Division of Germany and the Collapse of the USSR Flashcards
What is glasnost?
Openness
What is perestroika?
Restructuring
What did glasnost entail?
Freedom of expression
Freedom of speech
The people were now allowed to complain
Who was defeated in WWII?
The Axis Powers
How did France fare after WWII?
It had been smashed by Germany
How did the Allied Powers decide to punish Germany?
They divided it into four zones of occupation
They each took one of these zones as their own
Who got the biggest part of Germany?
The USSR
Why did the USSR get the biggest part of Germany?
They were the ones who eventually won the war
What happened at the Yalta conference?
The idea of dividing Germany was devised
What happened at the Potsdam conference?
The four zones of occupation were put into place
They came up with ideas on how to punish Germany
How did the four zones of occupation become East and West Germany?
The capitalist countries (Britain, France and the USA) decided to merge their zones
They called this zone West Germany
The communist side (USSR) become East Germany
Which side became more prosperous?
West Germany
Which side of Germany became stagnant?
East Germany
Why did West Germany prosper?
West Germany got economical support from its government
Since it was capitalist, people took advantage and started their own businesses
The USA, France and Britain exported goods to Germany
Why did East Germany suffer?
The government of the USSR did not provide capital for East Germany
They did not export goods there
They took from Germany and exploited the workers
There was no economic growth
What did East Germans start doing?
They left to go to West Germany
Why was the immigration such a big problem in Berlin?
Berlin was still the capital
Berlin was on the communist side
Berlin was also divided into East and West
East Berliners could easily go to West Berlin
Why was there a wall built between West and East Berlin?
Khrushchev saw the East Berliners were leaving to go over to the West side
He ordered a guarded wall to be built to stop them from leaving without permission
Which city became the “capital” of West Germany?
Bon
What was Berlin like before the Berlin Wall?
West Berlin sold millions of movie tickets to East
Thousands of East Berliners worked in West Berlin
Berliners could freely between both sides
What happened to people who tried to cross the wall?
They were shot by guards patrolling the wall
Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?
He was the leader is the USSR after Khrushchev
What did Mikhail try to do?
He introduced reforms to try and save the Communist system
What two policies did Gorbachev implement?
Perestroika
Glasnost
What effect did Mikhail’s reforms have on East Germany?
Protestors arose
The head of state was forced to resign
Who was East Germany’s head of state?
Erich Honecker
What did the new government in East Germany do?
They introduced a law to lift the travel restrictions
How did Gorbachev respond to the new law?
He did nothing to stop this
How did East Berliners respond to the new laws?
They flooded the border gates
The guards let them through, with little to no identity checking
How did the Berlin Wall come down?
After the new law was passed, citizens began chopping down the wal
What did the Berlin Wall represent?
It was a physical symbol of the Cold War
It was a representation of the divide between Communism and Capitalism
How did the Cold War end?
Gorbachev and Bush met and declared the Cold War officially over
Who was the leader of the USA at the end of the Cold War?
George H.W. Bush Senior
Where did Mikhail and George agree to the end of the Cold War?
At the Malta Summit
What happened after the Cold War ended?
The Soviet Union dissolved and the communist government came to an end
