The End of The Cold War

leonid brezhnev

• led the soviet union at the start of the end of the cold war

• the period was characterized by economic stagnation, political conservatism, and heightened cold war tensions

• shaped the country’s domestic and foreign policies with a cautious, rigid approach

• his tenure saw the soviet union maintain its status as a global superpower, it also exposed systemic flaws that would contribute to the eventual collapse of the ussr

the brezhnev doctrine

asserted the right of the soviet union to intervene in socialist countries to preserve the communist system

prague spring

• series of liberalizing reforms introduced including greater press freedom, decentralization of the economy, and a more open political system = alarmed soviet leadership afraid they could inspire similar movements in other eastern bloc countries

• invaded by the soviet union

nixon

• fairly moderate

• conservative cold warrior

• anti communist

• goals: end vietnam, decrease cost of cw, increase us position, make the world more predictable (less dangerous)

kissinger

• worked closely with nixon

detente

• easing of tensions

• played ussr and china off of each other (visit to prc)

• decreace cw tenstions and risk of nuclear war

• increased cooperation btwn superpowers

• helps pave way for cw end

realpolitik

• kissinger

• foreign policy needs to be realistic (not black and white), adapt to diff things based on how it helps the us

moscow summit

• nixon-1st prez to ussr

• cw truce (recognized as mil equals, agreed peaceful coexistence possible)

• led to salt 1 and anti-ballistic missile treaty

strategic arms limitations talks (salt 1)

• froze # of ICBMs for 5yrs

• even playing field (less comp. in arms race)

• limit strategic arms

anti-ballistic missle (abm) treaty

• limited defense missles

• anti-ballistic = intercept and blow up

ford

• president of us

• helsinki accords

helsinki accords

• met in helsinki

• constitution of detante

• all partys recognize the eastern bloc countrys, agreement that west. europe countrys will share tech and trade, protect human rights of citizens (no legal binement)

• dententes critics said it is symbolic, not doing anything, and wondered why we were talking to the ussr

un resolution 181

• partition into 2 states w/ jerusalem as internat’l city

• seperate based off groups that already exist “jigsaw”

• expect more jewish ppl to come (never happens bc war breaks out)

opec

• oil of the world

• organization of petroleum exporting countries

• evens out how much oil each country exports

plo/arafat

• palestian liberation organization

• later seen as a terrorist group

• led by arafat

1948 arab-israeli war

• 5 arab nations invaded newly established israel

• isreal won and seized ½ of land (gaza to egypt and west bank to jordan, thousands of palestinian refugees)

suez crisis

• egypt blocks isreals access

• egypt, britian, france

6-day war

• isreal invades out of fear

• defeat for arab nations

• israel controlled sinai, gaza, west bank, and golan heights

yom kippur war

• post 6 day war- stalemate (egypt’s anwar sadat felt war was needed to break it) = alliance with…

• egypt and syria (aided by ussr) launched surprise attack

• israel pushed back- nixon sends aid

• ends in ceasefire

anwar sadat

• egypt president

• felt war was necessary to break stalemate

1974 oil embargo

• us can’y buy oil so we have to use ours which lowers econ.

• shows power of opec

shuttle diplomacy

• kissinger

• indirect communication

• soften tensions but no real results

• later peace talks

camp david accords/ egypt-isreal peace treaty

• sadat and begin meet in jerusalum

• carter invited sadat and begin to camp david

• led to egypt-isreal peace treaty (considered carter’s greatest achievement)

• sadat assassinated

menachem bargin

carter

• from georgia

• governer for 1 term

human rights diplomacy

• broke w/ traditions (leads w morality and human rights)

• - rejected realpolitick (inconsistent) ex: stopped helping south africa bc of mistreatment- sometimes critisized by removing key peices

panama canal

• owned by us - use decides who can go thru

• panama protests - us soldiers turn violent = tension

• new treaty: us to give canal back by 12/31/1999

salt ii

• limited # of nuclear weapons delivery systems

• never ratified

soviet invasion of afghanistan

• coup of pro-soviet communists

• revolt by islamic rebels

• soviets inavde

• mired in nasty guerilla war v. the mujahideen

• war over religion - take out soviets- more conservative society

mujahideen

• islamic fundamentalist rebels

carter doctrine

• any attempt by a foreign power to gain control over the persian gulfs region would be met w military response

