Transcript Chapter 35 The End of the Cold War and the Shape of a New

•Ms. Sheets
•University High School
•AP World History
 Economic conditions in USSR deteriorated in the 1980s 
led to the collapse of communism in 1991
 Industrial production dropped
 1985 onward: new USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev led
intensive reform.
 1987: Agreement with USA to limit range missiles.
 1988: New constitution
 Glasnost (openness): allowed Soviets to discuss the
government, and even criticize it.
 Perestroika (economic restructuring): allow private ownership;
decentralize government control of industry and agriculture.
 Goal: Open the USSR into fuller participation in the world
economy; allow foreign investments; produce consumer
goods
 Abolish Communist monopoly on elections.
 Pressed for bureaucratic efficiency.
 Eastern Europe pushed for greater independence
and social reforms from the USSR as the Soviets
grew weaker.
 Gorbachev declared “any nation has the right to
decide its fate by itself.”
 1988: Poland adopted a noncommunist
government.
 1989: Czechoslovakia separated into Czech
Republic and Slovakia.
 1989: East Germany displaced its communist
government and dismantled the Berlin Wall.
 By 1990, both Germanys are united.
 Few new governments fully defined their
constitutional structure, leading to later problems.
 When the Soviet Union collapsed,
several ethnic and religious clashes
occurred (primarily in Yugoslavia)
 Yugoslavia had long-standing tensions
among Serbs, Albanians, and Croats, as
well as Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim.
 Fighting began in Bosnia, then moved to
Kosovo.
 2004: Republics of Serbia and
Montenegro created
 2008: Republic of Kosovo created
 Violence and genocide ended when
NATO intervened.
 An attempted coup in 1991 threatened
Gorbachev’s presidency; Boris Yeltsin becomes
leader.
 1991: Yeltsin proclaimed the end of the Soviet
Union, and he became the President of Russian
Federation.
 Communist Party ended
 The fall of the USSR gave way to new independent states
in eastern Europe.
 Yeltsin tried to incorporate private enterprises, but faced
resistance
 Yeltsin resigned and was replaced by Vladimir
Putin in 2009.
 Crime, economic weakness, and tensions in Balkans and
Ukraine continue.
 Tensions with Muslim-dominated regions
 Sawr Revolution in Afghanistan (1978): Communist
takeover of Afghan government
 Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979-1989): Soviets invade
Afghanistan to support communist faction.
 Soviets withdraw in 1989; fail to establish a communist
government
 Persian Gulf War (1990): Iraq, under Hussein, invaded
oil-rich Kuwait.
 US-led UN forces counter Iraq
 2003: Invasion of Iraq, led by US and UK, to depose
Hussein
 Believed to have weapons of mass destruction and ties to
al-Qaeda
 Captured in 2003; hung in 2006
 Israeli-Palestinian conflict persisted.
 Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated in
Kashmir, a disputed territory.
 The end of the Cold War showed a larger trend in the world:
the spread of multiparty democracies with free elections.
 The democratic wave hit Spain, Portugal and Greece in the
1970’s, then Latin America, then Asia, then Africa.
 Only China, North Korea, and parts of the Middle East
withstood democratic governments.
 The USA voiced support for democracy under President Jimmy
Carter and into the 1990s, but supported authoritarian regimes
in Egypt, Pakistan, Uzbekistan that promised support against
terrorism.
 US military commitments remained high after the
Cold War.
 US heavily militarizes; many countries increased
their militaries in response.
 The growth and success of the European Union is
a potential counterweight to the USA.
 American interests have been targets of terrorist
attacks since the 1960’s.
 US policy diverted to the “war on terrorism.”
 US turned to Iraq and Afghanistan following
September 11th, 2001 attacks.
 Iraq: accused of amassing weapons of mass
destruction; evidence proved largely erroneous
 Afghanistan: attack topples Islamic fundamentalist
regime that harbored Al Qaeda
1. Define glasnost and perestroika
2. In general, why do many large Eastern European
countries break up during the 1980s and 1990s?
3. How would modern American foreign policy be
defined?