Collapse of Soviet Control of Eastern Europe

Question 1

List 2 ways in which Gorbachev’s ‘new thinking’ affected the USSR’s foreign affairs.

Answer 1

• He decided ideology would play a smaller role in Soviet foreign affairs (e.g. he would no longer favour trade with the Eastern Bloc)
• He wanted the Eastern European countries to embrace his ‘new thinking’, but for communism (just a reformed version) to stay strong

Question 2

What was the Sinatra Doctrine?

Answer 2

Was named after Sinatra as he had a song named ‘My Way’.
- In 1989 Gorbachev accepted that members of the Warsaw Pact could make changes to their country without having to worry about outside interference

Question 3

Why did Gorbachev want to withdraw Soviet troops from the Eastern Bloc countries?

Answer 3

• It was too expensive

Question 4

How did Poland end up not being communist?

Answer 4

• In 1988 there were strikes across the country
• In 1989 the trade union Solidarity won elections, and their new Prime Minister became the first non-communist one in Eastern Europe

Question 5

How did Hungary become non-communist?

Answer 5

• In 1988 Gorbachev accepted that it could be a multi-party state
• In 1989 Hungary opened its border with Austria
• In 1990 democratic elections were won by an alliance of anti-communist groups

Question 6

Why was Hungary opening its border with Austria such a significant event?

Answer 6

• East Germans could use that route to get to West Germany
• It created a hole in the Iron Curtain
• It therefore caused people to question whether the Iron Curtain or the Berlin Wall could continue to exist

Question 7

How did Czechoslovakia become non-communist?

Answer 7

• In November 1989 there were huge demonstrations against communism, and the government resigned
• In December the first non-communist President since 1948 was installed
• In 1990 elections were won by an alliance of anti-communist groups

Question 8

How was the government in Romania removed?

Answer 8

Romania had the most brutal government in Eastern Europe.
December 1989:
- The secret police fired on protestors
- The President fled but was later captured
- The army rebelled and fought against the secret police
- The President and his wife were shot by firing squad
- In 1990, democratic elections were held and the winning party contained many ex-communists

Question 9

How did autocracy in Bulgaria end?

Answer 9

• In 1990 democratic elections were won by the renamed Communist Party

Question 10

List 2 issues with the East German government.

Answer 10

• They were slow to embrace glasnost and perestroika
• They banned Soviet publications in the late 1980s as they supposedly undermined communism

Question 11

What were 2 ways people in East Germany showed their opposition to communism?

Answer 11

The people in East Germany wanted freedom after they saw other Eastern European countries abandoning communism.
- When democratic elections were announced in Hungary, East Germans went to West Germany through there
- Demonstrations were happening in 1989, and people were calling for a change in government
- On 4th November the biggest demonstration in East German history took place- over 1 million people protested in East Berlin

Question 12

What 2 effects did the opening of the Austria-Hungary border have on Germany?

Answer 12

• The East German government was forced to announce greater freedom of travel as people could go to West Germany anyway
• On 9th November 1989 the Berlin Wall was opened, and the people began to dismantle the Wall
• Within a few days over 1 million people went to the West daily to see family and life there
• The 2 parts of Germany formally reunited on 3rd October 1990, and joined NATO

Question 13

List 4 reasons why the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.

Answer 13

Military co-operation ended in early 1990, and the Warsaw Pact was formally ended in July 1991.
- It was an alliance that untied the communist countries against the capitalist ones, but many of the countries involved were rejecting communism
- The USSR had a weak economy so it could no longer bolster the Pact
- The strength of its army was called into question after events in Afghanistan
- Internal demands for independence meant the USSR itself was about to collapse

Question 14

What were attitudes towards Gorbachev like in the Soviet Union, and how was this different to the West?

Answer 14

• Many in the USSR saw him as villain, particularly his own party, as they believed glasnost and perestroika were weakening communism
• The West saw him as a hero and he was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990

Question 15

What happened within the Soviet Union in 1991?

Answer 15

• On 19th August, a group of senior communist officials (the ‘Gang of Eight’) organised a coup and removed Gorbachev from power
• They declared a state of emergency and got rid of the policies of glasnost and perestroika
• Their government only lasted 3 days, as Boris Yeltsin (Chair of the Russian Supreme Soviet) was key to overthrowing them
• Gorbachev returned immediately (on 21st) and continued as leader, but his authority was damaged while Yeltsin’s popularity had increased

Question 16

What did Gorbachev do in his final attempt to keep the Soviet Union together, and how effective was it?

Answer 16

• In 1991 he introduced a new constitution which gave Soviet republics more independence
• They wanted full independence after seeing the satellite states break away, and so never accepted the constitution
• In 1990 the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia had declared themselves independent
• This was accepted by Moscow in 1991
• This lead to more demands for independence

Question 17

What was the final thing that Gorbachev did as leader, and what was the effect of this?

Answer 17

• On 25th December 1991 he announced the dissolution of the USSR and his resignation
• The Soviet Union was now split into multiple independent states
• This is what truly ended the Cold War, as communism was defeated; the coup of 1991, had it been successful, could have revived the Cold War