Help I Do IB: Topic 5 - End of the Cold War

End of the Cold War

Impact of Mikhail Gorbachev:

Introduced two key reforming ideas – perestroika (reconstructing) aimed at restructuring the economy and glasnost (openness) was the principle that every area of the regime should be open to public scrutiny
Involved greater democratization
Intended to make the Soviet system more productive and responsive
Reduction in military spending, since Soviets couldn’t rise to the challenge of matching Reagan’s SDI system
He decided to abandon the arms race and attempt a negotiated reduction in arms with the US
Chernobyl disaster heightened Gorbachev’s awareness of the dangers of nuclear power
Reagan was also interested in disarmament and had previously put forward to the Soviets an arms control proposal known as ‘Zero Option’, which would eliminate all intermediate-range missiles in Europe – Gorbachev was prepared to discuss

Geneva Summit, December 1987 > no substantial progress made, but leader agreed nobody could win a nuclear war
Reykjavik Summit, December 1987 > talks ended without agreement, mainly because of disagreement over SDI
Washington Summit, December 1987: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty (INF Treaty) was signed which actually agreed to abolish weapons – land-based missiles of intermediate and shorter range
Moscow Summit, May 1988: disagreement over SDI, but reductions negotiations continued

By 1988 G announced plans to withdrawal from Afghanistan and he pulled back Soviet aid to its ‘allies’ in the developing world
Gorbachev’s willingness to tackle the issue of nuclear weapons, along with his new style of politics and doing business with the west, were key to explaining the thawing

Role of Ronald Reagan:

Combination of military and ideological pressures gave Soviet Union little choice but to abandon expansionism abroad and repression at home
Reagan military build-up foreclosed Soviet military options while pushing the Soviet economy to the breaking point
Star Wars initiative put Soviets on notice that the next phase of the arms race would be waged in areas the West held a decisive technological edge

Long-term factors in the ending of the Cold War:

Both political and economical policies in Soviet Union were in crisis
Under Brezhnev the Soviets spent even more resources on foreign policy
Under Brezhnev USSR achieved parity with US in nuclear field
Period of stagnation and decline
Serious lack of spending on consumer goods and domestic economy
Falling behind in modern technology and industrial output was declining
Workers had little incentive to work harder or produce better goods
Labor moral was low with high absenteeism and chronic alcoholism
G was forced to take the actions that he did in both internal reform and relations with West

What was the role of nationalism in ending the Cold War:

Late 1980s a resurgence in nationalist movements began to develop in most of the satellite states because of; deterioration of living standards, the fact that the USSR was becoming less involved in internal affairs of these countries, and the implications of Gorbachev’s reforms
G made it clear he was unwilling to use force to maintain control over satellite states
G made it clear Brezhnev Doctrine would not be implemented and 1989 saw a series of revolutions, resulting the in the whole Soviet system being swept away
Collapse began in May 1989 when Hungarian government dismantled the barbed-wire fences on the boarder with Austria – thousands of Hungarians and East Germans crossed over Austria to cross into West Germany

In Poland, the union movement called ‘Solidarity’ had been suppressed in 1981 by General Jaruzelski
Continued popular support for Solidarity due to the combination of economic stagnation that the government failed to solve and support from the Catholic Church
Solidarity was legalized in 1988
A Solidarity leader became Prime Minister
The Communist Party had been defeated by huge popular vote and the government was the first in the Eastern bloc not to be controlled by Communists
Absence of internal or external support > Polish Communist Party collapsed

In East Germany Honecker was particularly hated and by mid-1980s there was growing pressure in the gov to remove him
People criticized the harsh and repressive East German system and openly demanded reforms
German holiday makers in Hungary crossed into Austria across new open boarder
G made it clear that he would not intervene if there was a full-scale revolt
Demonstrations in East German cities continued to grow and a new leader, Egon Krenz, was put in place by Politburo
In order to try and stem the flow of people from East Germany, the government announced on 9 November 1989 the easing of travel and emigration restrictions
Although not actually intending this to mean an immediate opening of checkpoints through the Berlin Wall, the lack of clarity in the official statement meant that thousands of East Berliners immediately descended on the checkpoints
Lacking direction from above, guards opened the barriers
Within 24 hours, the Berlin Wall had ceased to be the symbol of Cold War division and instead its destruction by the people had become of symbol of ending the Cold War
When free elections were held in 1990, parties in favor of unification with West Germany win a majority of seats
East and West Germany were reunited on 3 October 1990

Reform in Hungary came more from within the Hungarian Communist Party itself
Reformers encouraged by the new policies expounded from Moscow, sacked the hardline leader, Kadar, and then dominated the government
On October 23 1989 declared the Third Hungarian Republic
First free elections held in 1990

‘Velvet Revolution’
Government was forced to respond to mass demonstrations calling for reform
Co-ordinated by organization called Civic Forum
Warsaw Pact nations including USSR issued an official statement condemning the 1968 invasion and promised never to interfere with eachother’s internal affairs

End of USSR:

Failure to bring about improvement to economic situation meant he became increasingly unpopular
Events in EE brought calls for independence from the republics of the Soviet Union
1991 the Soviet empire disintegrated
In August, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania claimed their independence, as did the republics that had been part of USSR
The break-up of Soviet Union intensified hostility towards Gorbachev in Soviet Union and in August there was an attempted coup by Communist hardliners
Defeated by Boris Yeltsin and although Gorbachev was restored, he had lost authority
25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned
Commonwealth of Independent States was established and the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist

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