Lesson 2: The End of the Cold War

Question 1

Détente Definition

Answer 1

a policy that promotes the ending of strained or hostile tensions between countries

Question 2

Glasnost Definition

Answer 2

a policy in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s of speaking openly about problems

Question 3

Martial Law Definition

Answer 3

rule by the military instead of an elected government

Question 4

Solidarity Definition

Answer 4

an independent labor union that challenged Poland’s communist government

Question 5

Star Wars Definition

Answer 5

President Reagan’s proposed weapons system to destroy Soviet missiles from space

Question 6

Summit Meeting Definition

Answer 6

a conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations

Question 7

What caused the policy of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union to end in 1979? Why did Soviet troops invade Afghanistan in December 1979?

Answer 7

Efforts to reduce tensions during the Cold War had improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, this policy of détente ended suddenly in 1979. In December, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, a mountainous nation on the Soviet Union’s southern border. Soviet troops were sent there to help a pro-Soviet government.

Question 8

How did America respond to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? What did President Carter withdraw from Senate approval hearings? Why did America not take part in the 1980 summer Olympics?

Answer 8

The United States condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. President Carter withdrew the SALT II Treaty from Senate approval hearings. The United States also refused to take part in the 1980 summer Olympic Games in Moscow.

Question 9

Despite worldwide criticism, how long did the Soviet Union remain in Afghanistan? Which nations supplied Afghan rebels that battled the communist government? How did the war affect the Soviet economy? In 1989, why did the Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan?

Answer 9

Despite worldwide criticism, Soviet troops remained in Afghanistan for ten years. They suffered heavy losses as Afghan rebels, supplied by the United States, battled the communist government. The war in Afghanistan became so costly for the Soviets that it weakened the Soviet economy, and Soviet forces could not remain. In 1989, the Soviets were forced to pull all troops out of Afghanistan.

Question 10

What did Ronald Reagan proclaim the Soviet Union to be? What did he call Americans to do? What did he do in Latin America?

Answer 10

Ronald Reagan declared that the Soviet Union was “the focus of evil in the modern world.” He called on Americans to “oppose it with all our might.” Reagan also took a tough anticommunist stand in Latin America.

Question 11

How did Ronald Reagan want to deal with the Soviets? During his first five years in office, by how much did he persuade Congress to increase military spending? What was Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)? Why was SDI nicknamed Star Wars? How much of SDI was completed?

Answer 11

Reagan wanted to deal with the Soviets from a position of strength. To achieve this, he persuaded Congress to increase military spending by more than $100 billion during his first five years in office. His Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) also called for the development of a new weapons system that Reagan hoped could destroy Soviet missiles from space. SDI was nicknamed Star Wars after a popular movie of the time. Only the early stages of research were completed.

Question 12

During Reagan’s first term in office, how were meetings between the United States and the Soviet Union? In December 1981, what was Poland’s communist government, backed by the Soviet Union, doing to Solidarity? What was Solidarity? Why did the Polish government impose martial law? What did President Reagan do in response?

Answer 12

During Reagan’s first term in office, the two superpowers continued to view each other with deep mistrust. In December 1981, with Soviet backing, Poland’s communist government cracked down on Solidarity, an independent labor union. Solidarity members had gone on strike at Polish shipyards to demand labor reforms. Under Soviet pressure, the Polish government imposed martial law, or emergency military rule, on the country. President Reagan condemned the move. He urged the Soviets to allow Poland to restore basic human rights. The United States also put economic pressure on Poland to end martial law.

Question 13

Remember: Cracks began to appear in the Soviet empire in the mid-1980s. Economic problems grew in part because of the huge sums the Soviets were spending on their military to try to keep up with the United States, whose free market economy was much stronger. The Soviets had little money left for producing consumer goods. Soviet citizens stood in line for hours waiting for poorly made products. The communist system was not working. The time was ripe for reform.

Answer 13

Cracks began to appear in the Soviet empire in the mid-1980s. Economic problems grew in part because of the huge sums the Soviets were spending on their military to try to keep up with the United States, whose free market economy was much stronger. The Soviets had little money left for producing consumer goods. Soviet citizens stood in line for hours waiting for poorly made products. The communist system was not working. The time was ripe for reform.

Question 14

In 1985, which Soviet leader rose to power? What did Mikhail Gorbachev believe? What was glasnost? What did Gorbachev hope this would achieve?

Answer 14

In 1985, a new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev (mee kah EEL GOR buh chawf), rose to power. He believed that only major reforms would allow the Soviet system to survive. Gorbachev backed glasnost, the Russian term for speaking out openly. Glasnost, Gorbachev hoped, would lead citizens to find solutions to pressing economic and social problems. This new openness was a break with the past, when any criticism of government policies had been quickly silenced.

Question 15

What did Gorbachev realize about the Soviet Union’s economic state? In order to fix it, what did he need? What are summit meetings? Why did Reagan agree to summit meetings with Gorbachev? What did Reagan and Gorbachev sign in 1987? What was the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty (INF)? What did Gorbachev do two years later that loosened tensions?

