3.2 Reagan And Gorbachev Flashcards
What did Gorbachev think about the war afghanistan?
Admitted the ussr could afford to keep fighting , starting withdrawal in 1988
Who was Ronald Reagan?
1980 elected president of us. Reagan was a committed republican and anti communist
How did Reagan describe the soviet union?
Evil empire
How much did Reagan increase us defence spending?
$32.6 billion,he spent 500 billion a year from 1980 on nuclear weapons
What was the strategic defence initiative?
Nicknamed ‘star wars’, was a plan to create a system using satellites and lasers to shoot down any missiles that might ne launched by the ussr against the us. This plan , had been initiated, would have swung the nuclear balance strongly in the us’ favour
What was the increased defence spending by Reagan be spent on?
- neutron bomb
- star wars programme
What was the neutron bomb?
Us military developed it. Soviet union described the bomb as a capitalist weapon because it was designed to destroy people while leaving their property intact. While the ussr did not have a neutron bomb , it did upgrade the armour on its tanks and armoured personnel carrier in order to deal with threat
What happened to the arms race in the 80s?
Soviets economy was struggling and the cost of matching such a programme was too high. They were also suspicious of the computer technology that was required to support such a programme and had not invested in it. SDI was final straw breaker , the ussr coule no longer afford to keep up with america in the arms race, america went rapidly ahead
Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?
Became leader of USSR in 1985. Under his leadership the ussr slowly began to reform . Gorbachev was an unexpected new leader and relatively inexperienced. He did not speak kindly of Reagan at first, calling him a ‘caveman’. However , several things were about to have a major impact on the superpower relationship
How did Gorbachev’s relationships with world leaders help his cause?
He famously got on well with world leaders ,Margaret thatcher said ‘ i like mr Gorbachev, we can do business together’. Reagan , thatcher and Gorbachev all had a great relationship. Gorbachev coming to western countries was called ‘gorbymania ‘ by the press.
What happened at Chernobyl?
April 1986, ukrainien power plant at Chernobyl went into meltdown and exploded. Gorbachev approved a cover up, and the cost of decontaminating the area was 18 million roubles , which almost bankrupted the soviet economy.
What happened to reagans views when Gorbachev became leader in 1985?
Reassessed his attitudes . Gorbachev proposed radical reforms was far more open towards the west than previous leaders. Although initiatives like sdi were not scrapped , Reagan thought negotiation was the best route.
Soviet economy in 1985?
- arms race with usa and war in afghanistan were hugely expensive and soviet economy just couldn’t support this level of spending
- soviets were poor quality and soviet farming was inefficient - there wasn’t enough food and millions of tonnes of grain had to be importer from the us
- communist government was becoming more corrupt and unable to gives soviet people the same living standards as people in the west
What was perestroika?
- means ‘restructuring ‘
- Gorbachev wanted to make soviet economy more efficient
- he moved away from the centralisation of industry-the government no longer told businesses exactly what they had to produce
- Gorbachev also allowed private businesses ownership and allows soviet businesses to trade with the western powers
What is glasnost?
- means ‘openness’
- Gorbachev gave the soviet people new rights
- thousands of political prisoners were released
- free speech was allowed and censorship was relaxed
- in 1989, Gorbachev created the ussrs first elected parliament- communist party officials were chosen by the public for the first time
