The Ending of the Cold War, 1985-1991: Gorbachev and the ending of the Cold War

Question 1

Problems under the Brezhnev Era?

Answer 1

• Failing agriculture - suffered crop failures in 1972
• Cost of military/ arms race - under Brezhnev 25% of USSR’s GDP went to military - significant as Reagan wants to increase arms race again/ restart tension
• Lack of consumer goods in the market

Question 2

Gorbachev background

Answer 2

• Born into a peasant family
• First Soviet leader to be born during USSR
• His family were subject to the purges under Stalin

Question 3

What were Gorbachev’s key policies?

Answer 3

Perestroika
Glasnost

Part of Gorbachev’s ‘New Thinking’

Question 4

What was Perestroika?

Answer 4

Gorbachev’s policy to increase econimic performance of Russia

Question 5

What did Perestroika involve?

Answer 5

• Gave more autonomy to managers of production (without loss of state control)
• Ended state-controlled finances - opened USSR up to investment
• Allowed joint ventures of business in Soviets - so some businesses foriegn owned

Was a restructuring, not dismantling

Question 6

What was Glasnost?

Answer 6

• Gorbachev’s policy of openess
• Announced 1988, inrecognition of criticism of how the USSR had preseneted themselves
• Most stalinists dead, so Gorbachev can do this

Question 7

What did Glasnost involve?

Answer 7

Alowed critics of USSR more freedom to discuss political problems

Question 8

What 2 events encouraged Glasnost?

Answer 8

• Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986, where 31 died, which was revealed despite the government’s attempts to hide it
• After the return of dissident Andrei Sakharov from exile, he began discussing the conditions in Soviet prison camps and the suppression of citizen’s voices

Question 9

How did the Soviet Union’s foreign economic policies change as a result of economic problems?

Answer 9

By 1988, Comecon members were able to trade with the European Commission, rendering the Comecon now pointless.
The policy was suggested by the Genereal of Comecon Sychov in 1985.
USSR’s satellite states could now make own trade agreements.

Question 10

How successful was Perestroika?

Answer 10

• More FDI, but still many grain imports needed
• Led to inflation, which wages did not match.
• Failed for most of the population

Question 11

How successful was Glasnost?

Answer 11

• Led to a re-examination of government
• Criticism of previous policies such as forced collectivisation paved the way for wider reforms such as the end of collectivsation and shift towards more privitisation in agriculture.

Question 12

What did Gorbachev believe was the key to the USSR’s security?

Answer 12

Political and economic strentgh rather than nuclear strength
Therefore ending the cold war was needed

Question 13

What was Gorbachev the first USSR leader to do?

Answer 13

To foster the notion that there would not be inevitabke class conflict between capitalism and communism

Question 14

Why did Reagan and Gorbachev begin diplomacy?

Answer 14

Had some common interests; both feared MAD, wanted arms limitations.

Question 15

When was the Geneva Summit?

Answer 15

Novemeber 1985

Question 16

What was established at the Geneva Summit 1985

Answer 16

A general agreement that both the USSR and US would work towards a goal of cutting offensive nuclear weapon by 50%
A provisional agreement of limiting and hopefully eliminating medium range nukes
But no concrete outcome - symbolic only

Question 17

What did the joint statement from Reagan and Gorbachev from Geneva say?

Answer 17

‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’

Question 18

What was disgreed upon at Geneva?

Answer 18

SDI, as it would create a power imbalance

Question 19

When was the Reykjavik Summit?

Answer 19

October 1986

Question 20

What caused tension at the Reykjavik Summit?

Answer 20

• SDI
  Reagan was in favour of eliminating nukes, but Gorbachev wouldn’t discuss this unless Reagan agreed to abandon his SDI plans, which he refused.
  No agreements reached, although had discussions on human rights which gave the powers insights into each other. Gorbachev became convinced that Reagan would not comprimise on SDI.

Question 21

When was the Washington Summit?

Answer 21

December 1987

Question 22

What was the INF Treaty

Answer 22

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Ended using missiles between 500 - 5500km, and all these missiles would be destroyed by June 1991.
First time the powers had agreed to remove a whole class of nuclear weapons, a massive success.

Included no demands on SDI

Question 23

How many Intermediate-Range missiles were destroyed by the US and USSR after the INF Treaty?

Answer 23

846 were destroyed by the US
1,846 by the Soviet Union.

Question 24

Why did Gorbachev agree to stop insisting on Reagan dropping SDI?

Answer 24

• Gorbachev became convinced that Reagan would not comprimise on SDI.
• He took a gamble and stopped insisting on its removal, assuming it would hopefully never be created.
• This was because ending the arms race was more important, and Gorbachev needed to resume limitation talks to reduce economic spending on the arms race.
• This shows that Gorbachev favoured economic health over nuclear arms race domninance unlike previous USSR leaders.

Question 25

When was the Moscow Summit?

Answer 25

May - June 1988

Question 26

What happened at the Moscow Summit?

Answer 26

Officically stated goal was to agree to START, plus big things were expected as it was Reagan’s last year in office.
But, the focus was rather on cultural exchanges and human rights.
Reagan and Gorbachev signed 7 agreements on things such as fishing rights and student exchange programmes, but nothing on START.

START was intended to reduce the number of nuclear weapons to 5000 each

Question 27

What did Reagan do while in Moscow?

Answer 27

The summit gave him an opportunity to access the Russian people.
* He made an address at the Moscow State University, where he spoke about freedom and a vision of the Soviet Union without totalitarian rule (shows underlying ideological differences with Soviet Union remains)
* Reagan was asked if he still considered the USSR an ‘evil empire’, he said “No, that was another time, another era”. Just 5 years after he gave the evil empire speech.