The Collapse of Soviet Control in Eastern Europe, 1985-91 Flashcards
Describe the Soviet Union’s Economic Problems in the 1980s
-During the Brezhnev era, huge sums were spent on developing arms to keep pace with the USA.
-Investment in the Soviet economy was low.
-There was barely any industrial growth in the Soviet Union or its satellite states in the mid 1980s.
-Standards of living in the East were nowhere near what could be found in the West.
Describe the Soviet Union’s External Problems in the 1980s
-Low standards of living and the lack of human rights were leading to unrest in some of the satellite states.
-In Poland, the trade union ‘Solidarity’ posed such a threat to the communist government that it was banned. In 1981, the authorities declared martial law.
-Meanwhile, Soviet troops carried out manoeuvres along the Polish border, ready to invade, if necessary.
-In other Soviet satellite states, opposition to communist rule was only kept in check by control of secret police forces, for example, the Stasi in East Germany and Securitate in Romania.
Describe the Soviet Union’s Leadership Problems in the 1980s
-The Soviet Union had suffered from poor leadership for many years.
-In recent years there had been a run of leaders in poor health, who ruled briefly and did not have time to make useful plans for the future.
-Brezhnev died in 1982 after a long illness. His successor Andropov died in 1984. Chernenko followed and died a year later.
Describe the Policies in Gorbachev’s New Thinking
-Gorbachev proposed that the Soviet state and economy should be reformed to include some of the practices that made capitalism successful. This was called perestroika.
-There should also be more openness and less corruption in government. People should not need to fear the state or fear expressing their opinions.
-Glasnost would allow opposition to the government and give the people a better understanding of how the country was run.
-The Brezhnev Doctrine would be dropped. The Soviet Union would no longer get involved in the domestic affairs of other communist countries.
-It would also reduce spending on arms and defence and withdraw from Afghanistan.
Describe the American Reaction to Gorbachev’s New Thinking
-Reagan began his term as president in 1981, promising a tough stand against communism. He brought a ‘Second Cold War’ with an increase in arms spending and a confrontational approach.
-However, when Gorbachev became Soviet leader in 1985, relations between the USA and the USSR changed.
-This was a Soviet leader not looking to expand communism but determined to reform the Soviet Union and work with the USA to reduce tension.
-Reagan saw that there was an opportunity to end the Cold War and to adopt a more even approach with the USSR whilst at the same time sticking to his overall aim.
Describe the Geneva Summit in November 1985
-Before the summit, Gorbachev appointed a new foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, to replace the old hardliner Andrei Gromyko. At Geneva, Gorbachev and Reagan met for the first time.
-No formal agreements were made but Reagan and Gorbachev established a good working relationship, and a mutual desire to improve relations between their countries.
Describe the Reykjavik Summit in October 1986
-Gorbachev was worried about the danger that nuclear weapons posed to the world.
-His desire to reduce the world stockpile of nuclear arms may well have been strengthened when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in April 1986.
-Large swathes of the Soviet Union and beyond were affected by nuclear fallout. At the summit, Gorbachev proposed phasing out nuclear weapons if the US gave up their SDI program.
-Both leaders knew that the Americans could not agree to give up SDI. Once again, the meeting broke up with no formal agreements but an improvement in relations.
Describe the Washington Summit in December 1987
-Gorbachev had now accepted that the Americans were not going to scrap SDI.
-He realised that his country’s best interests lay in agreements on disarmament, reducing spending on weapons and better relations with the West.
-This was the first Us-Soviet summit to lead to the signing of a formal treaty- the INF Treaty.
-The treaty said that both countries would abolish all land based missiles with a range of 500-5,500km.
Describe the Moscow Summit in 1988
-In this summit, some complex details related to the INF treaty was resolved.
-Later in the year, Gorbachev travelled to the USA, where he made a speech at the United Nations.
-There, he announced a reduction in Warsaw Pact troops and that Soviet forces would leave Afghanistan.
Describe the Malta Summit in 1989
-At Malta, Gorbachev met with the new American president, George Bush.
-No new agreements were made but both the USA and the Soviet Union saw this meeting as marking the end of the Cold War.
Explain what Caused the End of Soviet Control in Eastern Europe
-Once Gorbachev had announced that the Soviet Union was giving up the Brezhnev Doctrine, the Soviet satellite states were free to choose how they would be governed.
-They would no longer have to fear that the Soviets would intervene as they had in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
-Gorbachev had introduced reforms within the Soviet Union: restructuring the economy and introducing more openness to government.
