The Legacy of the Cold War 1991-1995 Flashcards
What happened when Tito died?
The prestige of Tito had kept Yugoslavia under control despite economic problems, but his death in 1890 saw the leaders using ethnic rivalries and nationalism to strengthen their position
What happened to communists in Yugoslavia?
They were removed in January 1990 and Markovic announced multi-party elections, but these were only at state level, leading to nationalist victories and demands for independence. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo all declared independence after 1991
What was the most powerful state after the collapse of Yugoslavia?
Seria was the most powerful state under Milosevic, who was responsible for ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Bosnia, on muslim minorities, although there was bitter fighting in Croatia too over ethnic divisions
What was the Soviet deficit by 1989?
It was 100 billion roubles, with perestroika decentralising the economy, leading to the crisis reawakening nationalism in republics who no longer wanted to stay within the USSR
What happened in the Baltic States?
Popular fronts were created as reformers and in the February 1990 elections there were victories for pro independence candidates. In March, Lithuania and Estonia declared their independence followed by Latvia in may, although Gorbachev sent troops into all three baltic states in April 1990. In Vilnius Lithuania they seized the radio and television station and killed 13 civilians leading to massive protests
What happened in Armenia and Azerbaijan?
They fought over a disputed strip of land Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1990 soviet troops entered Baku to restore order but 130 protesters were killed, and Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Moldova held protests against Soviet rule
What happened in Ukraine and Belarus?
Ukraine originally wanted just autonomy but eventually called for independence and Belarus followed suit after finding mass graves of these executed during the Stalin era
What happened with Yeltsin?
He was Gorbachev’s main rival, and had been expelled form the Politburo in the 1980s became the leading political in Russia and was elected chairman of the congress. On the 12th June 1990 the congress announced that its laws took precedence over those of the supreme soviet, and all other republics followed suit in announcing their sovereignty
What happened in March 1991?
Gorbachev created a new draft union treaty that was supported by most republics in a referendum, although he was under threat from hardline communists and Yeltsin, who had been elected president of Russia in June 1991
What happened in august 1991?
On the 18th hard line communists tried to take over Moscow while Gorbachev was on holiday. Yeltsin drummed up public support against the coup and the leaders backed down, making Yeltsin look like a hero while Gorbachev was sidelined
When was the communist party made illegal?
August 1991
When did Ukraine declare independence?
After a referendum in December 1991, and the CIS was formed as a voluntary grouping of former soviet states
What was Yeltsin forced to do in 1993?
He was forced to shell the parliamentary building to remove former communists and sent troops into Chechnya in 1994, killing 80,000 people
