The Collapse Of Soviet Controll In Eastern Europe 1985-91 Flashcards
When did Gorbachev become leader of the Soviet Union?
1985
When was the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force)?
1987
When did Gorbachev win a nobel peace prize?
1990
At tye time Gorbachev came to power why was the Soviet Union facing problems?
Arms race was hirting the econemy whilst there was little investment in the Soviet economy and there was barley no inducstial growth in the USSR or the satalite states
Communsim was undesirable. West was a lot more desirable to live in
Lack of human rights
Polands loyalty was questionary because of solidarity movement
The satalite states were only kept in line by use of secret police
There wad been poor leadership of the USSR over the last couple years
When did Brezhnev die?
1982
Who was Brezhnev’s sucesser?
When did he die?
Andropov
1984
Who was Andropov’s succeser?
Whe did he die?
Chernenko
1985
What was effect of the solidarity movement in Poland?
It caused a huge threat to the USSR that is was banned
In 1981 authoritys decleared martial law
Spciet troops carried out manuvers around the Poland boarder ready to invade if necisary
What is martial law?
It can be imposed so that the military have controll over normall life
What was the secret police in East Germany called?
Stasi
What was the secret police called in Romania?
Securitate
When was the Chernobyl disaster?
Where?
26 April 1986
At the Chernobyl power station in the Soviet Union
How much radiation was released by the Chernobyl disaster?
100X more than the radiation released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb
What did the Soviet’s say about Chernobyl?
They were were reluctant to release details
How many people died directly from Chernobyl?
31
How many people were moved away from the Chernobyl disaster?
350,000 to avoid the radiation
How many deaths due to cancer were there because of the Chernobyl disaster?
It is uknown but a enviromentalist group Greenpeace estimate about 93,000 deaths
What is Chernobyl like now?
Wildlife thrives there in the exculsion zone
What is Gorbachev been said to have told in wife?
When?
In 1985
“We can’t go on living like this”
What did Gorbachev do to reform communism?
Indroduced new foreign policy and improved relations with the US
Dropped the Brezhnev doctrine
The Soviets would reduce spending on arms and deffence
The Soviets would withdraw from Afghanistan
What was Gorbachev’s new foreign policy’s?
Perestrokia
Glasnost
Explain perestrokia?
This reformed the Soviet’s economy to be more like the economys of western countries (captalist economys)
Explain Glasnost?
Roughly translates to openness/transparacy. It gave the people more freedom and made it clearer how the government worked
What did the dropping of the brezhnev doctrine mean?
It ment that the Soviet Union wouldn’t get involved in domestic affairs with other communist countries
What did Regan do and view gorbachev’s new thinking?
An opotunity to end the cold war he addopted an more open approach with the Soviet Union
