U7L2 The End of the Cold War

Question 1

Which super power invaded Afghanistan?

Answer 1

The Soviet Union

Question 2

Why didn’t the U.S. ratify the SALT II Treaty?

Answer 2

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan

Question 3

Why didn’t the U.S. take part in the 1980 summer Olympic Games in Moscow?

Answer 3

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan

Question 4

Despite worldwide criticism, how long did the Soviet Union stay in Afghanistan?

Answer 4

10 years

Question 5

How did the Afghan rebels fight the Soviet Union?

Answer 5

The U.S. supplied them

Question 6

How did the Soviet Union do against the rebels?

Answer 6

They suffered heavy losses as Afghan rebels, supplied by the United States, battled the communist government.

Question 7

Why was the Soviet Union suffering economic loses?

Answer 7

The war in Afghanistan became so costly for the Soviets that it weakened the Soviet economy, and Soviet forces could not remain.

Question 8

When did the Soviet Union pull all its troops out of Afghanistan?

Answer 8

In 1989, the Soviets were forced to pull all troops out of Afghanistan.

Question 9

How did Reagan want to deal with the Soviet Union?

Answer 9

Reagan wanted to deal with the Soviets from a position of strength.

Question 10

What did Reagan ask of Congress so that he could deal with the Soviets?

Answer 10

He persuaded Congress to increase military spending by more than $100 billion during his first five years in office.

Question 11

What did Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) call for?

Answer 11

His Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) also called for the development of a new weapons system that Reagan hoped could destroy Soviet missiles from space.

Question 12

What became SDI’s nickname?

Answer 12

SDI was nicknamed Star Wars after a popular movie of the time.

Question 13

What happened in December 1981 in Poland?

Answer 13

In December 1981, with Soviet backing, Poland’s communist government cracked down on Solidarity. Solidarity members had gone on strike at Polish shipyards to demand labor reforms.

Question 14

What is a solidarity?

Answer 14

An independent labor union

Question 15

What was the The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) meant to do?

Answer 15

To detect and shoot down enemy missiles. Using mirrors, a ground-based laser would intercept missiles as they were detected. Space-based weapons were also planned that would disable or destroy missiles.

Question 16

Under Soviet pressure, what law did the Polish Government impose?

Answer 16

The martial law

Question 17

What is martial law?

Answer 17

Martial law involves the temporary substitution of military authority for civilian rule and is usually invoked in time of war, rebellion, or natural disaster. When martial law is in effect, the military commander of an area or country has unlimited authority to make and enforce laws.

Question 18

What did the U.S. do about Poland’s martial law?

Answer 18

President Reagan condemned the move. He urged the Soviets to allow Poland to restore basic human rights. The United States also put economic pressure on Poland to end martial law.

Question 19

What was the first sign of Soviet’s fall?

Economic

Answer 19

Economic problems grew in part because of the huge sums the Soviets were spending on their military to try to keep up with the United States, whose free market economy was much stronger. The Soviets had little money left for producing consumer goods. Soviet citizens stood in line for hours waiting for poorly made products. The communist system was not working. The time was ripe for reform.

Question 20

Who was the new Soviet leader in 1985?

Answer 20

Mikhail Gorbachev

Question 21

What were Mikhail Gorbachev’s views?

Answer 21

He believed that only major reforms would allow the Soviet system to survive.

Question 22

Why did Mikhail Gorbachev back glasnost?

Answer 22

Glasnost, Gorbachev hoped, would lead citizens to find solutions to pressing economic and social problems. This new openness was a break with the past, when any criticism of government policies had been quickly silenced.

Question 23

What was glasnost?

Answer 23

The Russian term for speaking out openly.

Question 24

Gorbachev realized that he could not solve the Soviet Union’s economic problems without cutting military spending sharply. To do is what did he have to do first?

Answer 24

He had to have better relations with the United States.

Question 25

How did Gorbachev make better relations with the U.S.?

Answer 25

President Reagan and Gorbachev met at several summit meetings.

Question 26

What is a summit meeting?

Answer 26

A summit meeting is a conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations.

Question 27

Why did President Reagan attend the summit meetings with Gorbachev?

Answer 27

Reagan agreed to these meetings because he approved of Gorbachev’s new policy of openness.

Question 28

What was the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty?

Answer 28

In 1987, the two leaders (Reagan and Gorbachev) signed an arms control pact called the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty.

Question 29

What is did the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty do?

Answer 29

In it, both nations agreed to get rid of their stockpiles of short and medium-range missiles. To prevent cheating, each side would have the right to inspect the other’s missile sites.

Question 30

How did Gorbachev removing troops from Afghanistan affect their relations with the U.S.?

Answer 30

Two years later, after the INF treaty as signed, Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. This action removed another barrier to cooperation between the superpowers.

Question 31

What caused Eastern European countries to change and reform their government?

Answer 31

In the late 1980s, Eastern European governments could no longer control the rising demands of their people for democratic and economic reforms. With opposition so widespread, most of those governments did not dare to use military force to oppose change. Furthermore, the Soviet Union did not have the power to suppress these protests. It was too busy trying to solve its own problems.

