Flashcards
UNIT 1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Cards in this deck (63)
- 1YALTA CONFERENCE FEBRUARY 1945In February 1945 the leaders of Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union met at Yalta. The three leaders were Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. The end of the war was in sight and they met to decide on the shape of the post-war world. Much of their time was spent discussing the future of Poland, but there were many disagreements about how it should be run. Germany should be divided into occupied zones. Churchill argued there should be a French zone too was he was keen to restore the power of France. Stalin and Roosevelt accepted this suggestion.yalta: the problems
The Americans and Soviets interpreted it differently. The Agreement talked about the need for ‘democracy’ and ‘free elections’. To Roosevelt this meant the American system of free speech. Stalin's idea of democracy was a communist one where the communist party represented the people and no opposition was allowed. - 2THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE JULY 1945The three leaders (Attlee, Truman and Stalin) met at Potsdam, near Berlin, between 17 July and 2 August 1945. This was the last of the great wartime summit meetings. It showed how the wartime alliance was changing by the different leaders – Roosevelt (died) to Truman, Churchill (replaced) to Attlee. German reparations were agreed. Each country was to take reparations from its own area of occupation. The Soviet Union was to receive some additional industrial equipment from the western zones of occupation (little of this was ever handed over.)
The details of the German-Polish borders on the rivers Oder and Neisse were finally agreed. The British and Americans disliked the position of the new border but could do little about it.
It was agreed that the Nazi Party should be stamped out in all sectors of Germany.
The Soviet Union wanted to play a part in the running of the rich German industrial area. The USA rejected this idea.
The Soviet Union wanted to share in the occupation of Japan. Truman firmly blocked this idea.
The USA and Britain asked for a greater say in what went on in Easter - 3IRON CURTAIN SPEECH 1946The new hostility towards the Soviet Union was encouraged by Churchill’s famous speech on 5 March 1946. It was made at Fulton, Missouri, USA. Truman had already seen the speech before Churchill had given it. The audience was mostly American. He talked about the divide between the East and the West and called for an American-British alliance to meet the communist menace.
- 4TEHRAN CONFERENCE NOVEMBER 1943The Tehran Conference was a meeting between U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran, between November 28 and December 1, 1943. Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at the Tehran Conference.
- 5THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE FEBRUARY 1947In February 1947 the British government stated that they could no longer afford to pay for troops in Greece and Turkey. Unless America replaced Britain in these countries, they could come under Soviet control. So Truman decided to offer American financial help to Greece and Turkey.
He went further and declared that American support was available for any people who wanted to fight communism. This became known as the Truman Doctrine. It was based on the idea of containment – the USA would use its wealth and power to stop or contain the spread of communism.
Through the Truman Doctrine the USA had rejected isolationism and announced it would play a leading role in world politics.
In Greece and Turkey the doctrine was successful. Initially the doctrine was applied to Europe and the Middle East. Eventually, it was extended to the whole world and led to war in Korea and Vietnam. - 6THE MARSHALL PLANIn Washington, 1947, there was a belief that communism could only be stopped if Western Europe became wealthy. By the spring of 1947 it was clear that without American help there was little chance of economic recovery.
In June 1947, General George Marshall announced the scheme whereby the USA would offer economic aid to Western Europe. This money was available to all countries; including the Soviet Union in theory. But Stalin refused to have anything to do with it, and also ordered Poland and Czechoslovakia to not take part as well. He saw the plan as an attempt to impose capitalist ideas on European countries. Stalin was right. The Plan was based on a belief that communism would be much less attractive to ordinary people they had good jobs and were well paid.
Western Germany was one of the countries who accepted Marshall Aid. This resulted in a step towards the division of Germany, and this angered the Soviet authorities.
The Plan was a great success. Over four years, $13,000 million of help was provided. - 7The SOVIET RESPONSE: COMINFORM 1947In 1947, Cominform was set up to strengthen the links between communist parties in different countries.
Communists in Western countries were told to wreck the Marshall Plan through strikes. Despite the strikes, American money flowed into Western Europe and eventually the demonstrations and strikes came to an end. - 8COMECON 1949Having failed to destroy the Marshall Plan, the USSR created its own economic block of countries in Eastern Europe. In January 1949 Comecon was set up. It was a trading organisation of communist countries but was nowhere near as successful as the Marshall Plan. It did not involve any injection of money into East European countries and eventually the Soviet Union used it to encourage each country to specialise in different products.
