The ending of the Cold War

• December 1991 - leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine meet at Minsk and create the commonwealth of independent states (CIS)
• (26) december 1991 - the USSR supreme soviet council met and decided to dissolve the USSR.
• (27) December 1991 - Yeltsin seizes office from Gorbachev, the final line drawn under the Cold War
• The Soviet Union was a multiethnic and multilingual state made up of 15 republics. It was held together largely by force under the communist party
• 1988 - crisis in Azerbaijan as Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh demanded separation from Azerbaijan and incorporation into Soviet Armenia. Gorbachev revealed his insensitivity to the Armenian nationalist movement and sided with Azerbaijan
• 1989 - demands for Georgian independence - death of 20 pro-independence marchers, heightens the demand for independence rather that suppress ethnic separatism.
• May 1989 - Baltic assembly in Tallin (Estonia), began talks to separate from the Soviet Union
• (23) August 1989 - 2 million citizens formed a chain called the Baltic way across all three republics in protest
• february 1990 - Lithuania first stage to declare independence, followed by Estonia in March and Latvia in May
• The soviets made a last attempt to regain control in January 1991 by sending troops to Lithuania and Latvia, 12 people killed in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius
• August 1991 - attempted coup against Gorbachev, failed. Gorbachev‘s position was never quite the same, resigns as General Secretary of the Party on the 24th of August 1991
• Gorbachev resigned as president on December 25th 1991
• Gorbachev accepted that a united Germany being a member of NATO was inevitable, the USSR was in desperate need of money so he would compromise in order to keep the USSR together. He agreed to remove soviet military presence from East Germany and put no restrictions on German sovereignty. The reunification of Germany took place in October 1990.
• George H.W Bush won the US presidential election in November 1988.
• Arms control negotiations with the USSR resumed in September 1989, soviet power in Eastern Europe declining and Gorbachev’s ability to negotiate with the USA from a position of strength rapidly diminishing. Hopes of finalising START.
• Malta summit December 1989. Eastern europe had changed beyond recognition. Moves were made towards a closer economic relationship between the Soviet Union and the USA. This conference was a sign of the end of the Cold War, at least from an economic perspective.
• Late 1980’s - soviet union was moving slowly toward a market-driven economic system and away from the state-controlled centrally planned economic system dictated under communism.
• At Malta 1989, Gorbachev made it clear that the Soviet Union would not use force to prevent Eastern European states determining their own political futures. Bush agreed also to leave the decisions relating to German reunification to the Germans themselves and did not intervene.
• There were no formal agreements signed at Malta 1989 as the main goal was to discuss the rapid changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Economic shift. The summit paved the way for the conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. this was signed in Paris in November 1990 by Gorbachev, bush and other European leaders.
• As early as 1982 the soviet politburo realised that the war with Afghanistan could not be won but they refused to admit defeat or withdraw forces. Having invoked the Brezhnev Doctrine, they could not withdraw.
• In Gorbachev’s view, if communism was to be preserved globally, an end to the Brezhnev doctrine was critical. As a result he wanted to remove troops from Afghanistan almost as soon as he took office in 1985
• Glasnost allows people to express anti-government opinions under Gorbachev
• The Americans supplied weapons to the Afghan Mujaheddin Guerrilla fighters and both the soviet and Afghan armies failed to prevail against them. There was large public opposition in response to the conflict as a result of glasnost as well as massive casualties.
• Gorbachev informs Babrak Karmal (head of the revolutionary Council of Afghanistan) that the soviets could not maintain the Afghan government indefinitely, and prepared him for the withdrawal of soviet troops, which began in 1988. The final troops left in 1989.
• Like Richard Nixon in Vietnam, Gorbachev wanted a "peace with honour" outcome.
• Contras


  Armed opposition group in Nicaragua
• Contras saw a reduction in funding from the USA


  Late 1980s
• Ceasefire agreement


  1. Contras remained armed

  2. Sandinistas agree to hold elections on 25/2/90
• Sandinista regime


  Ruling government in Nicaragua
• Sandinistas expected an easy victory in the elections held on 25/2/1990
• Violeta Chamorro


  Presidential candidate of the Sandinista opposition parties
• Violeta Chamorro was very popular and received $1 million in financial support from the USA and help from Venezuela
• 11 years of civil war were ended when Chamorro removed the Contras, leaving the Sandinistas without opposition
• The Nicaraguan economy was ruined and US aid that totalled over $300 million in two years did not achieve much and US politicians withdrew aid in 1992
• in 1984 (midst of the Salvadorian Civil war), elections were held and the leader of the most left-leaning party allowed to participate in the elections, José Napoleon Duarte, won.
• The USA contributed $6 million towards Duarte's campaign in El Salvador, fearful of another outcome.
• El Salvador: Although Duarte tried to limit the power of the armed forces, atrocities continued with individual officers conducting campaigns they arbitrarily called insurgents.
• The USA under Reagan and Bush funded the Salvadorian Government and provided military assistance, emphasising their distaste towards communism.
• El Salvador: 1987 Amnesty law intended to release those falsely accused from prison and absolved members of the military death squads, angering much of the public.
• El Salvador: 1988 elections see the presidency of Alfredo Cristiani and continued public anger. Opposition FMLN launched a new offensive against the government.