SI I AGREE- End of the Cold War

Sinatra Doctrine

End of the Brezhnev Doctrine
Accepted that countries in the Eastern blov could act independantly
Caused the end of the Cold WAr because Gorbachev failed to recognise the fragility of the Eastern European regimes
Weakened the hard-line leaders of Eastern Europe and allowed people to speak out against them
Allowed for protests etc. especially due to glasnost

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Thatcher
- Supported Reagan's anti-Soviet strategy of 'militarised counter revolution'- allowed Reagan to deploy missles in Britain
- Developed a positive working relationship with Gorby: 'this is a man with whom I can do business' so bridged gap between him and Reagan
Pope John Paul II
- Was Polish- so inspired the large Catholic population of Poland (communism against religion)
- Inspired the Polish Solidarity with his 'do not be afraid!' speech
- Visited and showed his support for Solidarity in 1979, 83 and 87
- However, limited as the Catholic population was only strong in Poland and Baltic states
Walesa
- Started the Solidarity movement in Poland against the price of consumer goods
- Later became the leader of post communist Poland in 1990

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The moral bankruptcy of communism was becoming apparent
Weakening support for the Soviet Government
Widespread social problems e.g. alcoholism, mental illness, food shortages
Each country was supposed to 'find its own path to socialism' but instead rejected communist governments all together
Regimes in Eastern Europe relied on poltical repression, censorship and human rights abuses the stay in power
1989 Hungary became the first state to have multi candidature election
Helesinki Watch Committee and Charter 77 noting on USSR compliance with the 1975 Helesinki Accords

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Reagan had increased the US defence budget by 53% in 1981
Average annual US military spending $298.5 billion
Pressure of Reagan's SDI
Soviet economy could not sustain high levels of military spending
By the mid 1980s 25% of the USSR's GDP was put into the military budget
Gorbachev recognised the need for economic restructuring and to put more into increasing standards of living
Gorbachev propesed a 50% cut in all nuclear weapons at the 1985 Geneva Summit
Gorbachev at the October 1986 Reykjavik Summit propsed ti elimiate all nuclear weapons by 2000 if Reagan would stop SDI
INF Treaty signed 1987 meaning all Intermediate Range Nuclear Missiles would be scrapped

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Came to power in 1985 and replaced th aging gerontocracy, willing to make reforms to improve the domestic problems in the USSR
Willing to work with the West and Reagan- reduced mistrust
Introduced Perstrokia 1986- economic retructuring (allowed a degree of capitalism) and Glasnost 1986- political openness as part of New Political Thinking
Democratisation- made politics more democratic
1989 let European leaders govern without support-people no longer had fear of military intervention from the USSR
Didn't believe in military force to supress uprisings- let the people popularity take down the communist system
- However in Lithuania when they voted independance he authorised a military crackdown which killed 13 people
Pushed for an end to nuclear weapons at the summits
His reforms recognised that the Soviet communism had weaknesses
Still a commited communist and wanted to keep the Soviet Union- was going to sign a new agreement with the Republics in August 1991

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US president in 1981, a neo conservative, anti-detente
Saw the USSR as the 'evil empire' and increased defence spending
A conservative Western view, people that worked with Reagan often promote him as a 'Cold War Warrior'
Deployed cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe
Supported the Mujahideen in Afghanistan- therefore prolonging the war and draining the Soviets economically
USSR could not match his SDI, allowed him to negotiate from a position of strength
- Howeverm Soviet scientists had apparently proved this was impractical, so it actually imposed little pressure
Restricted trade in order to safeguard the West's technological advantage
Caused the USSR to grant consessions to Solidarity by reducing finacial aid to Poland
Ended the Cold War by exposing economic and moral weaknesses of communist

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People power
Fall of communism in Hungary meant it opened its borders with the West, which meant 10,000 East Germans Sept 1989 fled to the West
East German government had to agree to open the border which resulted in it being torn down- symbolic for the end of the Cold War and a divided Europe
Germany later became reunifed in 1990
Germany inspired many other countries to follow the lead of free elections e.g. Romania in Dec 1989, Poland June 1989
Velvet revolution in Czechoslvakia- power handed peacefully to democratically elected governement
Rejection of the legitimacy of the Soviet system
Failure of Eastern communism caused the end of the Soviet Union

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The USSR had put trade restrictions of the USSR's ability to buy Western technology and energy
Gorbachev wanted to end the Cold War so as to free up funds to invest in the Soviet economy
1981-86 the USSR was providing Cuba and Vietnam with $4 and $6 billion in aid and oil
Mid 1980s the Soviet military budget was 40% of the state budget
Discontent in Eastern Europe due to the failure of the economy
Living standards massively declined- problems with alcoholism and depression
In 1989 the economic gap in GDP between the USSR and USA was $27 billion: $53 billion
Soviet's economy was 50% smaller an less productive- too reliant on old industry
Soviet economy had been stagnating since the 1970s due to:
- Cost of the arms race
- Unrealistic Five Year Plan production targets
- Poor infrastructure
- Corrupt elite
Soviet industrial output had delinced from 5.25% to 2%
Forced the USSR to reconsile with the West to stop arms race and restart trade

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