- 9THE BERLIN BLOCKADE 1948In 1948 Stalin tried to starve the people of West Berlin into submission. He failed. The Western allies kept West Berlin supplied through a massive airlift.
- 10WHAT WERE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE BERLIN BLOCKADE? 1948Germany divided as the Americans made West Germany more and more pro-American, dividing from the Soviet East Germany. The US government decided to include western Germany in its plans for a new non-communist Western Europe.The Marshall Plan for the economic rebuilding of Europe was extended to the western part of Germany but not to the Soviet zone.
In January 1947 the British and American governments fused their two zones into a single unit called Bizonia. A few months later the French joined them and this formed Trizonia. Stalin saw these as acts of betrayal. At Yalta and Potsdam they had agreed that decisions about Germany would be taken jointly, but Stalin had not been consulted this time. He became very suspicious of Western motives!
In June, the USA and Britain introduced a new currency, the Deutschmark, into Bizonia. This move strengthened the economy of Western Germany but caused and economic crisis in Eastern Germany.
On 24 June 1948, Stalin responded by closing all roads, canals and railways that led from the east of Berlin to the West. - 11THE BERLIN AIRLIFT 1948-1949In May 1949 the Soviet authorities called off the blockade. The airlift was a triumph for the American and British air forces.
During the airlift British and US planes flew nearly 200,000 missions to Berlin.
Over 1.5 million tons of food, fuel and equipment was sent to Berlin.
By the spring 1949, aircraft were landing in West Berlin every 3 minutes and 8000 tonnes of supplies were being flown in a day. - 12RESULTS OF THE BERLIN BLOCKADE 194879 British and American pilots were killed in accidents – costly to the allies in financial and human terms.
Ended the ill feeling between USA and Germany.
West had shown how determined it was to resist communism. GO CONTAINMENT!
A divided Germany:
Western zones, including West Berlin = Federal Republic of Germany (formed in May 1949)
USSR zone with a communist government = German Democratic Republic (formed in October 1949)
NATO!
the formation of west Germany
The blockade accelerated moves towards a powerful, pro-Western in most of Germany.
West Germany held its elections in august 1949, where the Christian Democrats won the majority. Its leader Konrad Adenauer hated communism and believed very strongly in linking West Germany to the USA and Western Europe. This was the last thing Stalin wanted – the idea of a powerful capitalist German state made him feel very insecure. - 13FORMATION OF NATO APRIL 1949The Western allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in April 1949.
The organisation was dominated by America, reflected in the fact that every supreme commander of NATO has been American. The formation of NATO was a milestone in American foreign policy. Never before had the USA been a member of a peacetime military alliance. The fact that Truman broke with all traditions of American foreign policy shows how determined he was to stop the spread of communism.
NATO members: USA, Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland, Luxembourg, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Portugal. In 1952 Greece and Turkey joined and in 1955 West Germany joined.
All NATO members agreed to go to war if any one of them was attacked. The alliance was supported with large numbers of troops on the ground. There was a permanent presence of American forces in Europe. In particular there were large numbers of NATO forces in West Germany. The Soviet Union felt threatened by this, which increased when West Germany joined NATO in 1955. - 14THE WARSAW PACT 1955The Soviet Union responded to NATO by setting up its own military alliance in 1955. This was established under a treaty called the Warsaw Pact. For the next three decades NATO and Warsaw Pact forces faced each other and prepared for war.
The Warsaw Pact is the name commonly given to the treaty between Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union, which was signed in Poland in 1955 it was officially called 'The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance'. - 15DESTALINISATION 1953In 1956, Khrushchev made a secret speech to the Communist Party, denouncing Stalin as a cruel tyrant.
Statues of Stalin came down, cities were renamed, the secret police became less active, and more consumer goods were produced. This whole process was called ‘destalinisation’. It was very popular in the Soviet Union, as the Soviet people seemed to be gaining more freedom – this made it more popular in the West too. Khrushchev had a different attitude to the West as well. He replaced the old policy of confrontation with peaceful co-existence. The USSR would recognise the Western powers’ right to exist – this led to a ‘thaw’ in the Cold War. By ‘peaceful co-existence’, Khrushchev simply meant that each side ought to allow the other to compete equally on the world stage. - 16THE GENEVA SUMMIT 1955In 1955, the world leaders met. They discussed world trade, the arms race and disarmament.
