end of the cold war

• when was the solidarity movement?

  1980-81
• who ran the solidarity movement?

  Lech Walesa
• how was the solidarity movement repressed?

  by General Jaruzelski by martial law
• why was the solidarity movement so popular?


  due to a combination of economic stagnation and the support from the catholic church
• when was solidarity legalised?

  1988
• What was Ostpolitik?


  - Focus on reducing tensions to allow closer relations with GDR, recognised 2 Germanies but co-operation

  - '69 draft treaty prepared including recognition of both countries and GDR entering UN as sovereign nation

  - '70 Brandt visits Erfurt in GDR, widely welcomed

  - Stoph, GDR minister-president visited Cassel in FDR, insisted during meeting that FRG must recognised GDR before agreement and demanded DM100 million in compensation for emigrants leaving, FRG do not agree

  - Basic Treaty of June 1973, two Germanies recognise each other's right to exist, FRG relinquishes claim as sole representation of german nation but offers FRG citizenship to any GDR emigrants, treaty spoke of normalision relations through developing commercial, tourist, cultural and communication links

  - May 1974, exchange diplomats, formally recognising each other
• When was the Helsinki agreement?


  August 1975
• what was the Helsinki agreement?

  Signed by 35 nations, including the U.S. It was a non-binding agreement, tried to improve relations with the communist bloc. Pledged to respect basic human rights.
• what was the 'first blow' to the helsinki accords?

  the soviet union placing SS-20 medium-range nuclear missiles in central europe in 1976
• when did the Soviet union invade afghanistan?

  1979
• how many soviet troops were sent into afghanistan?

  100,000 +
• how did the soviet presence in afghanistan impact the USSR?

  due to the soviet union only controlling 1/5th of the country by 1985 due to the afghan army disintegrating and Babrak Kamal not having support of the public - it became a substantial economic strain.
• what was the USSR reaction to the invasion of afghanistan?

  the US saw this as the soviet union trying to expand further towards the indian ocean and persian gulf which contained most of the world's oil supply.

  • carter banned grain exports to the USSR
  • the senate refused to ratify the SALT II treaty
  • boycotted the olympic games in moscow 1980
  • financed the supply of weapons to Afghan mujahedin
• how can poland be seen as the key country in the soviet bloc by the 1980s?


  it strategically lay on the main route to the west, it provided around 1/3rd of warsaw pact forces, it had largest population out of satellite states at 36 million
• what caused the solidarity crisis in poland?

  rising oil prices forced up prices and economic recession meant poland had no market for its exports.
• when was Solidarity recognised by the polish government?

  August 1980
• when was Solidarity outlawed?


  after the declaration of martial law in 1982 - october 1982
• how can ostpolitik be seen as under threat by the 1980s?


  argued that it was beginning to degenerate into an open appeasement of Moscow and Eastern Europe regimes.
• when did Gorbachev get into power?

  1983
• what were the problems facing Gorbachev?

  • the collapse of detente had led to a new and expensive arms race
  • USSR suffering from global over-stretch, fighting unwinnable war in Afghanistan
  • soviet economy was stagnating and needed technological and financial input from the west
• why was the USSR economy so weak?

  the system was poor at adapting to supplying at competitive prices in the multitude of consumer goods which were available to the capitalist states.

  USSR had failed to modernise economy in response to the escalating rise in oil prices in the 80s
• how did Gorbachev aim to reform the economy?

  • increase investment in technology
  • restructure the economy so it was less centralised
  • give workers greater freedom and incentives to make them work harder
• what was Glasnost?

  a policy of openness - economic and political issues debated openly + from spring 1986 onwards censorship was progressively eased and foreign broadcasts allowed.
• how did Glasnost impact the USSR?

  • ensured publicity of Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in 1986
  • publicised soviet failures in afghan war
  • investigative journalism led to exposing corruption in communist party
  • irreparable damage to party
• what were the positives of glasnost?

  • new political organisations - such as the democratic union
  • books by former dissidents published
  • religion tolerated
• what was perestroika?

  restructuring the economy so it was less centralised
• when was the geneva summit?

  November 1985
• what happened at the geneva summit?

  no real progress, personal relationships established, agreed on no nuclear war
• when was the reykjavik summit?

  October 1989
• what happened at the reykjavik summit?

  general disagreement over SDI -reagan refused to back down on SDI, but taks covered most sweeping arms control proposal in history
• when was the washington summit?

  december 1987
• what happened at the washington summit?

  INF treaty was signed - banded land based short and immediate range missiles - agreements reached on inspection of each others destroyal of missiles
• when was the moscow summit?

  may 1988
• what happened at the moscow summit?

  reduction negotiations continued - reagan publicly agrees no longer believed USSR 'evil empire'
• when were the CFE talks?

  november 1990
• what happened at the CFE talks

  a treaty on conventional armed forces in europe - established limits on conventional military equipment in europe + demanded destruction of excess weaponry.
• how did communism collapse in Poland?

  solidarity won first free elections in 1989, Gorbachev did not intervene to support communist regime so polish communist party collapsed
• how did communism collapse in Hungary?

  hungary declared itself a republic and hungarians free to travel abroad without special permission
• how did communism collapse in bulgaria?

  1989 - Zhivkov ousted and Mladenov replaced him who introduced free elections which was won by bulgarian communist party reformed as bulgarian socialist party
• how did communism collapse in east germany?

  lack of intervention from gorbachev resulted in collapse of berlin wall and reunification of germany