Cold WarThe End of the

Arms Race - Mutually Assured Destruction

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Berlin Wall

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The USSR in the 1970’s

• U.S. and U.S.S.R. entered a period of “détente” or peaceful co-existence

• Atomic parity had been reached• Soviet society had “relaxed”• Soviet system was considered “stale”

- the leadership was completely out of touch with the people

• The economy was stagnant

“We in no way aspire to be the bearer of ultimate truth.”

Mikhail Gorbachev in a December 1988 speechto the United Nations General Assembly

Mikhail Gorbachev

• Became General Secretary in 1985• Recognized problems in USSR,

intended to fix them while maintaining communist control

Mikhail Gorbachev

He introduced two terms to the Russian people

• Perestroika - Restructuring of society, government, and economy

• Glasnost - Openness of discussions of the nation’s problems, got rid of lies and propaganda

Foreign Affairs

• Offered Olive Branch to United States - abandoned anti-west rhetoric

• Arms control became a top priority• Held a summit with Reagan in 1985• Refused to interfere

in reform movements in Eastern Europe

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Reform

• Cut defense budget• March 1989, 1st free elections since

1917• Criticized for being too cautious• Coup by hard line communists removed

him• Boris Yeltsin helped convince troops not

to back communists, coup ends, Yeltsin wins coming election.

• 1991 the Soviet Union peacefully breaks up into 15 republics

Eastern Europe

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Eastern Europe

• 1989 - Poland - Legalizes the Solidarity Party and hold free elections

• November 9, 1989 - Berlin Wall falls, starts the reunification process

• 1989 - Hungary disbands the communist party

• 1989 - Czechoslovakia holds free elections

• 1989 - Romania overthrows Ceausescu after hundreds killed

Right HereA woman on the radio talked about revolutionwhen it's already passed her byBob Dylan didn't have this to sing about youyou know it feels good to be alive

I was alive and I waited, waitedI was alive and I waited for thisRight here, right nowthere is no other place I want to beRight here, right nowwatching the world wake up from history

I saw the decade in, when it seemed the world could change at the blink of an eyeAnd if anythingthen there's your sign... of the times

I was alive and I waited, waitedI was alive and I waited for thisRight here, right now

I was alive and I waited, waitedI was alive and I waited for thisRight here, right nowthere is no other place I want to beRight here, right nowwatching the world wake up from history

Right here, right nowthere is no other place I want to beRight here, right nowwatching the world wake up from history

Right here, right nowthere is no other place I want to beRight here, right nowwatching the world wake up...

Right Now