President Eisenhower suggested an ‘open skies’ policy for aircraft. According to Eisenhower’s proposal, each side would be able to monitor from the air the other’s arms build-up. So neither would be able to stock-pile weapons, and suspicion would be reduced.
No decisions were made. The Geneva Summit marked the high point in the ‘thaw’ of the Cold War even so!
the arms race 1955-63. - 17THE HUNGARIAN UPRISING 1956Hungary was a Soviet satellite state. Hungarians believed that destalinisation and the international thaw had created the right atmosphere in which to win reforms. After a revolt in Poland in June 1956, the Soviet Union had granted concessions to the Poles. This encouraged the Hungarians to seek an end to the Soviet stranglehold on Hungary. They hoped to gain political freedom and economic improvements through increased contact with the West. Some hoped for withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
Demonstrations and protests in the capital (Budapest) led to the election of Imre Nagy as prime minister in October 1956. He had already been PM in 1953 and was known to be a moderniser.
The Soviet Union was caught off guard by the riots and withdrew its troops – Khrushchev hoped that this would calm the situation.
Nagy announced a programme of reform:
• No more government control of the press and radio
• Non-communists allowed to participate in the government
• Free democratic elections
Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact - this move was completely unacceptable to Khrushchev. - 18RESULTS OF THE HUNGARIAN UPRISINGIn Hungary; Nagy was arrested and executed!
Protesters were imprisoned and 300 were executed.
A hard-line communist government under Janos Kadar was introduced.
For Khrushchev.
In terms of military: it was a success. Hungary had returned to a pro-Soviet state.
In terms of propaganda: it was a failure. Soviet communism looked brutal and cruel
For the USA (and NATO, United Nations)...
It was a failure. The US was shown to be powerless to ‘roll back’ communism.
Overall, the West grew more frightened of the USSR and the Cold War intensified - 19THE BERLIN WALL 1961-1989Despite Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful co-existence, he challenged the Western presence in Berlin.
Berlin: an embarrassment to the USSR
American aid had made West Berlin into a showpiece of capitalism.
West Berliners enjoyed luxury goods whilst East Berliners were suffering with long hours and food shortages.
East Berliners were fleeing to West Berlin: more than 2 million had fled by 1961. Around 2000 skilled workers were leaving for the West every day.
This was easy to do as there weren’t strong fortifications between the two sides of Berlin.
Western governments used Berlin as headquarters for spying
In June 1961, at the Vienna summit, Khrushchev again demanded that the West give up Berlin. President Kennedy refused so Khrushchev decided to make it impossible for East Berliners to travel to West Berlin.
If anyone tried to cross the wall, they were shot. In the first year after the wall was built, 41 East Berliners were shot trying to cross the wall. Families and friends were separated. East Berliners saw the wall as a sign of inferiority in comparison to the West Berliners. - 20BERLIN WALL PART 2Relations between the superpowers strained considerably.
The Americans used the Berlin Wall for propaganda: if the communist system was so perfect, why was it necessary to turn it into a prison?
In 1963 Kenned visited West Berlin. They applauded him warmly when he declared, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ (I am a Berliner). He promised the USA’s commitment and that they would never desert West Berlin.
The Soviets saw this visit and speech as a deliberate attempt to cause trouble. - 21WHO GAINED AND WHO LOST FROM THE BUILDING OF THE BERLIN WALL?Flow of refugees stopped which allowed the communists to consolidate their control over East Germany.
Enemies of communism could argue that communism was so awful that people had to be walled in to make sure that they did not run away from communism. People in East Germany who did not support communism were trapped. - 22THE SPACE RACE 1957-1962The arms race during the 1960s was based on deterrence – that an enemy would not attack as it would be deterred by that country’s weapons. The arms race was costly and made the world a highly dangerous place.
The USA came up with terrifying proposals e.g. a manned orbiting military space station but these projects were dismissed as they were too costly.
The space race was an offshoot of the Cold War, with both superpowers trying to win the space race in order to prove their superiority.
The space race was an important feature of the Cold War as it gave the superpowers an opportunity to beat one another, and the developed technology could also be used in the arms race.
