cold war 1980s-1991

• In this video, the aim is to capture the complexity of the Cold War in the last decade
• The video is not attempting to fully explain every element or do justice to every incident
• The aim is to convey the context, complexity, and overlapping of important events that were all part of the Cold War
• The 1980s


  • The Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Soviets' own "Vietnam War"
  • Pro-democracy movements in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland with the Solidarity movement
  • The election of Republican president Ronald Reagan in the US, who reasserts US strength in the Cold War
• Strategic Arms Limitation/Reduction Talks

  Began in 1982 with the aim of reducing nuclear weapons
• As the arms talks progressed


  The US supported the anti-Sandinista movement in Nicaragua, supplying the Contra rebels to overthrow the left-wing government
• The Soviet Union shot down a Korean Airlines flight


  This led to great tension between the West and the Soviets
• There was a left-wing coup in Grenada that was quickly followed by a US invasion to overthrow it
• In the early 1980s, the Soviets announced they were abandoning the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks and would increase their number of nuclear missiles that could reach the US
• Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)


  A series of space-based satellites that would shoot down Soviet nuclear missiles before hitting the US, an attempt by the US to win the arms race
• The US settled down on the SDI budget in 1985, challenging the Soviets to increase their defense expenditure
• Mikhail Gorbachev becoming Soviet leader


  • Promised reforms like perestroika (restructuring the economy) and glasnost (openness and freedom of the press/opinion)
  • Saw the Soviet totalitarian system as unsustainable
• Gorbachev announced a withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan in 1988
• Gorbachev did not send troops to crush pro-democracy movements in Eastern Europe, emboldening further reforms
• The East-West German border opened, the Iron Curtain tore open


  November 9, 1989
• The East German government ordered the removal of the Berlin Wall


  November 10, 1989
• East and West Germans chipped away at the Berlin Wall themselves, celebrating its fall
• The Soviet Union and USSR announced an end to their Cold War issues

  December 1989
• In 1988, Estonia became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, followed by Lithuania and Georgia
• Communist leaders and military tried to overthrow Gorbachev, but failed as Boris Yeltsin came out against them


  August 1991
• The Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist


  December 25, 1991
• The Iron Curtain ceased to exist, borders opened up, and Germany reunited
• The pro-democracy movements in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War