End of the Cold War Flashcards
END OF THE COLD WAR
END OF THE COLD WAR
What was in short supply in the USSR?
Consumer goods
What was there a focus on with the economy?
Heavy industry
Why was there no innovation or foreign investment in business?
There was a state monopoly on business
How much aid did Cuba and Vietnam receive each year?
$1 billion per year
What was the size of the Soviet GDP as a % of the US GDP in 1984?
37%
What was the size of the Soviet GNP as a % of the US GNP in 1984?
52%
What % of GDP was the USA spending on its military in 1989?
7%
What % of GDP was the Soviet Union spending on its military in 1989?
27%
How much did the USA spend on defence in 1989?
$254 billion
How much did the USSR spend on defence in 1989?
$134 billion
How much of its revenue did the Soviet government lose in its anti-alcohol campaign?
1/3
What % of grain did the USSR produce in comparison to the USA?
2/3
How many times more farm workers did the USSR have than the USA?
8 times more
How much did East Germany owe Western banks by 1981?
$12.8 billion
What was the GDP per capita in the USSR in 1989?
$2700
What was the GDP per capita in the USA in 1989?
$22,600
What was the GDP per capita in West Germany in 1989?
$18,000
What type of war was fought in Afghanistan?
Guerrilla warfare
What is the USSR estimated to have spent on the war in Afghanistan?
$50 billion
What is the official number of soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan?
15,000
What is the CIA estimate for the number of Soviet soldiers killed in Afghanistan?
50,000
What did Gorbachev describe the war in Afghanistan as in 1986?
A ‘bleeding wound’
What programme did the CIA fund from 1979 to train mujahideen fighters?
Operation Cyclone
When did the mujahideen receive stinger missiles from the USA?
1986
How many mujahideen fighters did the US train over the course of the war?
100,000
How much did the USA spend in supporting anti-Soviet resistance via the Reagan Doctrine?
$20 billion
What was US defence spending in 1980?
$71 billion
What was US defence spending in 1981?
$147 billion
How much did the SDI programme from 1983 to 1987 cost?
$200 billion
When did Gorbachev become General Secretary?
September 1985
When was the Geneva Summit between Reagan and Gorbachev?
November 1985
What was the joint statement at the Geneva Summit in November 1985?
‘A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’
Where and when did Reagan and Gorbachev meet for the 2nd time?
At the Reykjavik Summit in October 1986
What treaty was agreed at the Washington Summit in 1987?
The INF Treaty
What did the INF treaty do?
Ended the deployment of all medium-range nuclear missiles
When was the INF treaty signed?
At the Moscow Summit in 1988
How many missiles had been destroyed by 1991?
2692
Why was the Malta Summit in 1989 significant?
It is seen as the end of the Cold War
What did Perestroika allow foreign companies to do?
Own up to 49% of a Soviet business
What does glasnost mean?
Openness
What was the Soviet media allowed to do during glasnost?
Point out social and economic problems
What 2 things meant glasnost was a problem for the Soviet government?
- Chernobyl
- War in Afghanistan - people found out the truth
When did Gorbachev announce the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine?
7th December 1988 in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly
What did Gorbachev say was key in restructuring society in his speech at the UN?
Making it ‘more truly democratic’
What was established in 1988 to make the USSR more democratic?
The Democratic Union
When was Article 6 of the constitution cancelled, which guaranteed the communist party had a leading role?
February 1990 - meant the Communist Party no longer had a leading role in the USSR
When were the first genuine free elections held in the USSR?
March 1989
WHY DID COMMUNISM COLLAPSE IN THE LATE 1980S
WHY DID COMMUNISM COLLAPSE IN THE LATE 1980S
How had Hungary started to reform before the collapse of communism?
- Little censorship
- Differences of opinion from communist line tolerated
What brought waves of protest in Hungary?
The anniversary of Nagy’s death
When was Kadar replaced as General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party by Karoly Grosz?
May 1988
When were free elections in Hungary announced?
June 1989
What did the new Hungarian government order the dismantling of?
The border fence between Hungary and Austria
When was Nagy given a state funeral?
16th June 1989
When did the communist regime officially end in Hungary?
23rd October 1989
Why was the Solidarity movement in Poland halted in December 1981?
Jaruzelski imposed martial law - leading members of Solidarity arrested
When were Solidarity leaders given amnesty?
1986
What led to a wave of strikes and protests across Poland in February 1988?
Food prices raised - Poland heavily in debt to Western creditors
When were Solidarity invited by Jaruzelski to round table talks?
February 1989
What were 3 agreements at the Polish round table talks?
- Legalising trade unions
- New president
- Move towards free elections
What were the Polish communists guaranteed in the Polish June 1989 elections?
65% of seats in the Sejm
Of 161 seats available in the Sejm, how many did Solidarity win, shattering the legitimacy of the communists?
160 seats
What % of the vote did Lech Walesa win in the first Polish presidential election in Winter 1990?
74.25%
Who did Lech Walesa replace as president of Poland?
Jaruselski
Who served as General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1954 to 1989?
Todor Zhivkov - most loyal leader in the Warsaw Pact
When did the Politburo in Bulgaria request Zhivkov’s resignation?
November 1989
Why did Zhivkov resign as leader of Bulgaria in November 1989?
The army supported the reformers
Who replaced Todor Zhivkov in Bulgaria?
Peter Mladenov
What did Peter Mladenov immediately announce after replacing Zhivkov?
That free elections would be held in 1990
What did the Bulgarian communist party rebrand itself as?