In the early 1960s the USSR dominated the space race, but the USA overtook the USSR due to greater financial resources in the latter 1960s. - 23HOW CLOSE TO WAR WAS THE WORLD IN THE 1960'S.Relations between the USA and USSR became more and more tense as the nuclear arms race continued.
Cuba and the USSR
Cuba was only 160km from the coast of Florida, giving it great strategic importance in the Cold War.
Before 1959 Cuba was a poor country controlled largely by American business. Cuba had been ruled by the dictator Batista since 1934, but his cruel reign ended in 1959 by guerrillas led by Fidel Castro.
Castro nationalised all foreign-owned land, property and oil refineries. In January 1960 he made an alliance with the USSR, who promised to buy Cuba’s sugar (the USA bought Cuba’s sugar cane in Batista’s rule). The Americans did not like this arrangement. In October 1960 they stopped all trade with Cuba – they now had an enemy on their doorstep. - 24THE BAY OF PIGS 1961Kennedy was persuaded by the CIA that Castro could be overthrown by supporters of Batista. So these rebels, backed by the Americans, landed at the Bay of Pigs (Cuba’s south coast) in April 1961. The attack was a total disaster! The rebels received no local Cuban support and were defeated in a few days. Kennedy was embarrassed and realised he had been wrongly advised.
The USSR arms in Cuba
Castro was now certain the USA was Cuba’s enemy so he looked to the USSR for more support.
In December 1961, he publicly declared himself a communist. This declaration convinced the USA that Cuba was a Soviet satellite state.
Cuba depended on the Soviet Union for military protection. In June 1962 Castro began to receive shipments of Soviet arms e.g. aircraft and ground-to-air missiles.
In September Castro received medium-range offensive nuclear missiles and bomber planes. The Americans knew about these weapons but the Soviets insisted these were defensive. On 14th October 1962, U-2 planes photographed Soviet missiles on launch pads in Cuba. This proved that the Soviets had lied. - 25THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS 1962On 26th and 27th October Khrushchev sent 2 letters to Kennedy. In the first he offered to remove the missile sites if Kennedy called off the blockade and promised to not invade Cuba. The second demanded the USA withdraw missiles which were in Turkey.
Kennedy replied to the first letter and accepted the terms. On 28th October the Soviet govt agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba. Secretly Kennedy agreed to withdraw his missiles from Turkey. The crisis was over.
On 3rd November 1962, the missiles began to be withdrawn. The Americans called off their blockade on 20th November. - 26CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1968Czechoslovakia was a Soviet satellite state since 1948. The Czechoslovakian people felt bitter about this as:
They had loss their political and economic independence.Their country seemed to be run only for the benefit of the Soviet Union.
In January 1968 the demands for change brought Dubcek to power as Czechoslovakia’s new leader. He began to introduce changes during a period known as the Prague Spring. Dubcek promised his people ‘socialism with a human face’. He hoped to increase the standard of living in Czechoslovakia and aimed to make the political system more democratic. - 27DUBCEKDubcek was mindful of what happened in Hungary in 1956, so tried to reassure Brezhnev that his reforms would not threaten the security of the Soviet Union. He promised that Czechoslovakia would not leave the Warsaw Pact• Dubcek allowed different factories to compete with one another
• He wanted to increase trade with the West
• He wanted to borrow funds from the USA to restructure Czechoslovakian industry
• He proposed to abolish censorship of the press
• He proposed to allow free travel abroad - 28BREZHNEV DOCTRINE 1968Brezhnev was unconvinced by Dubcek’s reassurances and concerned by knock-on effects. Brezhnev was influenced by other Warsaw Pact countries e.g. East Germany which saw increased freedom in Czechoslovakia as a direct threat to their own regime.
On 3rd August 1968 Brezhnev announced the Brezhnev Doctrine: the Soviet Union promised to intervene if any communist state appeared to be abandoning communism. On the same day Czechoslovakian hard-liners presented Brezhnev with a letter asking him to intervene in Czechoslovakia.
On 20th August 1968, 500,000 troops from the Warsaw Pact countries invaded Czechoslovakia.
