Key Topic 3.3 The collapse of Soviet control of Eastern Europe Flashcards
Gorbachev’s new thinking 1985 (The beginning of the END)
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in March 1985. He inherited a poor economy because of the
Soviet War in Afghanistan lasting 10 years. He wanted to improve living standards for those in the
USSR. He pushed for reforms to change the USSR’s government spending habits and allow a more
open society. Gorbachev thought the best way to solve economic problems was to rebuild economy
from scratch. He argued it was necessary to for government to be more flexible and allow some
private ownership of property and business. He introduced the twin policies of Perestroika
(economic restructuring) and Glasnost (openness & free speech). Gorbachev wanted more openness
to halt the constant falsification of government figures. The powers of the KGB (secret police)
were limited and criticism of government was permitted
Gorbachev also understood that the Soviet economy was under immense pressure and the huge investment on military spending severely limited state support for its own
people so he also wanted to change foreign policy
- Reduce defense spending
- Avoid danger of nuclear war
- Not to interfere with the running of countries outside Soviet
Union - Realised USSR was bankrupt and could not afford arms race with USA
- Withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan
- Reduced Soviet aid worldwide (previously the USSR supported communist countries worldwide
through COMECON) - Sought détente to reduce spending on defence and to be able to borrow money
The summit meetings
Geneva 1985 - Geneva Accord was set out which committed the USA and SU to speed up arms talks. Both Gorbachev and Reagan promised to meet up in the near future. The two got on well ( this was clear) .Reagan
invited Gorbachev to go with him to a beach house, which was strictly against rules. But Gorbachev
went, and the two leaders spoke well over their time limit and came out with the news that they had planned more summits.
Reykjavik 1986 - leaders did fail to reach and agreement on arms limitations but there was still evidence that the leaders were getting well
Washignton 1987 - Gorbachev had not accepted the USA were not going to scarp SDI. led to signign of INF treaty.
Malta Summit 1989 - Malta Peace Summit between the new US President Bush and Gorbachev,
Gorbachev said, “I assure the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war
against the USA.” - seen as end of cold war
In 1989 Gorbachev ended the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and pulled out all remaining soldiers.
He pressured the chancellor of East Germany (Honecker) to give more freedom to East Berliners,
which eventually led in 1989 to the collapse of the Berlin Wall
The Warsaw Pact dissolved, and was replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS),
with Russian Republic as dominant member
INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces).
In 1987 Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the USA, which
banned all nuclear and conventional ballistic missiles that could travel between 500-5,000 miles.
This was a revolutionary event, and signalled the end of the Cold War
THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION
Gorbachev announced SU were going to give up Brezhnev Doctrine, The soviet satellite countries were now free to choose how they were governed. No longer feared things like in Hungary or Czechoslovakia .
Gorbachev’s reforms within SU restructing the economy and introducing more openness further encouraged THE PEOPLE OF SATTELITE STATES TO INTRODUCE CANGES THAT WOULD Improve their standard of living and increase their individual freedoms.
The reforms were not intended to end communism but rather to strengthen communist governments but actually led to the collapse of soviet control
The significance of the fall of the Berlin wall 1989
ON 9th nov 1989 the east German Government announced the opening of the border crossings into west Germany. The people began to dismantle the Berlin wall.
Fall of wall = symbolic and people of Germany reunited after 30 years. 1 million people seized the chance to see relatives and experience life in West Germany.
by nov 1989 East Germans would already travel to west and East German leader Erich Honecker sacked
End of Warsaw pact
The creation of the Warsaw pact established Europe divided into 2 armed camps. It was a symbol of soviet dominance in EE and it allowed the SU to keep an eye on its communist allies.
Events of 1989 saw communist governments coming under pressure across Eastern Europe and made it impossible for the Warsaw pact to survive.
Military co-operation ended in early 1990 and the pact was formally dissolved in 1991
Europe becomes reunited
Break up of the Warsaw Pact indicated that the division between Democratic west and communist east was gone
Cold war over
Satellite states began to regain their independence
People were fed up with Gorbachev:
Felt he had done too little to stop the fall of communism in Eastern Europe – saw this as an act of weakness
- The economic reforms, perestroika, he had introduced had had no immediate effect: still food
shortages and rising prices
Other Russians wanted the complete collapse of the communist system. In February 1990, 250,000
people demonstrated against the communists in Moscow. In the annual May Day parade in Moscow’s
Red Square, Gorbachev was booed!
In August 1991, hard-line communists led a coup against Gorbachev. They imprisoned him in his own
dacha (country home) in the Crimea. To seemed as though the USSR was about to return to the bad
old days, when reform movements were stamped out by the communists
Boris Yeltsin wanted to destroy Soviet communism and led a demonstration against the coup. He
insisted that reform had to continue in order for Russia to be saved. Yeltsin was seen as hero who
would save Russia from a slide back into communism repression. He was also seen as the man with the power.
He formally ended the USSR in December 1991! Later in the same month, Gorbachev resigned as
Soviet president (there was no longer a Soviet Union for him to be president for!). The communist
red flag that flew over Kremlin was lowered for the last time.