The Democratic Socialist Party (BSP)
When was the BSP part of a coalition government in Bulgaria?
1992 to 1994
When did the BSP win a majority in Bulgaria?
1994
What were people in East Germany aware of?
That their counterparts in the West had a much higher standard of living
How much if its GDP was the SED in the GDR spending per budget?
9% - highest in the Warsaw Pact
What was General Secretary of the East German Communist Party Honecker responsible for?
The building of the Berlin Wall
What did Honecker refuse to consider which all other Eastern European countries had adopted?
Perestroika
Why did Honecker refuse to consider Perestroika?
The GDR was more economically advanced that the rest of the USSR
When did Gorbachev attend the GDR for its 40th anniversary?
October 1989
What did crowds in East Berlin shout at Gorbachev when he visited?
‘Gorby help us’
What did Gorbachev say to Honecker when trying to convince him to reform?
‘Life punishes those who come late’
When did the GDR ban travel?
3rd October 1989
How many protested against the SED in Leipzig on the 9th October 1989?
70,000
How many protested in the GDR on the 16th October 1989?
120,000
When was there a misannouncement on the opening of the Berlin border?
9th November 1989
What did Honecker say about the Berlin Wall in January 1989?
That the wall would stand for another 100 years
What did the 4 former allies agree in 1990?
That Germany should be reunified
How many East Germans left for the West by the end of 1990?
600,000
Why were the France and UK concerned about a reunified Germany?
The feared that a reunified Germany would dominate Europe
What German party campaigned for the fastest possible route to German reunification in the March 1990 election?
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
What % of the vote did the CDU win in the March 1990 election on what turnout?
48% of the vote on a 93% turnout
What did Kohl agree to in order to reunify Germany?
To match the Ostmark and Deutschmark 1:1, even though the Deutschmark was 4 times more valuable
What did Kohl promise Britain and France to persuade them to support German reunification?
That Germany would remain part of NATO and the EEC
What did Gorbachev promise East Germany in December 1989?
‘No harm would come to the GDR’
How did Kohl convince the USSR to support German reunification?
The USSR would receive 12 billion DM in return for removing all their troops by 1994
When did the 4 wartime allies agree to give up the rights they had held over Germany since 1945?
September 1990
When was German reunification?
3rd October 1990
Who led Czechoslovak protests in 1989?
Vaclav Havel
When was there a student demonstration in Prague?
17th November 1989
What happened after student protestors in Czechoslovakia were attacked by the police?
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets
When did the Czechoslovak communist party relinquish power, knowing it had lost the support of the army?
28th November 1989
Who became the head of state in Czechoslovakia after the communist party relinquished power?
Vaclav Havel
When was the Velvet Divorce?
1st January 1993
What did Nicolae Ceausescu build in Romania during his austerity programme?
A massive 1000 room palace in the centre of Bucharest
When did the Romanian Revolution start?
17th December 1989
How many died in the Romanian Revolution?
1000 died
When were Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife shot?
25th December 1989
Who replaced Nicolae Ceausescu and what did he immediately announce the abolition of?
Ion Iliescu - announced the abolition of the one party system
What party was in power in Romania until 1996?
The National Salvation Front
CONSEQUENCES OF THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM
CONSEQUENCES OF THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM
What are the 4 factors in a 20 marker about the consequences of the collapse of communism?
- Political instability
- Political stability
- German reunification
- Yugoslavian civil war
How was Gorbachev seen across Eastern Europe?
A hero who had removed the threat of Soviet repression and gave them democracy and freedom
Why was Gorbachev unpopular in Russia?
Perestroika had led to higher prices
Where was there nationalist opposition to the Soviet Union?
Georgia and the Baltic States
When did Lithuania and Estonia declare independence?
March 1990
When did the USSR invade Lithuania?
January 1991
How many were killed when the USSR invaded Lithuania?
19
What did Gorbachev not want to see?
The break up of the USSR
When did Gorbachev propose the New Union Treaty to keep the USSR together?
April 1991
What happened right before the New Union Treaty was due to be signed?
The August Coup
What did the leaders of the August Coup want to do?
Turn back the clock to the days of authoritarian rule
When did Gorbachev resign and disband the Central Executive Commitee?
24th August 1991
When did the Soviet Union officially cease to exist?
25th December 1991
When did Yeltsin try to shut down Parliament?
1993
Who did Russian politicians try to replace Yeltsin with?
Rutosky
How many died when Yeltsin shelled the White House?
147
How many died in the Chechnyan War from 1994 to 1996?
100,000
Who won the first multi-party elections in Yugoslavia in 1990?
The Serbs
When did Slovenia and Croatia declare independence?
June 1991
When did Bosnia and Herzegovina declare independence?
March 1992
When did the Yugoslav army invade Croatia?
Summer of 1991
What town on the Croat-Serb border was completely destroyed?
Vukovar
When did the UN order a ceasefire in Yugoslavia?
1992
When did the fighting in Yugoslavia continue?
1995
How many died in the war between Croatia and Serbia?
20,000
What were both Croatians and Serbs guilty of in the fighting?
Ethnic cleansing
Where did Serb forces attack after Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence in March 1992?
Sarajevo
How long was the siege of Sarajevo?
4 years
How many were massacred by the Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995?
8000
How many died in the Bosnian war?
100,000
How many Serbs were put on trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal?
94 Serbs
How many Croats were put on trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal?
29 Croats
How many Bosniaks were put on trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal?
9 Bosniaks