Answer 15

Gorbachev realized that he could not solve the Soviet Union’s economic problems without cutting military spending sharply. To do so, he had to have better relations with the United States. President Reagan and Gorbachev met at several summit meetings. A summit meeting is a conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations. Reagan agreed to these meetings because he approved of Gorbachev’s new policy of openness. In 1987, the two leaders signed an arms control pact called the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty. In it, both nations agreed to get rid of their stockpiles of short and medium-range missiles. To prevent cheating, each side would have the right to inspect the other’s missile sites. Two years later, Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. This action removed another barrier to cooperation between the superpowers.

Question 16

How did Communism become abolished in Eastern Europe?

Answer 16

For more than 50 years, the communist governments of Eastern Europe had banned any open discussion of political issues. As in the Soviet Union, only one political party, the Communist party, was allowed to win elections. People were denied many basic rights, such as freedom of speech. Now, in the late 1980s, Eastern European governments could no longer control the rising demands of their people for democratic and economic reforms. With opposition so widespread, most of those governments did not dare to use military force to oppose change. Furthermore, the Soviet Union did not have the power to suppress these protests. It was too busy trying to solve its own problems. In 1989, Poland held its first free elections in 50 years. Polish voters rejected communist candidates in favor of those put up by the trade union, Solidarity. Solidarity leader, Lech Walesa (LEK vah WEN sah), had once been jailed by the Communists for almost a year. After the elections, he became head of a new Polish government. One by one, communist governments fell in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Albania. In Romania, a violent revolt toppled the country’s longtime communist dictator. In East Germany, protests in 1989 forced the communists from power. The government was forced to open gates in the Berlin Wall when citizens demanded to be let through. By 1990, Germany was reunited under a democratic government.

Question 17

How did the Soviet Union collapse?

Answer 17

The Soviet Union was made up of 15 different republics held together by a strong central government in Moscow. Under Soviet rule, the republics had few powers. All important policy decisions were made in Moscow. Moscow was also the capital of the republic of Russia, containing most of the land and people of the Soviet Union. By 1990, resentment of Moscow was high in the non-Russian republics. Some of their people demanded self-rule. Meanwhile, Gorbachev allowed political parties to form. For nearly 70 years, the Soviet Union had been a one-party communist state. Hard-line communist officials were outraged. A group of them sent troops to oust Gorbachev. Their power grab did not last long. A Moscow politician who had rejected the Communist Party, Boris Yeltsin, led thousands of Russians in protest. They surrounded the Parliament building and forced troops to pull back. As a Communist rejected by his own defeated party, Gorbachev was weakened. In the months that followed, republic after republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. In late 1991, Gorbachev resigned. By then, the Soviet Union had collapsed. Fifteen new nations emerged from the old Soviet Union. Of these, Russia was the largest and most powerful. It began the difficult task of building a new economy based on a free-market system. In a free market, individuals decide what and how much to produce and sell. Under communism, the government had made such economic decisions.

Question 18

How did the United States and the Western European Nations help the Eastern Nations of Europe with establishing democracies and free enterprise systems?

Answer 18

The United States and Western European nations provided economic aid to Russia, the other former Soviet republics, and Eastern European nations. American experts offered advice to political and business leaders in Russia and Eastern Europe on the free-market system. The United States was eager to see stable, democratic governments emerge in the old communist world. It also hoped that the new nations would become trading partners. Meanwhile, nations formerly under Soviet domination in Eastern Europe sought to protect their new freedom. Former East Germany became part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, when Germany reunified in 1990. As a member of NATO, the United States promised to defend other members. In 1999, President Clinton welcomed Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary into NATO.

Question 19

Remember: For almost 50 years, the Cold War deeply affected American life. Students in the 1950s and 60s practiced crouching under their desks in case of atomic attack. Hundreds of thousands of Americans went off to fight in the Korean and Vietnam wars. About 112,000 of them did not return.

Answer 19

For almost 50 years, the Cold War deeply affected American life. Students in the 1950s and 60s practiced crouching under their desks in case of atomic attack. Hundreds of thousands of Americans went off to fight in the Korean and Vietnam wars. About 112,000 of them did not return.

Question 20

What were the costs of the Cold War?

Answer 20

Americans cheered the end of the Cold War and the emergence of democratic governments in Eastern Europe. Victory was costly, though. From 1946 to 1990, the United States spent over $6 trillion on national defense. The development of nuclear weapons and the arms race had created new dangers for the world. During and after the Cold War, other nations besides the superpowers worked to develop their own nuclear weapons. The Cold War had divided Americans at times. The search for Communists in the 1950s had created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. The Vietnam War had split the American public in an often bitter debate. Many Americans greeted the end of the Cold War with relief.

Question 21

What was the peace dividend? What did the end of the Cold War allow President Clinton to do?

Answer 21

The collapse of the Soviet Union allowed President Clinton to cut military spending. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed in Germany and other European countries to defend against a possible Soviet attack were brought home. U.S. military bases were closed. The money saved by reducing military spending, sometimes called a “peace dividend,” helped Clinton to wipe out the federal budget deficit. Some economists believe that it contributed to the economic boom during the Clinton years. There was another peace dividend that could not be measured in dollar terms. This was the feeling, after decades of living in fear of another world war, that the United States was free at last from serious external threats. This feeling of ease was short-lived, however. During the 1990s, the United States faced a number of new challenges around the world.