LEADERS

LEADERS

___________ DOCTRINE

Soviet Leaders

END OF COMMUNISM

GORBACHEV’S PROBLEMS

• 1. Poor economy inherited from Brezhnev• 2. Corruption• 3. Excessive military spending• 4. Unwinnable war in Afghanistan

GORBACHEV’S PROGRAMS

• 1. Glasnost – “openness” freedom of expression”Result: Lots of criticism of the Communist govt.• 2. Perestroika – economic reform• Result: Didn’t work• 3. Democratizatsya - democratization• Result: New Constitution makes government separate

from Communist Party; more choice in elections• 4. Abandonment of Brezhnev Doctrine• Result: Eastern European satellites reject communism.

FALL OF COMMUNISM

• 1. Gorbachev abandons Brezhnev Doctrine• 2. Election in Poland; Solidarity wins all seats it runs for;

people reject Communism.• 3. Hungary opens borders, takes down “iron curtain”• 4. East Germans flee to Hungary; Berlin Wall opened• 5. Czechoslovakia has “Velvet Revolution”• 6. Romania’s dictator violently overthrown • 7. “Demokratzatsiya” in Soviet Union• 7. August Coup in 1991 discredits Gorbachev; boosts

reformer Yeltsin• 8. Soviet Union dissolves; Christmas, 1991.