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End of the Cold War and Conclusions

End of the Cold War and Conclusions. HIST 1004 4/17/13. End of the Cold War. 1980’s: Divisions growing within Soviet Union Economic stagnation, burden of maintaining arms race, shortages, and anti-war movement question Soviet stability Mikhail Gorbachev (r. 1985-1991):

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End of the Cold War and Conclusions

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  1. End of the Cold War and Conclusions HIST 1004 4/17/13

  2. End of the Cold War • 1980’s: Divisions growing within Soviet Union • Economic stagnation, burden of maintaining arms race, shortages, and anti-war movement question Soviet stability • Mikhail Gorbachev (r. 1985-1991): reformist hoping to slow collapse of Soviet Union. • Glasnost: political openness permits criticism of government. • Perestroika: “Restructuring”, move away from state-planned economy. • 1989: Ends Afghan War

  3. Poland and Solidarity • Solidarity: labor union of Polish shipyard workers formed in 1980, 9 million members • Protest movement supported by Catholic Church and Polish Pope John Paul II • 1981: Polish government institutes martial law • 1985: Under glasnost, Solidarity is able to come into the open as a political opposition force. • Protests spread throughout Eastern Europe

  4. Collapse of Eastern Block • East European states began turning to the West for trade and financial assistance. • Warsaw Pact countries open for travel and bring in ideas, styles, and money from the West • Accelerates demand for change. • 1989: Eastern European communist governments collapse, most accept the inevitable. • Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian dictator, only violent overthrow

  5. Fall of the Berlin Wall • Nov. 9, 1989: Plans are made to open up the borders of East Germany, government official misspoke and announced this was effective immediately. • Crowds of Berliners thronged to checkpoints and eventually overran the wall. • Collapse (of both the wall and communism in general) was completely unexpected. • Quickly followed by a political unification of Germany

  6. The End of the Soviet Union • 1990: Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) break free from the Soviet Union • 1991: Botched hardline communist coup ends sympathy for communism • Russian Republic under Boris Yeltsin emerges at center of Commonwealth of Independent States • Collapse of USSR resulted in creation of many new nations, but most had legacies of the Soviet period and before to contend with…

  7. Beyond Communism • Former Soviet states had infrastructure and economy focused on Russian central planning • Even as capitalism expanded, few opportunities for new trade partners • Leadership in most new nations made up of old members of communist regime • In areas like Central Asia, this often meant Russians ruling over non-Russian states • In diverse regions, like Yugoslavia, the fall of communism also meant dissolution of the state and ethnic conflicts, including ethnic cleansing

  8. Clash of Civilizations • The end of the Cold War meant international politics had to be realigned. • Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor of government, offered one possibility. • What was Huntington vision of a post-Cold War world? • Nearly 20 years later, does he appear to have been at all correct in his assessment?

  9. The Clash of Civilizations Western, Orthodox, Islamic, African, Latin American, Sinic, Hindu, Buddhist, Japanese, Lone/non-major civilizations

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