Collapse of the USSR

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• Collapse of the USSR

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1980 Miracle on Ice

• The U.S. Olympic ice hockey team defeats the
  Soviet hockey team, considered the best team in
  the world, by a score of 4-3 during the 1980
  Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. The U.S.
  hockey team would go on to win the gold medal.
  The Soviets took home silver.

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1980 US boycotts Moscow Olympics

• The United States boycotts the Summer Olympics in
  Moscow, protesting Soviet military operations in
  Afghanistan, which had begun a year earlier.
  During the Olympics, Soviet children are
  evacuated from Moscow so that they can avoid
  contact with foreigners.

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1982 Brezhnev Dies

• Leonoid Brezhnev, dies of a heart attack after 18
  years of uninterrupted rule. Yuri Andropov, 68,
  succeeds him as the leader of the Soviet Union.

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1984- Leadership in Transition

• Less than two years after taking over leadership
  of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov dies. He is
  succeeded by 72-year-old Konstantin Chernenko

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1985 Mikhail Gorbachev

• After just over a year in office, Konstantin
  Chernenko dies. Mikhail Gorbachev, a youthful 54,
  becomes the General Secretary of the Communist
  Party.

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1986 Gorbachev Introduces Greater Freedom

• With "glasnost" ("openness"), a policy of
  increased political transparency and greater
  freedom of information, Gorbachev hopes to
  revitalize the Soviet Union.

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April 1986 Chernobyl

• The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine
  explodes and releases radiation over Ukraine,
  Belarus and Russia. Gorbachev's dedication to
  glasnost is tested as officials fail to protect
  the people living in those areas or the
  volunteers who end the fires. While the incident
  cripples the Soviet economy and is embarrassing
  for Gorbachev, it further demonstrates how
  necessary glasnost has become.

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http//www.youtube.com/watch?vKbcbyUK5rqQ
featureplayer_embedded
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1987 Gorbachev introduces Perestroika

• A series of political and economic reforms,
  termed "perestroika" ("reconstruction" or
  "rebuilding"), is introduced by Gorbachev. The
  reforms allow multiple candidates to run for the
  same office and private ownership of businesses.
  In the short term, these revitalization efforts
  backfire and lead to widespread food shortages.
  Perestroika soon becomes a vehicle for Soviets to
  criticize their society.

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Gorbachev speaking about perestroika and the arms
agreement

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v595W4JJHa2Ufeature
  player_embedded

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June 12, 1987

• "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!"
• After abandoning Nixon's détente strategy in
  favor of a vigorous anti-communist policy, U.S.
  president Ronald Reagan implores Gorbachev to
  tear down the Berlin Wall, the most visible
  symbol of the division between East and West.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vYtYdjbpBk6Afeature
  player_embedded

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August 1987 Billy Joel Concerts

• Billy Joel stages three shows in Moscow and three
  shows in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). In
  Leningrad, 17,500 listeners jump up and down,
  breaking hundreds of chairs, and then lift Joel
  and pass him around over their heads

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Billy Joel Video

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?featureplayer_embedd
  edvLgD_-dRZPgs

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1987 US and USSR sign Nuclear Reduction Treaty

• Gorbachev and Reagan sign the Intermediate-Range
  Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to reduce stockpiles
  of nuclear weapons in mutually verifiable ways.

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1988 Radical Reforms in the USSR

• Gorbachev launches a series of radical reforms
  designed to loosen the Communist Party's grip on
  the government. The highest legislative body of
  the land, the Supreme Soviet, dissolves itself
  and is replaced by the Congress of People's
  Deputies, which allows ordinary people to
  participate in government for the first time.
  Families are glued to their television sets to
  watch the sessions, during which politicians
  begin to acknowledge publicly what has previously
  only been whispered in kitchens.

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1988 Pepsi Commercials Appear on Soviet Television

• Pepsi, the first American consumer product sold
  in the Soviet Union, also becomes the first
  American brand to air commercials including
  ones featuring Michael Jackson on Soviet
  Television. In 1988, Soviets buy one billion
  servings of Pepsi.

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1989 Communist States Begin to Collapse

• A series of revolutions sweep across
  Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe, resulting in
  the collapse of communist governments in Hungry,
  East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania

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Soviets Begin to Lose Control Over Eastern Europe

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vakGjJcl3GDwfeature
  player_embedded

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November 9, 1989 The Berlin Wall Falls

• After the Communist East German government
  announces that its citizens could travel freely
  to democratic West Germany, Germans from both
  sides demolish the Berlin Wall. The fall of the
  wall leads to German reunification in 1990.

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January 1990 The Big Mac Arrives

• McDonald's opens its first Soviet restaurant in
  Moscow, a few blocks from the Kremlin. Hundreds
  of customers line up to buy Big Macs and
  milkshakes
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vamx-JHhtsHwfeature
  player_embedded

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March 11, 1990 Soviet Republics Begin to Declare
Independence

• Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are among the first
  Soviet republics to declare independence from the
  Soviet Union.

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March 15, 1990 Gorbachev Elected President of
USSR

• In the country's first multiparty elections,
  Gorbachev is elected the first (and only)
  president of the Soviet Union. He also continues
  in his role as general secretary of the Communist
  Party

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June 12, 1991Yeltsin Elected President of Russia

• Boris Yeltsin handily defeats Gorbachev's
  preferred candidate, Nikolai Ryzhkov, to become
  the first president of Russia, the largest of the
  15 republics in the USSR

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August 19, 1991Attempted Coup

• In order to stop the dissolution of the USSR, a
  faction of Communist hardliners within the
  Politburo launches a coup, placing Gorbachev
  under house arrest. During the coup, all
  television stations in Russia broadcast Swan
  Lake. Gorbachev is returned to his position, but
  all power resides with Yeltsin.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vV7lZKyDgMgofeature
  player_embedded

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August 24, 1991Gorbachev Resigns

• Republics Declare Independence
• Gorbachev resigns as general secretary of the
  Communist Party. Within a month, all of the
  Soviet republics except Russia declare their
  independence
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v028gd8Sn3m0feature
  player_embedded

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November 6, 1991End of Communism in Russia

• The Communist Party is banned in Russia by Boris
  Yeltsin

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December 25, 1991USSR Dissolves

• Gorbachev steps down from his position as
  president of the Soviet Union. The next day the
  country officially ceases to exist (Dec 26,
  1991).
• Russia, the largest former republic, becomes an
  independent country, and Yeltsin remains
  president of Russia for the remainder of the
  decade. Privatization is encouraged, and wealth
  becomes concentrated in the hands of the
  oligarchs. Corruption runs rampant. New
  television channels are started, and they
  broadcast voices critical of the government. More
  Russians travel abroad than ever before.

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Former USSR and Iron Curtain Countries