The Czechoslovakians wanted to avoid bloodshed. Prague radio instructed people to carry out passive resistance. As a result most resistance was non-violent – demonstrations and sit-ins. Secret radio and television stations kept the outside world informed until they were silenced. Only a few Czechoslovakians died during the invasion. January 1969: a Prague student, Jan Palach, set fire to himself in protest against the Soviets. - 29THE RESULTS OF THE BREZHNEV DOCTRINEEventually the Soviets crushed the resistance. Dubcek was forced to abandon his reform programme an dhe was expelled from the Communist Party. Husak was appointed as the new leader, returning to the old ways. Damaged East-West relations slightly: the West had welcomed Dubcek’s reforms and watched the invasion with horror; but weren’t prepared to intervene and risk a war.
Showed that the Soviet Union would not allow any political reform or opposition.
Showed that the West was powerless to stop the Soviet Union doing as it pleased between the Iron Curtain.
Relations between USSR and China deteriorated as the Chinese disliked the way it treated other communist countries - 30THE TEST BAN TREATY AUGUST 1963This agreement banned the testing of nuclear weapons in the air or under water.
- 31NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY 1968187 countries signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This limited nuclear weapons to the five existing nuclear powers (USA, USSR, UK, China and France)
- 32DÉTENTE 1971Détente (a French word meaning release from tension) is the name given to a period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.Both Nixon and Kissinger were keen to improve relations with the USSR and also China. So Nixon announced the Nixon Doctrine. The US would stick to its treaty obligations and would continue to hold a ‘nuclear umbrella’ over the free world. But it expected its allies to take care of their own defence.
- 33SALT 1 1972The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks began in 1969 and produced the Salt 1 agreement in 1972. This agreement ran for five years. It limited the number of ICBMs and ABMs (anti-ballistic missiles) both superpowers could hold. Each side used spy satellites to check the other side was not breaking the terms. Although SALT 1 did not reduce existing stocks of weapons, it was seen as a huge achievement at the time.
- 34HELSINKI AGREEMENT 1975In August 1975, 35 countries (incl. USA and USSR) signed the Helsinki Agreement in the Finnish capital (Helsinki).
The West recognised the frontiers of Western Europe and acknowledged Soviet influence in that area.
West Germany officially recognised East Germany
The Soviets agreed to buy US grain and to export oil to the West.
All countries agreed to improve human rights, particularly:
Freedom of speech
Freedom of religion
Freedom of movement - 35THE RESULTS OF THE HELSINKI AGREEMENTPeople in Eastern Europe formed groups to campaign for further freedoms
Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia
Helsinki Watch Group in Helsinki and East Germany
Economic consequences in the Eastern bloc: communist governments could borrow from the West. By the 1980s most were hugely in debt.
N.B Carter becomes new US president in 1977 (same year as SALT I agreement ended)
criticisms of détente
After the mid-1970s there were signs that détente was falling apart...
West became frustrated as the Soviet Union were still abusing human rights
In the Easter bloc, dissidents (those who completely disagreed with the government, even over issues like street lamps) were prosecuted and suppressed.
People in Charter 77: fired from work, children expelled from school, citizenship and driving licenses cancelled.
Brezhnev cancelled an agreement in which the USA tried to get human rights for Soviet Jews
Suspicions whether each side was keeping to the terms of SALT 1.
In fact both sides were positioning more and more missiles against each other - 36SALT 2 1977- 79SALT 1 ended in 1977. Carter attempted to achieve further arms reductions in the SALT 2 talks. However Carter annoyed Brezhnev by trying to talk about human rights in a discussion about arms reduction. An agreement was finally reached in 1979. But this agreement never came into force, as the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan! This shattered any hopes that détente would continue.
- 37AFGHANISTAN 1979Soviet involvement in afghanistan
(Brezhnev still Soviet leader)
Afghanistan was a poor and barren land. But is had an important location! It offered a route between the oil-rich Middle East and the Soviet Union. Afghanistan had been under Soviet influence since 1947 but the USA also gave aid to the country.
In January in 1979, there was a revolution in the neighbouring town of Iran. The shah (king) was overthrown by fundamentalist Muslims. The revolution was anti-American. In November 1979, 53 US hostages were seized and held for over a year. The Soviets were also worried about this revolution.
Afghanistan had an unstable government. In 1979 Hafizullah Amin seized power and named himself president. Amin was a communist, but was not friendly with the Soviet Union. Also he was opposed by Muslim groups in the country. The Soviet Union feared that these Muslim groups would take control of Afghanistan and set up an Islamic state, like they had done in Iran. Large Muslim populations lived in areas of the Soviet Union that bordered Afghanistan – this could have knock-on effects. - 38THE USSR INVADES AFGHANISTAN 1979On 25th December 1979 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan.
reactions from around the world
Brezhnev claimed that:
The invasion was needed in order to restore order in Afghanistan.
