The End of the Cold War and the Revolutions of 1989,

1979-1991

1) Why did the superpowers abandon détente and move toward a new policy of confrontation in the late 1970s and early 1980s?

2) How did the 1980s resemble the early Cold War in the United States?

2) What factors contributed to the collapse of communism? What role did Gorbachev play? Reagan?

Key Terms

1) Helsinki Accords

2) SDI (“Star Wars”)

3) Red Dawn

4) Mikhail Gorbachev

5) Glasnost and Perestroika

6) Solidarity

7) “Reagan Won the Cold War”

8) “Mr. Gorbachev’s Revolution”

I. The End of Détente and The “New Cold War”, 1979-1985

• Superpower Détente, 1963-1978

Nixon, Kissinger, and Brezhnev

· The Helsinki Accords (1975)

• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1979-1988) and New US Policy: The Carter Doctrine

• Nuclear Missiles in Europe and the New Arms Race

o SS-20s, Pershing Missiles, and Nuclear Protests

o From M.A.D. to “Winnable Nuclear War”

o SDI (Star Wars)

o “The Day After” (1983), “Testament” (1983), “War Games” (1982)

• President Reagan's “Evil Empire” and America’s New “Red Nightmare”

o “Red Dawn” (1984) and “Amerika” (1987) (Red Dawn 2010)

o Threats in Our Backyard: Nicaragua, the “Contras,” and the New Domino Theory

II. Communism in Decline and Détente Renewed

• Guns or Butter? The Persistent Weaknesses of the Planned Economy

• Calls for Reform: Dissidents and Reform Communists at Home

• 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev’s Plan:

o Reforming Communism at Home

o Glastnost and Perestroika

o Ending the Brezhnev Doctrine

· Ending the Cold War: The Return of Détente

o Summit Politics and IMF Treaty (1987)

o START (1991)

III. The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe

• 1980-81/88-89 The Workers’ Movement against the Workers’ State

Solidarity in Poland

• June 1989 Hungary Opens the Iron Curtain

Reformers Take Control

• October Mass Protests in East Germany (Leipzig)

Free Republic of Hungary Declared

• November Fall of the Berlin Wall

Revolution in Czechoslovakia

• December Violent Revolution in Romania (Ceausescu)

• February 1990 Communists cave in Bulgaria

• October 1990 Reunification of Germany

IV. The End of the Soviet Union

• March 1989 Democratic Elections and the Rise of Nationalism

• 1990 Elections in the Republics, Economy begins to collapse

• March 1990 Lithuania Declares Independence, Soviet Military Intervenes

• June 1990 Russia Proclaims sovereignty, stays in USSR

• March 1991 New Treaty for USSR (loose federation)

• August 1991 Military Coup in Russia Fails – BorisYeltsin 2

• December 1991 Soviet Union officially dissolved

V. The End of the Cold War and the Politics of History

• US Containment Policy vs. The Internal Weaknesses of Soviet-style Communism

• “Reagan won the Cold War” vs. “Mr. Gorbachev’s Revolution”

• Reagan’s Death and the Political Victory of an Interpretation of History (2004)