-These changes further encouraged the people of the satellite states to introduce changes that would improve their standard of living and increase their individual freedoms.
Describe the Result of Gorbachev’s New Thinking
-Gorbachev’s reforms were not intended to bring an end to communism.
-They were designed to introduce reforms that would strengthen communist government, both within the Soviet Union and within the Soviet satellite states in the Warsaw Pact.
-As it turned out, within twelve months of his speech at the United Nations, the communist system would be dismantled throughout Eastern Europe.
-A year after that, the Soviet Union itself was disbanded.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in Hungary
-In May 1989, the government took down the fence along the border with non-communist Austria.
-It promised a new democratic government.
-Free elections were then held in October.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in Poland
-In June 1989, the trade union Solidarity was legalised.
-They won a landslide victory in Polish elections.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in Czechoslovakia
-In November 1989, the ‘Velvet Revolution’ overthrew the communist government.
-The anti-communist Vaclav Havel was elected president.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in East Germany
-In September 1989, huge numbers of East Germans left for the West. They travelled through Hungary to Austria. On 11 September, 125,000 East Germans crossed the border.
-In October 1989, Gorbachev refused to help the East German government put down demonstrations.
-In November 1989, the East German government announced that the border crossing to West Berlin would be opened.
-Thousands of East Germans forced their way through the crossing. People on both sides of the Berlin Wall started pulling it down.
-East and West Germany were formally reunited in 1990.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in Romania
-In December 1989, there were demonstrations against the communist government.
-The communist leader Ceausescu was overthrown and executed.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in Bulgaria
-In December 1989, the communist leader Peter Mladenov resigned live on national television.
-Free elections were held the following year.
Describe how Communist Rule Ended in Yugoslavia
-In December 1990, Slovenians voted to become independent in a free referendum.
-Yugoslavia broke up as Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
-They all declared independence during the 1990s.
Describe the Fall of the Berlin Wall
-For many citizens of east and West Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall meant that they could be reunited with relatives and friends who they had not seen for almost 30 years.
-There were scenes of great emotion as people realised that the restrictions that had prevented them from crossing the border were gone.
-People wanted to commemorate the day the Wall fell. For days after the border opened, people took hammers and chipped off their own souvenir piece to take home.
Describe the Significance of the Fall of the Berlin Wall
-In political terms, the fall of the Wall was mainly a symbolic event. By November 1989, East Germans could already travel to the West through Austria and the East German leader had been sacked.
-Throughout Eastern Europe, communist governments were falling and the Soviet Union showed it had no intention of stepping in to stop the wave of protest and demanded for reform.
-For 30 years, the Berlin Wall had stood for the division of Europe. It was a symbol of the Cold War and of Soviet control.
-On 9 November 1989, its destruction became the symbol of the end of Soviet control and the end of the Cold War.
Explain why the Warsaw Pact was Dissolved
-The 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 between the member states ended in early 1990 and the Pact was formally dissolved in July 1991.
Describe the Reunification of Europe
-The formation of the Warsaw Pact had formally divided Europe in two. Now its break-up indicated that the division between East and West was gone.
-The Cold War was over and there was no longer two armed alliances confronting each other across the ‘Iron Curtain’.
-With the end of the Warsaw Pact and the Berlin Wall, the ‘Iron Curtain’ ceased to exist.
-The confrontational politics that had brought the world close to nuclear war on at least one occasion during the Cold War became a thing of the past.
Describe the Creation of Independent Countries in Eastern Europe
-The end of the Warsaw Pact led to many countries becoming truly independent of the Soviet Union and governing themselves for the first time in decades.
-They no longer had to follow policies created in Moscow, or run their economies to benefit the Soviet Union.
-After the Warsaw Pact was finished, every single one of its members abandoned communism.
Describe Opposition Towards Gorbachev
-Losing control over the Soviet satellite states played a major part in the downfall of Gorbachev in the Soviet Union.
-Hard line communists blamed him for losing control over Eastern Europe and threatening Soviet security.
-His position became worse when the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all declared themselves independent of the Soviet Union during 1990.
Describe Gorbachev’s Fall From Power
-In August 1991, the communist hardliners staged a coup against Gorbachev.
-Boris Yeltsin, rallied the people of Moscow to oppose the coup and Gorbachev continued in government, but the coup severely damaged his authority.
-The leaders of the other Soviet republics took advantage of Gorbachev’s weakness and 2 of them joined together in a Commonwealth of Independent States.
-Gorbachev could not continue under these circumstances. On 25 December 1991, he announced his resignation.
-His resignation was immediately followed by the break-up of the Soviet Union.