The troops had entered on request of the Afghan government, which wanted protection.
The troops would be withdrawn as soon as the situation stabilised.
China reacted angrily – it promised to support the Mujaheddin, the Afghan fighters waging guerrilla warfare against the Soviet troops. - 39AMERICAN'S REACTION TO THE INVASIONBut the Americans reacted angrily (even though they claimed they had purposefully tricked the Soviets to invade in order to give them ‘their own Vietnam War’.). Carter described the invasion as a threat to world peace. Actions by the Americans:
In January 1980 Carter pulled the USA out of the upcoming Moscow Olympics
Describing the Soviet Union as an ‘unsuitable state for a festival meant to celebrate peace and good will’.
Carter advised the US senate not to confirm the SALT 2 agreement
He sent a US navy task force to the Arabian Sea to protect oil routes out of the Middle East
He cut trade between the USA and USSR - the exports of grain, technological goods...
Soviet Union denounced the USA as an ‘absolutely unreliable partner, whose leadership is capable – at any moment – of cancelling treaties and agreements’. - 40THE COLLAPSE OF DÉTENTE 1978-85Reagan was elected as the new US president in January 1981. He was elected as he had a tough anti-communist stance; referring to the Soviet Union as ‘that evil empire’. He believed that Carter had been too soft on the Soviets.
development of new weapons
Reagan actively began a new Cold War.
He increased the USA’s defence spending from $178 billion in 1981 to $367 billion in 1986
New weapons, e.g. the cruise missile, were developed
NATO agreed that 464 cruise missiles should be positioned in Western Europe
In 1981 USA developed the neutron bomb – which was a lot more powerful
The Americans were also developing the MX missile, which could be fired from underground launch sites
the strategic defense initiative (SDI)
In 1983 US scientists began working in the SDI. This project was informally named ‘Star Wars’. The aim was to prevent Soviet nuclear missiles from reaching US targets by creating a huge laser shield in space.
In 1982 meetings between the USA and USSR resumed under the banner of START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks). Reagan demanded huge cuts in Soviet nuclear capability. I - 41SOLIDARITY IN POLANDThe solidarity movement in Poland can mark as two things:
A factor in the collapse of détente
Also marked the beginning of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe - 42CHALLENGES OF POLANDMuch of Poland had been ruled by Russia since the 18th century: most Poles were proud of their nation and disliked communism
WW2 increased the Poles’ hatred for Soviet Russia: Stalin had carved their country up with Hitler in 1939. In 1940 Stalin massacred thousands of Polish Army officers
Most Poles were Catholics: the Catholic Church was well-organised and encouraged Polish nationalism
Ordinary Polish people had more power than in other communist countries: polish farmers held on to their own farms. Among Polish factory workers there was a strong tradition of using strikes against the government
the birth of solidarity - 43THE BIRTH OF SOLIDARITY
- 44CONTINUATION OF THE SOLIDARITY IN POLANDThe communist Polish government had a new leader General Jaruzelski. He imposed martial law (rule by the army) in 1981. 10,000 political opponents of the government, including Walesa, were arrested. Solidarity was declared as an illegal organisation.
Pope John Paul II (leader of the Roman Catholic Church) was a Pole. In 1982 he met Reagan. Together they discussed how to destroy communism in Poland. Reagan gave lots of money to Solidarity. The pope encouraged the Poles, who were mostly Catholic, to speak out. Catholic priests worked as informants for the CIA.
Jaruzelski’s attempts to destroy Solidarity failed! Walesa was put in prison, but this seemed to make him an even bigger hero. In November 1982 Walesa was released from prison and in 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. - 45SOVIET FAILURE IN AFGHANISTANAfter the first few months in 1980, Soviet troops controlled the towns where they were based. But the Mujaheddin controlled the countryside. The Mujaheddin were fighting to get rid of the Soviet troops AND turn Afghanistan into a Muslim state. The Mujaheddin were well equipped as China and the USA had given them weapons.
