Transcript End of the Cold War

End of the Cold War
ARMS RACE
Iran
•1942—Invaded by England because of threats to the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company –today (BP)
•1951—Iran’s first Democracy—Govt, led by Prime
Minister Mossadeq, nationalizedthe Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company
•Time—Jan. 7, 1952 ―Man of the Year‖
Overthrow of Mossadeq
•1953—CIA and British intelligence agency overthrows Iran’s govt.
and props up the Shahof Iran who supports western policy
•Nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian company is stopped.
Iran Revolution
•1979—Shah is overthrown in Revolution—American Embassy over
thrown and 66 Americans taken hostage clip
•Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution and founder of
the Islamic Republic of Iran and declares America to be the ―The
Great Satan.‖
–Shia Muslim (Iraq controlled by a Sunni minority)
–Implemented Iranian state under Islamic law (Sharia)
Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
•Publicly, the US support Saddam and gave him money, weapons and intelligence.
The CIA gave Iraq technology to use mustard gas against Iran. These weapons
would later be used to attack the Kurds in the 1990’s.
 •WMD’s were sold to Saddam by weapons manufacturers in England, Germany,
and China
 •2006--Saddam was recently executed for the murder of Iraq-Kurds during the
Iraq-Iran War.
Cold War Thaws
•1960’s
Russia: ―Destalinization initiated by Nikita
Khrushchev
•China and Russia split
•1970’s: President Nixon moves towards Détente with
the Soviets:
–Détente: French term, meaning a relaxing or easing,
in the case of tension.
•SALT Treaty signed
–Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
•Limit the number of ICBMs.
Cold War gets Colder
1980’s: Détente Cools
•1980: Ronald Regan elected
President
•he is an adamant anti-communist
•Called the Soviet Union the ―Evil Empire
•Begins ―Star Wars –a missile defense program that
increased tension between U.S. and Russia.
•The last General Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
serving from 1985 until 1991, and also
the last head of state of the USSR,
serving from 1988 until its collapse in
1991.
•He was the only Soviet leader to have
been born after the October Revolution
of 1917.
•Regan’s friend and political nemesis.
•Reformed Soviet Union and helped
bring an end to the Cold War
Gorbachev’s Policies:
 Glasnost: Opens
–Refers to openness in Soviet society and with the
West
•Religion was allowed, banned books were allowed,
political prisoners released.
•Perestroika: Economic Reform
–Capitalism was allowed to a degree in the Soviet
Economy
•Pro-Democracy:
–Gorbachev sought to democratize the Soviet Union
Soviet “Bloc”
or “satellite”
nations
Fall of
Communism
•Polish workers at the Gdansk shipyard
demand recognition of Solidarity.
•Government gives in to demands of
Lech Welsea
•1yr later Poland outlaws unions
declares martial law.
•Economy worsens
Discontent
grows People strike 1989 Solidarity
legalized, FREE elections held and
Lech Welsea elected!
Lech
Welsea &
Solidarity
 Reform = economic chaos.
Problems are actually worse
Gorbachev
Loses Power
 Without gov. help, factories
closed, increasing
unemployment
 Discontent spread
 Independence for many Bloc
nations
 1991: Gorbachev resigns.
 Communism dead after 74
years.
Communism fell, but so did Gorbachev.
 1989: Berlin Wall comes down
 •Czechoslovakia and Romania overthrow
Communists and demand democracy.
 •1990: Germany Reunified
East Germany
 “Revolution
from Below”
– Reform
started by the
people
 "Wir sind ein
Volk" = "We
[all Germans]
are one
people."
 East Germany
not
“modern”
West Germany vs. East Germany
 West Germany: “Economic Miracle”
 Close ties to France, US; key role in NATO and EC
 Politics dominated by Socialist party (welfare state)
 East Germany: Stagnation
 USSR used workers and industry for its benefit
 All trade done with other Soviet Bloc countries
 E. German Positives:
 Low unemployment
 Workers: basic needs met
 Minimal goods available
Eastern Europe - 1989
Crisis in the USSR - 1989
Cold War in the 1980’s
 Cold War tensions increased in the early 1980's. United States
President Ronald Reagan and his administration adopted a policy they
called linkage, tying any U.S. arms agreement to consideration of
Soviet expansion.
 Meanwhile, the growing military power of the Soviet Union led the
United States to increase its defense budget. Many observers thought
the U.S. defense build-up would lead to a more dangerous nuclear
arms race.
Cold War in the 1980’s
 Events in the late 1980's led to a sharp reduction in U.S.-
Soviet tensions.
 Signed a treaty to eliminate many nuclear missiles
 U.S.S.R. began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
 USSR began to reduce its military forces in Europe.
 In 1985 new Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev worked for a more
decentralized economic system and allowed more democracy and
freedom of expression.
Gorbachev’s new policies
 Gorbachev new policies included:
 glasnost (openness) –glasnost allowed intellectual
and political debate.
 perestroika (restructuring) perestroika allowed
extensive political and economic change.
 He also encouraged similar actions in Eastern
Europe.
 In Eastern Europe, he announced the Soviet
Union would no longer control the destiny of
their people.
End of the Cold War
 After the Soviet Union announced it would no longer control
the destiny’s of its Eastern European countries, every one of
them rose up and overthrew their communist governments.
 The speed at which Communism collapsed took the West by
surprise.
End of the Cold War
 In 1991, the Soviet Communist Party lost control of the Soviet
government. Later that year, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and
the republics became independent states.
 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U.S. President George H.
W. Bush formally declared that their countries did not regard each
other as potential enemies.
 These events marked the end of the ColdWar.
Russia and the Republics 2007