End of the Cold War

• 1980 saw deepening signs that the COLD WAR was getting more hostile.  The TWO SUPERPOWERS were as divided as ever. 1979-85 was called the NEW COLD WAR
• Detente came to an end following:

  • The soviet invasion of Afghanistan, This broke previous agreements on Soviet expansion.
  • Ronald Reagan being elected as President. He was a more hardline president, calling the USSR an "Evil Empire".
  • Continued Nuclear Expansion. Such as NATO missiles being placed in Europe, 1979.
• RONALD REAGAN:

  • Took office in January 1980.
  • Deep anti-communist stance. Evidenced by his famous speech to call the USSR an "evil empire"
  • Prepared to spend billions on new weapons programs, such as the Strategic defence initiative, which soon gained the nickname "star wars", which deeply concerned the USSR.
• "STAR WARS":

  • Massively expensive and raised the stakes in the Cold war.
  • The USSR simply couldn't begin to match the sheer cost of the programme (as the Americans guessed) They tried but soon found that the costs were beginning to affect the lives of Soviet Citizens. 
  • However, the Americans too began to suffer from the sheer costs involved! They were spending more than they had at the height of the Vietnam war!  

  
  

  Both sides realised they needed to sit down and talk over how to move ahead
• In 1985 the Communist Party in the USSR chose Mikhail Gorbachev  as their new leader.   Gorbachev immediately faced massive problems:

  • the USSR was losing the 'Arms Race' and could not keep spending money to keep up with the USA.
  • The USSR faced severe economic problems. Living standards were too low.
  • Millions of people faced starvation due to food shortages.
  • Corruption led to many senior communists taking money for themselves.
  • Soviet industry was out of date and needed modernised
  • The war in Afghanistan was bankrupting the USSR.
• Gorbachev knew that he could not improve the Soviet economy AND keep spending money on missiles.  If he cut the money spent on missiles then he needed to improve relations with the USA. In 1986 he announced that the USSR wanted to get rid of its nuclear weapons and was no longer interested in trying to spread communism. Gorbachev and Reagan held a number of meetings where they agreed to cut the number of weapons held by both countries, called the ARMS LIMITATION TALKS.  Gorbachev withdrew his troops from Afghanistan and reduced the size of the Soviet army.  
• Gorbachev knew that if Communism had any chance of surviving it had to adapt and change. He set about a number of Major reforms; the Brezhnev doctrine, perestroika and glasnost.
• PERESTROIKA The Soviet economy was backward and needed to be reformed. This policy encouraged more western style policies allowing the Russian people to set up their own businesses.
• GLASNOST This allowed greater political freedom - allowing the Russian people to debate and criticise government policies which they had not been allowed to do before
• BREZHNEV DOCTRINE: The Brezhnev Doctrine had said that the USSR would support communist states in Eastern Europe. Gorbachev now announced the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine - by ending the Cold War there was no longer any need to keep control in the Eastern bloc states. To show he meant it, he removed Soviet troops from Eastern Europe.
• • Gorbachev’s decision to announce an end to the Brezhnev Doctrine suggested that the Soviets would not intervene if any eastern European state threatened to break ties. However, people were nervous - thinking back to other false dawns like Hungary in 1956 or the Prague Spring. 
  • However, in 1989, one after the other the people of Eastern Europe voted to end communist government in their countries. 
  • The USSR did nothing this time to stop them. In the vast majority of cases this was a remarkably peaceful transition. Only in Romania was it accompanied by some violence. 
• Gorbachev’s policies were designed to save communism in the USSR.  However, not all the Communist Party leaders agreed with him.  Some thought he had gone too far.  In August 1991 an attempt was made to overthrow Gorbachev by hard liners.  The coup was defeated by troops loyal to Gorbachev.However, within four months:

  1. The Communist Party had been banned in Russia and the USSR had ceased to exist. 
  2. All 15 member republics had declared their independence.  
• Gorbachev’s decision to end the Cold War and reform the USSR had resulted in the end of communist control, though this had never been his intention