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Gorby, Gorby!

 starter activity. Gorby, Gorby!. You are the new Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev. You need to make a few changes to improve the situation at home and abroad. What steps do you take to improve the domestic economy and international relations?. Why did the Cold War end?.

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Gorby, Gorby!

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  1. starter activity Gorby, Gorby! You are the new Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev. You need to make a few changes to improve the situation at home and abroad. What steps do you take to improve the domestic economy and international relations?

  2. Why did the Cold War end? Gorbachev and the end of Cold War

  3. How did Gorbachev improve relations with the US? • 1985, Gorbachev & Reagan met at Geneva to discuss arms reduction • 1987, Gorbachev & Reagan signed Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty removing medium range nuc. weapons from Europe • SALT developed into START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) What was so significant about the 1995 meeting?

  4. How did Gorbachev reform the USSR? • Identified key problems: Communist bureaucracy; low industrial output; high inflation; social probs – alcoholism; human rights • Perestroika – free market economics • Glasnost – openness in govt • Political prisoners released (e.g. Andrei Sakharov) Why were hard-line Communists extremely critical of this book?

  5.  Your task What kind of man was Mikhail Gorbachev? Read the letters sent to the Soviet leader in the late 1980s. Try to work out as much as you can about him from their contents. • What kind of person was he? • What changes did he introduce in the USSR? • What was his policy on Eastern Europe? • What was his attitude to disarmament? • What did he think about human rights?

  6.  Your task Write a letter to Gorbachev, explaining how you feel about the changes he made and why they are so important.

  7. How did the Soviet control of Eastern Europe collapse? 1989-1991

  8. ‘At the beginning of 1989 the Communists had been in complete…control of Eastern Europe. At the end of the year they were gone’.

  9. Poland, 1989 • 1989, Poland – free elections held for 1st time since WWII • Lech Walesa elected president • 1st non-Communist leader in Eastern Europe since 1945

  10. East Germany, 1989 • 1000s fleeing every year by 1989 • Demonstrations in E. German cities during state visit by Gorbachev • East Germany – Erich Honecker’s troops refused to shoot protestors • Honecker forced to agree to reforms • Nov 1989, Berlin Wall pulled down What makes this one of the most powerful images of the entire Cold War era?

  11. Czechoslovakia, 1989 • 24 November 1989, massive anti-Communist demo in Prague • Dubcek (former leader) & Havel (playwright) rallied support of crowds • December 1989, Communist leader resigned & replaced by Havel • 1990, free elections held

  12. Hungary, 1989 • Communist leader, Imre Pozgay accepted need for reform • Ban on opposition parties lifted • Communist Party renamed Socialist Party • 1990, free elections

  13. Romania, 1989 • Coup • Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu & wife Elena shot

  14. Bulgaria, 1989 • November 19189 Communist leader resigned • 1990 free elections

  15. Baltic States, 1990 • 1990, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia declared independence from USSR

  16. USSR, 1991 • Communists criticised G. for allowing collapse of USSR • Reformers wanted complete abolition of Communism • Feb. 1990, anti-Communist demo in Moscow • May Day 1990, G. booed Mounting opposition to Communism

  17. The End of Soviet Communism • 1991, G. under house arrest by hard-line Communists • Boris Yeltsin, an advocate of market economy &reform, gathered support from Russians to resist the coup • Coup demonstrated the unpopularity of Communism & popularity of reformers • Boris Yeltsin new Russian President Boris Yeltsin

  18.  Discussion What is this 1992 US cartoonist trying to say about the political problems facing America after the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe?

  19. Exam practice, question • ‘The world owes much to Gorbachev.’ Summarise and evaluate Gorbachev’s contribution to the improvement in international relations in the late1980’s. (10 marks)

  20. Exam question, practise Sample answer • What are the claims of the Reagan victory school? How adequate are they as an explanation of the end of the Cold War?

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