The Soviets were in the same position as the Americans had been in the Vietnam War. Though they were a superpower with modern technology, they couldn’t win a guerrilla war. The Mujaheddin attacked Soviet supply routes and shot down helicopters. The Soviets suffered more and more. They only succeeded in propping up the unpopular communist government in Kabul. There were 125,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan by the early 1980s, yet they still couldn’t defeat the Mujaheddin. In 1982 a massive attack in the Panjahir Valley failed against the Mujaheddin.
The Soviet Union also faced hostility from other Muslim nations, like Pakistan. The Soviets worried that the 30 million Muslims in the Soviet Union might revolt in support of the Mujaheddin.
N.B Gorbachev = NEW SOV.L - 46GORBACHEV 1985Gorbachev realised that the USSR couldn’t win this war. In 1987 he started talks with the USA and they came to an agreement in 1988 at Geneva. The last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.
The Soviet war was disastrous for Afghanistan:
3 million Afghan refugees fled to Pakistan or Iran
1 million people died
After the departure of the Soviets, fighting continued between rival Afghan groups
Afghans who remained suffered from food shortages – war had destroyed farm land - 47THE END OF THE COLD WAR MIKHAIL GORBACHEVGorbachev became the new Soviet leader in 1985. He was the youngest (54!) to hold power since Stalin. Gorbachev appeared to be open to new ideas and was keen to see progress, both within the Soviet Union and with international relations.
weaknesses in the Soviet bloc
The West did not realise this, but the Soviet bloc was on the edge of disaster...
The Soviets were spending too much money on the military: the arms race and war in Afghanistan drained the money. Around 25% of Soviet GNP was being spent on the military
Soviet industry was inefficient: it was still being run along Stalinist lines, but without the fear and terror, the workers weren’t meeting the targets and there was a lot of corruption. Some party officials were making money themselves by selling raw materials on the black market instead of directing it towards the factories. - 48QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF USSR'S INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT FAILEDThey were in debt, due to massive borrowing during détente
The Soviet bloc was very polluted due to outdated technology and carelessness: overuse of water for irrigation had caused the Aral Sea to dry up.
1986, a nuclear accident at Chernobyl showed how derelict Soviet industry had become
Discontent throughout the Soviet bloc: low standard of living in comparison to West, food shortages and long queues for basic goods. Yet Communist Party officials lived in luxury!
People fed up with repressive regimes in the Iron Curtain countries:
Yet despite suppression, protest groups (Charter 77 and the Helsinki Watch...) managed to produce samizdat (home-published) pamphlets and secret radio broadcasts
Whole Soviet bloc gripped by defeatism: alcoholism (lots of soldiers returning from Afghanistan were alcoholics), no hope for the future – government simply going through the motions. - 49GORBACHEV'S NEW POLICIES/REFORMSMany people believed that the communist system could not be changed, but Gorbachev felt there had to be changes.
He knew that these changes would anger some Communist Party members. The two most famous policies he introduced were:
Perestroika, meaning restructuring.
Involved changing economic policies to allow more competition
Foreigners were given more freedom to become involved in the Soviet economy
Soviet businesses were given the freedom to base what and how much they produced on consumer demand
Businesses had to pay for themselves through profit rather than relying on govt money
Glasnost, meaning openness.
It involved restoring faith in government and ending corruption
Gorbachev believed that people should not be punished simply for disagreeing with government policies – there should be more open debate
Glasnost should not only be adopted within the Soviet Union, but also with the West - 50GORBACHEV PART 2Additionally Gorbachev believed that the Soviet Union would have to cut back its global commitments
He saw the need to abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine by loosening Soviet control over satellite states
And he aimed to cut military spending and pull out of Afghanistan - 51THE US RESPONSEReagan relaxed his anti-Soviet position when he saw these reforms. He also saw that cuts in arms expenditure was essential – if the USSR was going to do it, he felt it was safe for the USA to do the same.
Reagan and Gorbachev met several times during the 1980s:
In Geneva in November 1985: both agreed in principle to cut offensive weapons by 50%
At a summit meeting in Iceland, in 1986: only partially successful. USA refused to give up its SDI. But the USSR confirmed it was withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. The USSR also promised to test more nuclear weapons unless the USA did so. - 52DECEMBER 1987 INTERMEDIATE RANGE NUCLEAR FORCE TREATY (INF) 1987Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) called for the dismantling of all American and Soviet medium and short-range nuclear weapons.In 1989, Gorbachev’s popularity was at its height! In October he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In December he and George Bush met to announce the end of the Cold War.