Question 32

Describe Poland’s first free election in 50 years.

Answer 32

Polish voters rejected communist candidates in favor of those put up by the trade union, Solidarity. Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa, had once been jailed by the Communists for almost a year. After the elections, he became head of a new Polish government.

Question 33

How did Romania get rid of its communist government?

Answer 33

In Romania, a violent revolt toppled the country’s longtime communist dictator.

Question 34

How did East Germany get rid of its communist government?

Answer 34

In East Germany, protests in 1989 forced the communists from power. The government was forced to open gates in the Berlin Wall when citizens demanded to be let through. By 1990, Germany was reunited under a democratic government.

Question 35

What was the Soviet Union made up of?

Answer 35

Soviet Union was made up of 15 different republics held together by a strong central government in Moscow.

Question 36

How much power did the 15 republicans have in the Soviet Union?

Answer 36

Under Soviet rule, the republics had few powers. All important policy decisions were made in Moscow. Moscow was also the capital of the republic of Russia, containing most of the land and people of the Soviet Union.

Question 37

Describe how the Soviet Union fell.

Answer 37

By 1990, resentment of Moscow was high in the non-Russian republics. Some of their people demanded self-rule. Meanwhile, Gorbachev allowed political parties to form. For nearly 70 years, the Soviet Union had been a one-party communist state.

Hard-line communist officials were outraged. A group of them sent troops to oust Gorbachev. Their power grab did not last long. A Moscow politician who had rejected the Communist Party, Boris Yeltsin, led thousands of Russians in protest. They surrounded the Parliament building and forced troops to pull back.

As a Communist rejected by his own defeated party, Gorbachev was weakened. In the months that followed, republic after republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. In late 1991, Gorbachev resigned. By then, the Soviet Union had collapsed.

Fifteen new nations emerged from the old Soviet Union. Of these, Russia was the largest and most powerful.

Question 38

After Russia broke away from the Soviet Union, what did they do?

Answer 38

It began the difficult task of building a new economy based on a free-market system. In a free market, individuals decide what and how much to produce and sell. Under communism, the government had made such economic decisions.

Question 39

Which countries aided Russia?

Answer 39

The United States and Western European nations provided economic aid to Russia, the other former Soviet republics, and Eastern European nations. American experts offered advice to political and business leaders in Russia and Eastern Europe on the free-market system.

Question 40

What did the U.S. hope from these old communist countries?

Answer 40

The United States was eager to see stable, democratic governments emerge in the old communist world. It also hoped that the new nations would become trading partners.

Question 41

Why did some Eastern Europe countries join NATO?

Answer 41

Meanwhile, nations formerly under Soviet domination in Eastern Europe sought to protect their new freedom.

Question 42

When did East Germany join NATO?

Answer 42

East Germany became part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, when Germany reunified in 1990.

Question 43

NATO.

Answer 43

In 1999, President Clinton welcomed Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary into NATO.

Question 44

What is the nickname for Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative?

Answer 44

Star Wars

Question 45

Who was the new leader who rose to power in the Soviet Union in 1985?

Answer 45

Mikhail Gorbachev

Question 46

What was the final event of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991?

Answer 46

Gorbachev resigned from office.

Question 47

How did the Cold War affect American life?

Answer 47

Students in the 1950s and 60s practiced crouching under their desks in case of atomic attack.

Question 48

How much money did the U.S. spend on the Cold War?

Answer 48

From 1946 to 1990, the United States spent over $6 trillion on national defense. The development of nuclear weapons and the arms race had created new dangers for the world.

Question 49

How did the Cild War affect the making of nuclear bombs?

Answer 49

During and after the Cold War, other nations besides the superpowers worked to develop their own nuclear weapons.

Question 50

How did the Cold War spilt America?

Answer 50

The search for Communists in the 1950s had created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. The Vietnam War had split the American public in an often bitter debate. Many Americans greeted the end of the Cold War with relief.

Question 51

What was the “peace dividend”?

Answer 51

The money saved by reducing military spending, sometimes called a “peace dividend,” helped Clinton to wipe out the federal budget deficit. Some economists believe that it contributed to the economic boom during the Clinton years.

Question 52

What was the other peace dividend that couldn’t be measured in money?

Answer 52

This was the feeling, after decades of living in fear of another world war, that the United States was free at last from serious external threats.

Question 53

How much did the United States spend on national defense for the Cold War?

Answer 53

more than $6 trillion

Question 54

What did nations other than the superpowers begin doing during and after the Cold War?

Answer 54

They started working to develop nuclear weapons.

Question 55

How did Reagan deal with the Soviet Union from a position of strength?

Answer 55

Development of the Strategic Defense Initiative

Question 56

Which of the following is the best description of a reason the Soviet Union collapsed?

Answer 56

Gorbachev allowed political parties other than his own

Question 57

How did A,eri and react to the end of the Cold War?

Answer 57

Americans the cheered emergence of democratic governments