THE COLD WARENDS

In the 1980s, new U.S. President Ronald Reagan helped win the Cold

War against the Soviet Union

President Reagan’s strong anti-communist policies and the

collapse of communist economies

brought the Cold War to an end by 1991 Reagan took a strong

stand against the USSR, calling it “an evil empire”

To restore America’s position as a dominant superpower, Reagan spent over TWO

TRILLION DOLLARS on the American military

Reagan’s most ambitious program was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), called “Star Wars”: satellites

designed to protect the U.S. from missile attacks

Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1982, at a time when the USSR was

facing serious problems

Communism did not offer incentives for hard work; by the 1980s, the USSR had low industrial and agricultural production

“The government pretends to

pay us, and we pretend to

work.”

The USSR spent 50% of its budget on the military: the arms race, fighting an expensive war in Afghanistan, and maintaining troops

and tanks in Eastern Europe

Soviet leaders faced the impossible task of competing with SDI and taking the arms race into space

The Soviet government restricted freedom of speech and did not allow

democratic elections, so no alternative opinions were offered

Gorbachev recognized that communism was failing; he

wanted to make reforms

Gorbachev began three

major reforms to

save the communist system in the Soviet

Union

Gorbachev introduced glasnost (“openness”) to encourage freedom of

speech and to allow expression of new ideas

“Be Bold, Comrade! Openness

Is Our Strength!”

Perestroika relaxed some government

controls over farms and factories to make

production more efficient; it allowed

citizens to open small businesses

Democratization allowed citizens to

vote for Communist politicians

(but Communists only)“Don't Be Afraid of Work.”

In addition to his economic

reforms, Gorbachev

changed Soviet

foreign policy

Reagan’s SDI plan forced Gorbachev to admit that the USSR could not afford to

keep up with arms race

Gorbachev withdrew Soviet tank divisions from the communist

nations in Eastern Europe

In 1989, Gorbachev ended the nine year war in Afghanistan

Reagan was able to work with Gorbachev to reduce Cold War tensions

Reagan visiting Moscow in 1988

In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to disarm all medium-range ICBMs

Rather than saving the communist

system in the USSR and Eastern

Europe, Gorbachev’s

reforms helped bring an end to

communism

In 1989, a surge of democratic revolution swept through the Eastern European

communist satellites

Gorbachev did not use the Soviet military to stop these revolutions

Eastern European nations broke from Soviet control and

created democracies

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down by celebrating East Berliners and West

Berliners; this was the symbolic end of communism and the Cold War

Ethnic nationalism and desire for democracy led to the break-up of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991

In 1990, the Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared

independence from the Soviet Union

In 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart and 15 new nations were formed

The Death of the Soviet Union

The break-up of the

Soviet Union in 1991

marked the true end of

the Cold War

WHAT CAUSED THE USSR TO BREAK UP AND COMMUNISM TO FALL?

Reagan’s strong stand against the communism and

outspending the USSR in the arms race they could not afford

Gorbachev’s introduction of reforms

made the flaws of communism as an

economic system clear to the Russian people

Gorbachev allowing Eastern European countries to have a taste of democracy and freedom made those countries want

more; they broke free of the Soviets’ influence

Revamped and redone by

Christopher Jaskowiak

Thanks to Brooks Baggett for several of the slides