The Cold War 1980/90s

1980-Olympic Boycotts

-The Olympic Boycotts happened as a result of the Afghanistan invasion.

-1980 Moscow Olympic Boycott- over 60 nations supported the USA’s boycott of the Olympics.

-Many star athletes did not attend and this embarrassment was televised around the world.

1980-Carter Doctrine

-USA president Jimmy Carter issued the ‘Carter Doctrine’-

-He publicly declared that the USA would not allow the USSR to gain control of the oil-rich Middle East

-As well as promising to take immediate steps to try and remove Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

January 1981-’The Evil Empire’

-Ronald Reagan was elected as the new President of the USA.

-He took a strong position against the USSR, calling the Soviet Union ‘The Evil Empire’.

1983-SDI Project

-Reagan ordered for the beginning of the SDI project.

-If successful, it would provide the USA with a defence laser in space which would destroy any Soviet nuclear missiles if they were fired at the USA.

-This would be exceptionally expensive to create and pressured the USSR to try to follow suit.

1984-Los Angeles Olympic Boycott

The USSR and 15 Communist counties boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

March 1985-Gorbachev’s ‘New Thinking’

-Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the USSR. Gorbachev inherited a poor economy following the successful invasion of Afghanistan and pledged to make changes to the policies of the Soviet Union.

-His ‘New Thinking’ included Perestroika (allowance of some private businesses) and Glasnost (openess and free speech-criticism of the government was now allowed).

1987-INF Treaty

-The INF Treaty was signed by Gorbachev and Reagan.

-This treaty banned all nuclear ballistic missiles that could travel between 500-5000 miles.

-This was a huge event in de-escalating tension between the USA and USSR.

1988-Gorbachev’s rejection of Brezhnev Doctrine

-Gorbachev publicly rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine, declaring that he would not use Warsaw Pact forces to stop protests/anti-Communist activity in any countries.

-This was largely because the USSR could not afford to do so.

November 1989-Czechoslovakia Protests

-Protests in Czechoslovakia led to the collapse of the Communist government in Czechoslovakia.

-In Bulgaria, the Communist government also resigned.

9th November 1989-East German boarder with Germany

-The East German government announced the opening of the boarder with Germany.

-This was in response to the huge protests across Germany and in East Berlin demanding free elections.

-As a result, the Berlin Wall fell.

1990-Baltic States Independence

-Three Baltic states of the Soviet Union, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, declared independence from the Soviet Union.

-Free elections in Hungary were held and were won by a non-Communist group-the Democratic Forum.

August 1991-Coup against Gorbachev

-Hardline Communist in the USSR led a coup against Gorbachev.

-Boris Yeltsin wanted to destroy Soviet Communism and led a demonstration against the coup, claiming that although he disagreed with Gorbachev’s Communism, his ‘New Thinking’ was necessary'.

December 1991-Gorbachev ended USSR

Following his release, Gorbachev formally ended the USSR in December 1991 and resigned as President of the Soviet Union.