1980 olympic boycott

• sanctions take away us money and pressure

• us athletes not sent to olympics (unpopular idea)

operation cyclone

• cia operation

• hidden

• most expensive

• arm and finance mujahideen in afghanistan

iran hostage crisis

• shah is unpopular

• protests

• militants storm us embassy

• shah dies

shah pahlavi

• operation ajax

• us like shah but becomes more authoritarian

• british owned oil

• claim he is communist

• overthrown and fled to iran

khomeini

• conservative religious leader

operation eagle claw

• carter failed to free hostages in return for shah

• special forces plan to have us military come from iran and enter/free the hostages

• helicopters colide and can’t get past part a

algiers accords

• releases hostages

• us needs to pledge non-intervention in iran affairs

• close out embassy over their

• us un freezes their asses (no econ. sanction)

reagan

• two reagans (staunch anti-communist and detente critic, wanted to get rid of nukes and flexibly worked with gorbachev to end cw)

• 1st term cw heats up

“evil empire”

• speech about the soviet union (only ussr at fault: sets the tone for the 1st term)

strategic defense initiative (sdi)/ star wars

• not very practical

• can’t happen

• space war

fleetEx ‘83

• inc fear/ anxiety of nuclear war

• us practice drills in navy

korean air lines (kal) flight 007

• soviets shoot

• traveling to korea and was shot down bc of building tensions

• both sides upset but ussr defends themselves

operation able archer

• latest installment in a nato exercise

• tech was false

• guy saved from nuc war

the day after

• film that shows scariness of war

beirut bombings

• lebanon war

hezbollah

• took us hostages in iran and us civilians

• plan carried by cia to send help to contras

gaddafi/libya

• nasser inspired nationalist

• dictator

• uses money and connections

pan am flight 103

• airline

• bombing

• us ppl killed by bomb snuck in

• tied to libyan terrorist group

invasion of grenada

• ussr and cuba were planning on getting grenada

• replace communist leader

• world didn’t like but us did

• backyard place so we involved ourselves

• lost and evacuated us college students on island

• “came right on time, if later it would have been too late”

iran contra scandal

• way of getting iran hostages out

• happened in nicargua

sandinistas

• overthrew us backed dictator

contras

• us aided them bc they were not communist

• extremists

boland ammendment

• us congress will not let us aid the contras bc they are crazy

north

• carried out the plan to remove hostages from iran

• sending money isreal who sends it to iran who sends to the contras to aid them and get our ppl

yuri andropov and konstantin chernenko

• old communists

• real leaders after brezhnev

• died soon after leadership

gorbachev

• reform minded and brought in bc of this

• unsettled so need change

glasnost

• reduction of censorship

• more freedom of press

• a bit more freedom of speech

• govt had to be clear on what was going on

perestroika

• economic reconstructions

• more capitalist ideas

• allowed small private ownerships

• allowed investments from outside countrys

chernobyl

• glasnost came from it

• important turning point bc hiding what happened

• found it out from other countries that were affected

• health issues

• felt awful and knew there needed to be change

geneva summit

• idea that no one would in nuc war

• nothing acc happened

reykjavik summit

• disagreement on sti

• important bc they didn’t stop meeting after so shows relationship was going and willing to make change even tho they were diff

intermediate-range nuclear forced (inf)

• forced disstruction of 2,700 nucs

• allows both side to know if acc dismantled

bush

• signed start 1

lech walesa and solidarity (common goal and agreement) movement

• pope from poland gives aid

• solidarity gains momentum

berlin wall/reunification of germany

• mistake

• people left

vaclav havel and velvet revolution

• leader of resistance

• smooth coup that overthrew the govt

ceasescu

• romanian

• violent fall

• bloody

• caused genocide

• guilty and executed

malta summit

• formally declared END OF COLD WAR!!!!!!!!!

• meeting btwn bush and gorbachev

strategic arms reduction treaty (start) 1

• nuclear deal w bush and gorbachev

• get rid of 80% of nucs and added international mandatory nuc site checks

yeltsin

• first democratically elected pres of russia

• bc gorbachev gave the ppl and taste of freedom it is time to go fully free

new union treaty/ union of soviet sovereign republics

• gorbachev loosening control on satellite states

• they can elect diff leaders but no control over econ or military

• don’t need to be communist

• treaty wan’t passed bc the countries that voted wanted full independent and just declared themselves as fully independent

august coup

• gorbachev was put under house arrest

• hard core commie leaders stepped in

• civilians didn’t like this

• this is when yeltsin rose to power

• coup dissolved bc could no longer control their ppl

commonwealth of independent states

• yeltsin established this

• created cooperation btwn post soviet states

• made policys

russian federation

• when russia became russia

• led by yeltsin

• promised free market which never happened

• yeltsin and bush declared cold war officially over bc soviet union fell

start II

• same thing as start 1

What were the major issues facing the USSR in the 1970s & 1980s?

