Transcript POST-WWII TO PRESENT DAY
Warm-Up: 16.December.2014
-If your were absent yesterday, make your own warm-up log on a sheet of paper (borrow one from a neighbor or grab a sheet from the blue bin up front) w/ 3 columns & 6 rows as shown on the board. Also, have a textbook to look up definitions. You have six minutes.
-Turn in any missing work.
-Have yesterday’s notes out (if you were absent, grab the 3 items from yesterday on the back desk).
Questions (1) What term means “openness to discussing the Soviet Union’s problems.” (p. 892) (2) What is the term for political & economic reforms implemented by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. (p. 892) (3) What did many European countries create to build economic & political unity in 1992? (p. 897)
POST-WWII TO PRESENT DAY THE SOVIET UNION AND EASTERN EUROPE
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Ruled by Stalin from 1927-1953
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Used Five Year Plans – set economic goals for five year periods – and collectivization
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Extremely ruthless, kills many more people than Hitler After the death of Stalin Khrushchev comes to power
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De-Stalinization = process of eliminating some of Stalin’s more ruthless policies
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After economic and foreign policy failures, he is forced into retirement in 1964 Brezhnev Doctrine = the Soviets will invade any country in which Communism is threatened to restore the Communist gov’t
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Soviet Bloc = areas controlled by Soviet military forces
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Bloc = a group of nations with a common purpose
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This includes most of Eastern Europe Revolts against Communist rule in Eastern Europe
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Poland (1956) gov’t starts a series of reforms, but fearful of an armed Soviet response
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Compromises by remaining loyal to the Warsaw Pact
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Hungary (1956) – new leader, Imre Nagy, declares Hungary a free nation
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Promises free elections
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The Soviet army invades 3 days later, reestablishes control, and executes Nagy
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Czechoslovakia (1968) – leader Alexander Dubcek introduces reform
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Soviets invade and take Dubcek out of power
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new Soviet leader in 1985, wants reform
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Proposes two radical concepts
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Glasnost = “openness” to discuss the Soviet Union’s problems
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Perestroika = “restructuring” of the Soviet economic and political system
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Political reforms – allows other political parties to form, holds elections to a new Soviet parliament
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States he will not enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine and will not give military support to Communist gov’ts in Eastern Europe
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Opens the door for the overthrow of Communist regimes
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Becomes the first, and last, Soviet President in 1990
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1989 calls for independence of the many different Soviet republics start
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Soviet Union made up of 92 nationalities with 112 languages
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Lithuania is the first to declare independence, Soviet troops at first occupy, then let them go
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Dec. 1991 it is announced that the Soviet Union has ceased to exist
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Today Russia is dealing with the problem of Chechnya, a republic that is considered part of Russia that wants to break away
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1989 Revolutions in Eastern Europe
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New revolutions break out when Gorbachev makes it clear the Soviets won’t interfere
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Mass demonstrations and revolts in Nov. and Dec., lead to the overthrow of Communist gov’ts
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Poland – workers demand change, led by Lech Walesa
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Walesa has founded the trade union Solidarity
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Czechoslovakia – Communist gov’t collapses in December 1989
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Called the “Velvet Revolution”, Vaclav Havel made president
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In 1993 splits into Czech Republic and Slovakia
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Romania – only one with bloodshed
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Brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife are supported by military forces, kill thousands of people demonstrating peacefully
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Gov’t collapses Dec. 1991, Ceausescu executed
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East Germans overthrow their Communist gov’t
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Nov. 9, 1989 the Communist gov’t opens entire border to the west
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Hundreds of thousands go across the border and people on both sides tear down the Berlin Wall
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Reunification of Germany made official on Oct. 3, 1990
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Yugoslavia – made up of six republics and two provinces
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In 1990 the republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Macedonia begin to lobby for independence
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Slobodan Milosevic, the leader of Serbia, rejects these efforts
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Serbia and ethnic Serbs living in other republics try to prevent the breakup of Yugoslavia
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Any area with Serbs belongs to Serbia
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1991 invades Croatia when they try to leave
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1992 War in Bosnia when the Bosnians declare independence
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By 1993 have captured 70% of Bosnian territory
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Serbs follow a policy of ethnic cleansing = killing or forcibly removing an ethnic group from the land
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250,000 Bosnians killed, over 2 million homeless
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NATO gets involved
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Dayton Accords – formal peace treaty signed in 1995
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1998 war starts again, this time in Kosovo
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Massacre of ethnic Albanians
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1999 NATO bombing campaign forces Milosevic to withdraw
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Milosevic brought to trial in 2000 for crimes against humanity
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2002 Yugoslavia ceases to exist
• • •
Great Britain
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WWII left Great Britain with massive economic problems
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Began to dismantle the British Empire
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Created the modern welfare state Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister from 1979 1990
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Tony Blair as prime minister from 1997-2007 Northern Ireland – fighting b/w Catholics & Protestants France
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Ruled by war hero Charles de Gaulle for almost 25 years
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Fourth Republic created after WWII
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A near civil war over the question of Algerian independence destroys it
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De Gaulle then creates the Fifth Republic He works hard to restore France as a major power
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Nuclear weapons, major industrial producer of cars and weapons West Germany/Germany
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Experiences an “economic miracle”
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Problems after reunification – it cost more than originally thought
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1990s young neo-Nazis begin to attack foreigners, claim they are stealing their jobs
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Beginnings of European unity (economic, not political)
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Starts in 1957 with the European Economic Community
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Large free trade area with no tariffs
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France, W. Germany, Italy, and the Benelux nations (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg)
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European Union established by the Maastricht treaty in 1994
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Goal was to establish a common currency and banking structure
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European parliament