

Question 7

START treaty

Answer 7

July 1991
agreed to fix the US and Soviet nuclear launchers at 16,000 and warheads at 6000
the US reduced its bomb stock from 12 to 9 thousand while the USSR decreased from 11 to 7 thousand

Question 8

Tiananmen Square

Answer 8

April-June 1989
protests against the government, led by Deng
Gorbachev arrived in China during one of these and the dissidents cheered on the Kremlin leader
banners read ‘in the Soviet Union they have Gorbachev, in China we have whom?’
Deng did not like this and in June he ordered a brutal crackdown from the army, not certain how many people were killed but estimations at 10,000 people

Question 9

why did many States within the Soviet union want independence

Answer 9

-Baltic states were ‘given’ to the USSR in the 1939 Soviet-Nazi pact
-Never chose to be part of the USSR
-Soviet union was made up from 15 republics, multi-ethnic and multilingual state, it was held together by the sheer force and power of the communist party
-Gorbachev’s reforms resulted in the diminishing of the communist parties power, thus nationalist feelings and problems, that were previously suppressed, began to erupt throughout the soviet union

Question 10

Gorbachev’s reforms in 1990

Answer 10

-demonstrations in February in Moscow, end of communist party monopoly of power
-multiparty rule introduced
-reduction of party membership to the Central committee
-role of president

Question 11

actions in Lithuania

Answer 11

March 1990
declared independence
elected president
Gorbachev thought it was bad ‘illegitimate and invalid’
Bush wanted to see the Baltic state free however would not compromise world stability

Question 12

Baltic State independence

Answer 12

Estonia- vote in March 1990
Latvia- in May
Ukraine- July

in Jan 1991, G tried to regain control by sending troops to Lithuania and Latvia, resulted in the death of 12 in Lithuanian capital and only made the Soviets more unpopular

Question 13

Soviet reaction to the Lithuania

Answer 13

trade embargo from April 1990- Jan 1991
cuts off 84% of natural gas supplies
US considers but rejects placing economic sanctions on Moscow
US does withhold the signing of a projected trade agreement however

Question 14

Role of Yeltsin

Answer 14

-fork in the road, Gorbachev OR Yeltsin
-popular distrust of G in the USSR
-in May 1990, Yeltsin leaves the politburo and is elected as leader of the Russian Republic who, by now have effectively declared their sovereignty
-USSR is now doomed

Question 15

Superpower cooperation

Answer 15

-August 1990
-despite Soviet ties with the country, both the USSR and US together condemn the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

Question 16

What compromises did Gorbachev make in Germany and why

Answer 16

-allowed reunified Germany to join NATO
-removed soviet troops from GDR
-did not present any conditions for German reunification
-did noy involve key institutions such as the politburo
-his decision to accept this, only undermined the soviet state
-however, he made this compromises in return for financial aid from the west

Question 17

Azerbaijan and Armenia

Answer 17

-conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in 1923 Stalin gifted the Armenian populated lands to Azerbaijan
-resulted in clashes/protests and rising nationalism
-Gorbachev showed insensitivity when he sided with Azerbaijan and did not handle the situation well
-Area put under soviet control in July 1988, G let the USSR’s supreme soviet vote, they decided (in nov 1989) to give the end to Azerbaijan and nothing was solved

Question 18

Armenian blockade

Answer 18

-ignoring the supreme soviet’s decision, Armenia integrates into the region which results in a blockade from Azerbaijan
-this leads to revolts in the capital (Baku) and a state of emergency is declared
-Gorbachev’s response is to implement martial law and sending soviet troops to restore the government
-In January 1990 soviet troops enter Baku, the result is the death of 130 protesters
-while the soviets regained control, they alienated Azerbaijan from the Union and the Soviets become more unpopular

Question 19

why did the USSRV support Azerbaijan in the conflict

Answer 19

G new that if he supported a nationalist movement, more would demand his support

Question 20

START I and START II

Answer 20

-I signed in 1991
-II signed in 1993 between the USA and Russia
-after the fall of the soviet union, the nuclear weapons were spread across 3 republic, all of which ratified the treaty and destroyed/gave to Russia the weapons
-START II resulted in an overall 50% reduction in nuclear weapons, each country could only have between 3000-3500 weapons
COLD WAR IS OVER !!!!!!

Question 21

coup

Answer 21

-coup in august 1991 by communist hardliners
-initiated it when Gorbachev was on holiday
-failed but Gorbachev’s position was never the same

Question 22

downfall of the Gorbachev and Soviet Union

Answer 22

-at the end of august G resigns as general secretary, the central committee and all other parties were dissolved
-by 1991 there were only 8/15 republics were cooperating but they had now no unifying factor
-in December 1991, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was signed and designed by the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine
-on December 25th, Gorbachev resigns, the day after, the USSR supreme Soviet votes to dissolve itself and formally end the existence of the USSR
-Yeltsin then seizes Gorbachev’s offices

Question 23

characteristics of soviet downfall

Answer 23

-reformation, transformation and dissolution of the USSR all took place in just under 7 years
-communist system ceased to have meaning by state wide elections in the spring of 1989

Question 24

role of Ukraine

Answer 24

-December 1st 1991, 92% of Ukrainian voters approve their independence
this outcome was truly the end of the USSR because it ended any prospects of salvaging a federated or confederated USSR
-gave impetus for the CIS talks just a few days later

Question 25

the Alma-Ata Protocol and the Belavezha Accords

Answer 25

B- preamble to the CIS agreement, Yeltsin met with other state leaders and they agreed the USSR had ceased to exist since the failed coup
Alma-Ata was a treaty further agreeing with CIS, the protocol stated the fact of the USSRs cease to exist