Gorbachev + After the Cold War + the world apparently

Question 1

Let’s talk about Gorbachev

Answer 1

• came to power in 1985; 3rd successor in <3 years
• member of Politburo; trained as lawyer
• true Commie seeking to reform ailing system to compete with West/China

Question 2

Gorbachev’s first reform

Answer 2

• wanted to decrease alcohol consumption (and by extension increase productivity) by decreasing vodka production by 10% in 5 years
• done in 1 year
• black market still provided the vodka, meaning that the tax base (of alcohol) was lost instead

Question 3

What reform announced in 1986?

Answer 3

PERESTROIKA (“economic restructuring”)

• encouragement/reward of private initiative; Enterprise Law established independence of small businesses
• BASICALLY: tried to adopt policies of market economy without any previous experience w/ private businesses
• should’ve recollectivized agriculture but didn’t

Question 4

Nuclear facility that exploded

Answer 4

Chernobyl

Question 5

Andre Sakharov

Answer 5

• dissident and nuclear scientist released from exile in Gorky
• open critic of Soviet system

Question 6

What reform announced in 1988?

Answer 6

GLASNOST (“openness”)

• greater freedom of expression & press
• *with limits on gov secrets, medical records, propaganda
• led to questioning and criticism of Soviet system/central planning

Question 7

Gorbachev’s foreign policy

Answer 7

• encouraged satellite states in Eastern Europe to “follow their own paths”
• negated Brehznev Doctrine
• announced non-intervention in Warsaw Pact countries and encouraged reform abroad
• 1989: withdrawal from Afghanistan
• Reagan + Gorbachev begin talks on arms reductions (Gorbachev more popular abroad so visit US)

Question 8

Consequences of G’s fp

Answer 8

in Eastern Europe…

• Communist party leaders’ stability threatened w/o support of USSR/Red Army
• Radical/violent change possible
• Fall of the Berlin Wall!

Question 9

Leader of Poland

Answer 9

Lech Waleser

• Solidarity leader
• first president of free Poland
• also first non-Communist leader of Soviet bloc state

Question 10

Hungarian leader

Answer 10

Nemouth = Prime Minister

Question 11

Boris Yeltsin

Answer 11

Moscow Party Chief

• initially supported Gorbachev, then grew impatient
• condemned Gorbachev+party in indictment
• supported by students + intellectuals
• dismissed by Gorbachev for being a Stalinist

Question 12

Events in Hungary

Answer 12

May 2, 1989: barbed wire cut b/w border with Austria (symbolic removal of Iron Curtain)
June 16: Imre Nagy honored with hero’s burial in Hero Square
Oct. 7: Communist Party disbanded, reconstituted as Hungarian Social Party
-democratic electoral procedures
-reform programs to fit developing Hungary

Question 13

EG response to removal of barbed wire

Answer 13

EG refugees asked Hungarian Embassy to travel to Hungary –> Austria –> WG

• Summer of ‘89 = 6000 refugees
• EG cuts off accessibility so EG’s go to Embassy in Prague and continue emigration
• “freedom trains”

Question 14

EG refugee response contd.

Answer 14

Demonstrations (EB, Dresden) call for democratic reform
-**Erich Honecker (leader) replaced with Krenz (then entire EG cabinet resigns, Politburo reorganizes; in 1990, Honecker arrested and exiled to Chile, Communists voted out of office)

Question 15

End of the Berlin Wall

Answer 15

November 9, 1989: Berlin Wall opened @ midnight by EG guards

Question 16

First member to leave Warsaw Pact

Answer 16

Sep. 1990: GDR (German Democratic Republic or East Germany)

Question 17

Velvet Revolution

Answer 17

CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Oct. 28, 1989: 10,000 demonstration inWenceslas Square
Nov. 20: 200,000 march through Prague demanding free elections
Nov. 25: Communist Party leadership resigned
Nov. 27: entire Czechoslovakian work force goes on strike
Dec. 10: elections held

Question 18

Civic Forum

Answer 18

mass movement during Velvet Revolution to create political opposition to Czech Communist Party

Question 19

Vaclav Havel

Answer 19

Czech writer arrested in January, served time until May

-eventually elected as new president

Question 20

Ceausescu

Answer 20

brutal, Stalinist dictator of Romania

-quells any revolutionary fervor that resembles events in other Soviet bloc states

Question 21

Romania

Answer 21

Dec. 17, 1989: anti-gov demonstrations in Timisoara (protesting the arrest of Rev. Toaks: a spokesperson for Romania’s 2mil Hungarians)
Dec. 25: Ceaucescu + family seized in coup (later executed)
Elections held in May 1990

Question 22

Securitate

Answer 22

Ceaucescu’s police force

Question 23

After the Cold War: West had means of influence through…

Answer 23

Economy.

-incentives, granting/withholding loans

Question 24

ACW: greater integration of…

Answer 24

West and East

Question 25

ACW: Warsaw Pact dissolved in…

Answer 25

1991

Question 26

ACW: New and unprecedented dependence on…

Answer 26

Oil, which complicated international affairs

-West + Europe = greater consumption

Question 27

ACW: Latin America

Answer 27

continues to develop. Poverty + drug trade high

Question 28

ACW: China

Answer 28

industrial/economic development BUT human rights struggles

Question 29

ACW: Russia

Answer 29

plagued w/ corruption + economic downturns

• joined global economy
• inflation = 2000% in 1992
• gained UN Security Council seat

Question 30

ACW: Eastern Europe

Answer 30

High unemployment (11-15%)

• wages low, prices high
• lack of experience in private enterprise
• economic problems in reunified Germany (Oct. 1990)

Question 31

Cold War exacerbated…

Answer 31

• chronic poverty
• environmental degradation
• ethnic conflict
• proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

Question 32

Economic Issues in Gorbachev’s reforms

Answer 32

• economies weak bc of stagnation (focus on big political changes, not availability of bread); required capital and patience
• 1990 Comecon dissolved (this regulated trade in Soviet bloc)
• —trade barriers bc EE currencies not convertible to W currencies

Question 33

German unification

Answer 33

-world says no; France concerned with past strength
-Gorbachev submits to reunification as sovereign state w/ membership in NATO
JULY 1, 1990: economic reunion: Western goods in Eastern markets (bought w/ either currency)
OCTOBER 2, 1990: political reunion: reconstruct Berlin + entire east; Kohl = leader (past leader of WG)

Question 34

Events in Lithuania

Answer 34

Lithuania = Baltic state; therefore IN the Soviet Union, unlike satellite states (Germany, Romania)

• Separtist movements from nationalistic forces
• crushed by Red Army in Jan 1991, 13 killed
• Gorbachev claimed ignorance

Question 35

Downfalls of Gorbachev

Answer 35

• perestroika failed to revive economy; problems with harvest/transportation/distribution of crops
• no private property or market economy
• inefficient currency reform
• consolidated power to become as influential as Stalin (drove reformists out of power)

Question 36

Coup against Gorbachev

Answer 36

• July/August 1991 tension bw Gorbachev + Yeltsin when Pres. Bush came to USSR to sign disarmament treaty
• After, G flies to Crimea for vacation
• Yeltisin –> Kazakhstan, leaving Moscow unguarded
• 8 sr. party officials stage coup d’etat
• —Yeltsin comes back to Moscow, climbs on tank, and rallies crowd
• Aug 22: power restored, Yeltsin + Gorbachev agree to share power