- 53THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISMMany people who had been imprisoned for disagreeing with communism were released. Others were allowed to return from exile abroad - one famous example is Andrei Sakharov a renowned physicist and human rights campaigner.
As a result of economic changes in 1987, people could now buy and sell for profit for the first time since Stalin had come to power.
However hard-line communists were horrified at what Gorbachev was doing:
They said he was stirring up trouble
They also condemned him for raising the expectations of the Soviet people (which was right)
Once Gorbachev had allowed freedom of speech, many people now openly said they wanted to get rid of communism – this was especially strong in Eastern Europe. - 54TROUBLE IN EASTERN EUROPEDuring the 1980s the communist countries of Eastern Europe became increasingly discontented with control from Moscow. In Poland, the trade union Solidarity won considerable support. In protests in Hungary in 1986, protesters waved the Hungarian flag.
In March 1989, Gorbachev told the Eastern European countries that the Red Army would no longer protect them. It was clear to ordinary Eastern Europeans that Soviet tanks would not be used to put down demonstrations.
After troubles in Hungary in early 1989, it was agreed that other political parties could be formed. Far from protecting the Hungarian communists, Gorbachev began withdrawing Soviet troops from the country.
Suddenly the Soviet bloc disintegrated. - 55HUNGARYIn May 1989 the govt dismantled the border with non-Communist Austria.
In December 1989 the govt announced free elections for 1990, which were won by a coalition of Nationalists and Catholics - 56POLANDIn June 1989 free elections were held – solidarity won nearly all the seats.
In December 1990 Walesa became the first non-communist leader in Eastern Europe! - 57EAST GERMANYBy September 1989, thousands of East Germans had moved to West Germany through the new ‘hole’ in the Iron Curtain between Hungary and Austria – this made a mockery of the Berlin Wall.
The East German leader was forced to resign when his soldiers refused to fire on the protestors.
On 10th November 1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down!
Free elections were held in March 1990.
East and West Germany were united in October 1990 - 58CZECHOSLOVAKIAIn November 1989, there were mass protests encouraged by Dubcek and the playright Havel.
In December 1989, the communist govt resigned, and Havel became president.
Free elections were held in 1990; the Communist Party polled only 14% of the votes. - 59ROMANIAIn December 1989, the hated communist dictator Ceausescu and his wife were executed. This was the only country were there was fighting.
- 60BULGARIAIn November 1989 the leader Zhikov resigned. The Communist Party abandoned communism and renamed itself the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).
Free elections were held in 1990, which were won by BSP. - 61ALBANIAAlbania had been the most closed Communist country in Europe – it moved more slowly away from Communism.
Free elections were held in 1992.
A democratic constitution was introduced in 1998 - 62THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNIONIn 1990 the three Baltic states, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, declared independence from the Soviet Union – these were not just Soviet satellites; they had been part of the USSR itself.
People were fed up with Gorbachev:
Felt he had done too little to stop the fall of communism in Eastern Europe – saw this as an act of weakness
The economic reforms, perestroika, he had introduced had had no immediate effect: still food shortages and rising prices
Other Russians wanted the complete collapse of the communist system. In February 1990, 250,000 people demonstrated against the communists in Moscow. In the annual May Day parade in Moscow’s Red Square, Gorbachev was booed!
In August 1991, hard-line communists led a coup against Gorbachev. They imprisoned him in his own dacha (country home) in the Crimea. To seemed as though the USSR was about to return to the bad old days, when reform movements were stamped out by the communists. - 63YELTSIN WANTED TO DESTROY SOVIET COMMUNISMHowever Boris Yeltsin, the new president of the Russian Republic, led a demonstration against the coup. He insisted that reform had to continue in order for Russia to be saved. Yeltsin was seen as hero who would save Russia from a slide back into communism repression. He was also seen as the man with the power.
Yeltsin went on to disband (definition: cause an organised group to break up) the Soviet Communist Party. Yeltsin wanted to destroy Soviet communism.
He formally ended the USSR in December 1991! Later in the same month, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president (there was no longer a Soviet Union for him to be president for!). The communist red flag that flew over Kremlin was lowered for the last time.
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- Flashcards on UNIT 1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, created by jasmine awesome on 30/05/2016.
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