THE COLD WAR ENDS

1. THE COLD WARENDS

2. In the 1980s, new U.S. President Ronald Reagan helped win the Cold War against the Soviet Union

3. President Reagan’s stronganti-communist policies and the collapse of communist economies brought the Cold War to an end by 1991 Reagan took a strong stand against the USSR, calling it “an evil empire”

4. To restore America’s position as a dominant superpower, Reagan spent over TWO TRILLION DOLLARS on the American military

5. Reagan’s most ambitious program was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), called “Star Wars”: satellites designed to protect the U.S. from missile attacks

6. Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1982, at a time when the USSR was facing serious problems

7. “The government pretends to pay us, and we pretend to work.” Communism did not offer incentives for hard work; by the 1980s, the USSR had low industrial and agricultural production

8. The USSR spent 50%of its budget on the military: the arms race, fighting an expensive war in Afghanistan, and maintaining troops and tanks in Eastern Europe

9. Soviet leaders faced the impossible task of competing with SDI and taking the arms race into space

10. The Soviet government restricted freedom of speech and did not allow democratic elections, so no alternative opinions were offered

11. Gorbachev recognized that communism was failing; he wanted to make reforms

12. Gorbachev began three major reforms to save the communist system in the Soviet Union

13. Gorbachev introduced glasnost (“openness”) to encourage freedom of speech and to allow expression of new ideas “Be Bold, Comrade! Openness Is Our Strength!”

14. Perestroika relaxed some government controls over farms and factories to make production more efficient; it allowed citizens to open small businesses Democratization allowed citizens to vote for Communist politicians (but Communists only) “Don't Be Afraid of Work.”

15. In addition to his economic reforms, Gorbachev changed Soviet foreign policy

16. Reagan’s SDI plan forced Gorbachev to admit that the USSR could not afford to keep up with arms race

17. Gorbachev withdrew Soviet tank divisions from the communist nations in Eastern Europe

18. In 1989, Gorbachev ended the nine year war in Afghanistan

19. Reagan was able to work with Gorbachev to reduce Cold War tensions

20. Reagan visiting Moscow in 1988

21. In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to disarm all medium-range ICBMs

22. Rather than saving the communist system in the USSR and Eastern Europe, Gorbachev’s reforms helped bring an end to communism

23. In 1989, a surge of democratic revolution swept through the Eastern European communist satellites

24. Eastern European nations broke from Soviet control and created democracies Gorbachev did not use the Soviet military to stop these revolutions

25. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down by celebrating East Berliners and West Berliners; this was the symbolic end of communism and the Cold War

30. Ethnic nationalism and desire for democracy led to the break-up of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991

31. In 1990, the Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union

32. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart and 15 new nationswere formed

33. The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the true end of the Cold War The Death of the Soviet Union

35. WHAT CAUSED THE USSR TO BREAK UP AND COMMUNISM TO FALL? Reagan’s strong stand against the communism and outspending the USSR in the arms race they could not afford Gorbachev’s introduction of reforms made the flaws of communism as an economic system clear to the Russian people Gorbachev allowing Eastern European countries to have a taste of democracy and freedom made those countries want more; they broke free of the Soviets’ influence

36.  Revamped and redone by Christopher Jaskowiak Thanks to Brooks Baggettfor several of the slides