• Economic stagnation (inefficient system, low productivity)

• High military spending from the Cold War

• War in Afghanistan drained resources

• Lack of political freedom caused dissatisfaction

• Rising nationalism in Eastern Europe challenged control

How did the policy of detente mark a change in the Cold War?

• Détente was an easing of tensions between the US and USSR

• Shift from confrontation → negotiation and cooperation

• Led to arms control agreements like SALT I

• Increased diplomacy (ex: Richard Nixon visiting China & USSR)

• Made the Cold War less dangerous and more predictable

How did Cold War intervention in the Middle East contribute to the rise of state sponsored terrorism and extremist ideology?

• US and USSR backed opposing sides, increasing conflict

• Military aid and weapons intensified regional wars

• Groups used terrorism as a strategy (ex: hostage-taking, bombings)

• Soviet war in Afghanistan helped radicalize fighters (Mujahideen)

• Instability helped spread extremist ideologies and anti-Western sentiment

How did the events during Carter’s presidency reignite Cold War hostilities?

• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan → ended détente

• US responded with boycotts, sanctions, and aid to rebels

• Iran Hostage Crisis increased tensions in the region

• Marked a return to Cold War conflict and distrust

How did the policies of Reagan and Gorbachev evolve during the Cold War? How did this evolution help bring an end to the Cold War?

• Ronald Reagan started as hardline anti-communist (military buildup, “Evil Empire”)

• Later shifted to negotiation and cooperation

• Mikhail Gorbachev introduced reforms:

  • Glasnost (openness)

  • Perestroika (restructuring)

• Both leaders worked together in arms reduction treaties (INF Treaty)

• Reduced tensions → allowed peaceful collapse of Soviet control

• Their cooperation directly helped end the Cold War

How did detente end?

Détente ended in the late 1970s due to renewed tensions and conflict:

• The biggest turning point was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which the U.S. saw as aggressive expansion

• Jimmy Carter responded with sanctions, an Olympic boycott, and support for anti-Soviet fighters

• Growing distrust and competition replaced cooperation

• Arms control efforts (like SALT II) collapsed or stalled

In short: Détente ended because both sides returned to hostility and suspicion, especially after Soviet actions in Afghanistan.

What were the two side of Reagan?

Reagan is often described as having “two sides” during the Cold War:

1. Hardline Anti-Communist (Early Years)

• Ronald Reagan strongly opposed communism

• Called the USSR the “Evil Empire”

• Built up the military and increased the arms race

• Proposed SDI (“Star Wars”) missile defense system

• Supported anti-communist groups around the world

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2. Peacemaker / Negotiator (Later Years)

• Shifted to working with Mikhail Gorbachev

• Held summits and improved US–Soviet relations

• Signed arms reduction agreements like the INF Treaty

• Helped reduce tensions and move toward ending the Cold War

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In short: Reagan went from a tough, confrontational leader → to a cooperative negotiator, which helped bring the Cold War to an end.

Terrorism. Explain it.

• Suicide bombings

• Terrorism is the use of violence or threats against civilians to create fear and pressure governments or societies to achieve political, religious, or ideological goals.

  Key points:

  • Targets are often civilians, not just military

  • Goal is to spread fear (terror) beyond the immediate victims

  • Used to force change or gain attention

  • Can be carried out by groups or governments (state-sponsored terrorism)

  In Cold War context:

  • Superpower conflicts sometimes funded or supported groups that used terrorist tactics

  • Instability in regions like the Middle East helped terrorism grow and spread

  In short: Terrorism = violence meant to scare people and influence political outcomes.

Chernobyl or smth about summits

Chernobyl (1986)

• Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear explosion in the USSR

• Caused massive environmental damage and health problems

• Exposed weaknesses in the Soviet system (poor safety, secrecy)

• Pushed Mikhail Gorbachev to promote glasnost (openness)

• Helped weaken trust in the Soviet government → contributed to the USSR’s collapse

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Summits (Reagan & Gorbachev)

• Meetings between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev

• Key ones: Geneva (1985), Reykjavik (1986), Washington (1987), Moscow (1988)

• Focused on reducing nuclear weapons and easing tensions

• Led to the INF Treaty (cut nuclear missiles)

Impact:

• Built trust between the US and USSR

• Reduced Cold War tensions

• Helped bring the Cold War to a peaceful end

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Super short:

• Chernobyl → showed Soviet weakness

• Summits → improved US–Soviet relations and reduced nukes