The End of the Cold War 1970-91: The Collapse of Soviet Control

Question 1

Why Gorbachev scrapped the Brezhnev doctrine

Answer 1

• Believed openness would make all Eastern Bloc countries better
• Eastern Bloc communist governments only planning a little reform
• Reforms would end unrest in countries
• USSR had to improve trade relations iwth west for economy, to do so they needed to reduce repression
• Cost of troops and military hardware crippling to Soviet economy, could no longer afford maintenance of warsaw pact

Question 2

Timeline of the loosening soviet grip on Eastern Europe

Answer 2

• December 1988 Gorbachev announces end of Brezhnev Doctrine
• August 1989 Hungary opens borders to East Germans
• October 1989 Gorbachev announces Eastern Bloc states can go their own way
• November 1989 Fall of Berlin Wall
• December 1989 Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania

Question 3

Break up of Eastern Bloc

Answer 3

December 1988 Gorbachev announced ideology should play less part in foreign affairs, meants Soviet troops wouldn’t intervene in Eastern Europe to support communism
Announcement weakened all communist governments in Easter Europe, resulting in revolution 1989-90 of all these only Romanian revolution violent
In all Eastern Bloc countries non-communist governments came to power

Question 4

Events of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Answer 4

• Since summer 1989 demands for change building East Germany, resulting in pubic demonstration in East German cities
• East German Leader Eric Honecker received no support to deal with the protests with force from Gorbachev. Honecker resigned replaced with moderate Ergo Krenz
• growth of democracy Hungary meant East Germans could travel to West through Czechoslovakia and Hungary
• 9 November East Germany announced East Germans could now travel to West
• Crowds of jubilant Germans began to chip away at the wall leading to its collapse

Question 5

Sigificance of fall of Berlin Wall for Germany

Answer 5

• German reunification: East Germany ceased to exist and became part pf united Germany 1990 with Berlin as capital
• USSR withdrew troops from what was East Germany
• British, French, and US troops remained in Western Germany

Question 6

significance of fall of Berlin wall for Superpower relations

Answer 6

• End of Warsaw pact July 1991
• Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Easter Europe from 1990 onwards
• NATO continued but expanded including former members of Warsaw pact liek Poland and Hungary
• Fall of Berlin wall gave momentum to help ‘thaw’ the cold war
• The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Agreement 1990 set limits on non-nuclear forces deployed in Europe
• At Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) 199, US and USSR agreed to reduce nuclear warheads by 1/3, with additional underatking to reduce further

Question 7

Break-up of the Soviet Union

Answer 7

Gorbachev’s glasnost policies meant people could say their mind but perestroika made Soviet economy worse. meant living conditions fell further. Many soviet republics demanded independence 1990-91

Question 8

Growing opposition to Gorbachev

Answer 8

• Persetroika and glasnost not working with economy poor
• Many republics such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (Baltic states) wanted to leave USSR
• Some army officers felt Gorbachev betrayed communism. August 1991 launched a failed military takeover (coup) against him

Question 9

End of communism in Soviet Union

Answer 9

• Gorbachev tried saving soviet communism issuing constitution giving Soviet republics such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine more independence. However these countries wanted more independence rejecting constitution
• As a result, Gorbachev announced dissolution of USSR and his resgnation 25th December 1991
• Decline of communism meant USSR had less influence on other countries. This already resulted in end of the Warsaw pact July 1991

Question 10

Why Propoganda made the Soviet Union lose the cold war

Answer 10

Hard to ‘sell’ communism when capitalism seemed to work better and give people more

Question 11

Why the Afghan War made the Soviet Union lose the cold war

Answer 11

Huge cost of the long war was a major drain on Soviet economy

Question 12

Why economy made the Soviet Union lose the cold war

Answer 12

Soviet economy was never as productive as that of the US

Question 13

Why the 1970s-80s made the Soviet Union lose the cold war

Answer 13

Soviet economy stagnated under Brezhnev while US forged ahead: for example US developed computers, USSR feared what Soviet people might do with their own computers such as printing and distributing anti-Soviet documents

Question 14

Why freedom made the Soviet Union lose the cold war

Answer 14

Eastern Bloc and Soviet republics only existed because of force and repression

Question 15

Why the Arms Race made the Soviet Union lose the cold war

Answer 15

catching up with the US in 1960s crippled Soviet economy.

Question 16

Significance of the fall of the Soviet Union

Answer 16

• USSR became commonwealth of independent states January 1992
• Many Soviet states seceded from USSR and became wholly independent including Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as well as Asian republics such as Kazakhstan
• Cold war came to end as USSR no longer existed, no ideological difference. meeting of Bush and Gorbachev December 1989 (Malta Summit) already declared end of Cold war. paved the way for collapse of Warsaw pact whicch formally dissolved July 1991