The End of the Cold War

1
The End of the Cold War

• By Kyle Wolf and Leo Stagg

2
Thesis

• The Cold war ended in many different aspects. It
  ended economically when the Soviet Union lost the
  arms race, socially with the destruction of the
  Berlin Wall, and politically in 1991 with the
  fall of the Soviet Union.

3
President Ronald Reagan

• Elected President in 1981
• Known as Great Communicator
• Worked with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to
  bring an end to the cold war.
• Fought for Strategic Defense Initiative. (SDI)

4
Mikhail Gorbachev

• Came to power in 1985
• Gorbachev knew that Russia needed a new
  economical system
• Russia not stable enough for change

5
Gorbachevs New Policies
Perestroika
Glasnost

• Roughly translated to Reconstructing
• Gorbachevs plan for economic and political
  reconstruction
• Blamed for decline in economy

• Roughly translated to Openness(in political
  affairs)
• This policy allowed more freedom among public
  citizens.
• Citizens criticized the government

6
Treaties

• December 8 1987- Intermediate-Range Nuclear
  Forces Treaty
• Eliminated intermediate-range missiles
• May 1988- Ratified treaty to include shorter
  range missiles
• Strategic Defense Initative- A peace-through-stren
  ght

r
7
Hungarys Independence

• Hungary had a failed attempt at achieving
  democracy and independence in 1956 because they
  were crushed by Soviet tanks, but it didnt stop
  them
• In 1989 the economy got very bad and communists
  were losing control
• Hungarians grew mad and made the regime promise
  political changes and more democracy
• Hungarians began to plan elections
• Hungarian government took down barbed wire on the
  border of Austria and the West and Soviets did
  nothing about it
• The countrys boldness stunned the Warsaw Pact
• Elections were held and the communists were
  defeated giving Hungary its independence

8
Berlin Wall Falls

• Border was reopened for private trips abroad by
  East Berlin
• Demolition of the wall started in little areas as
  border crossings so that people could travel
  through (pieces of the wall were kept and sold)
• July 1990- economic and social union between East
  and West Germany was formed and all restrictions
  on travels were dropped
• Wall was nearly completely gone by 1991

9
(No Transcript)
10
Fall of Communism

• Fall of the Berlin Wall started reform movements,
  which ended communism
• Czechoslovakia demanded political reforms
• Romania overthrew communism with popular protest
  and the force of arms in December of 1989
• Communist parties ceded power in Bulgaria and
  Albania
• Germany reunited (October 1990)
• Boris Yeltsin was elected in Russia (May 1990) so
  Gorbachev was forced to give up power
• Collapse of communism in Europe was the end of
  the Cold War

11
Fall of the Soviet Union

• Gorbachev came to power after Konstantin
  Chernenko
• Gorbachev stood for glasnost and perestroika and
  he and his allies called for revolutionary
  changes
• They made reforms and signed treaties to disarm
  both of the superpowers
• Withdrew forces from Afghanistan
• Boris Yeltsin was elected in 1991
• Russia and U.S. have grown closer and the world
  safer

12
Lithuania Declares Independence

• Originally it was occupied by the USSR, then the
  Nazis, then the Soviets
• Protests against the Soviets started in 1987
• Lithuanian communists voted to break with the
  Soviets
• Declared their independence in 1990
• Won their independence in 1991

13
Warsaw Pact Ends

• Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and
  Mutual Assistance
• Established six years after NATO as a communist
  military alliance to maintain power over Eastern
  Europe
• Soviets had control of the Warsaw Pact allies
  Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
  Poland, and Romania
• When peaceful revolutions in Poland, Hungary,
  East Germany, and Czechoslovakia, the Soviet
  Union started losing control
• East Germanys membership ended when Germany
  reunited
• Hungary withdrew
• The rest of the allies decided to end the pact in
  1991