Semester 2 Week 15

 Reagan admin persuaded the Saudi Arabian oil companies to increase oil production  This led to a 3x drop in the prices of oil & oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues  Following the USSR’s previous large military buildup, Reagan ordered an enormous peacetime defense buildup of the U.S. military  the Soviets didn’t respond to this by building up their military because the military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture in the nation & inefficient planned manufacturing, would cause a heavy burden for the Soviet economy

 By the late 1980s, the USSR economy was suffering from years of inefficient central planning & spending on the arms race  To save the economy, Gorbachev instituted perestroika, or “restructuring,” & allowed some private enterprise and profit-making  The other principle of Gorbachev’s plan was glasnost, or “openness.” It allowed people to discuss politics openly

 “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

 As Gorbachev-inspired waves of reform propagated throughout the Eastern bloc, grassroots organizations, such as Poland’s Solidarity movement, rapidly gained ground  1989, the Communist gov’ts in Poland & Hungary became the 1 st to negotiate the organizing of competitive elections  In Czechoslovakia & East Germany, mass protests unseated entrenched Communist leaders  The Communist regimes in Bulgaria & Romania (violent uprising) also crumbled

 11/9/1989, the spreading revolution soon reached East Germany, guards at the Berlin Wall opened the gates  W/in days, bulldozers levied the hated symbol of Communist repression  W/in a year, East & west Germany had reunited  The tidal wave of change culminated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 11/1989, which symbolized the collapse of E’rn European Communist gov’ts & graphically ended the Iron Curtain divide of Europe

 Gorbachev faced mounting criticism from opponents at home  8/1991, a group of Communist officials & army officers staged a coup - an overthrow of the gov’t  They arrested Gorbachev & sent troops into Moscow  Russian president Boris Yeltsin defied the coup leaders from his offices in the Russian Parliament.  12/1991, Gorbachev announced the end of the USSR  Most of the former Soviet republics then joined in a federation called the Commonwealth of Independent States

 China’s Communist leaders were determined to stay in power  China’s gov’t had relaxed controls on the economy, but it continued to repress political speech & dissent  5/1989, Chinese students & workers held demonstrations for democracy  June, gov’t tanks & soldiers crushed their protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing  Many people were killed & hundreds of pro- democracy activists were arrested; many were later sentenced to death

 TAKE OUT A SEPARATE, FULL SHEET OF PAPER  NUMBER 1-5

1. This was the “restructuring,” and allowed some private enterprise and profit-making? 2. This was “openness.” It allowed people to discuss politics openly? 3. Name 4 Eastern European countries that were looking to get away from communism. 4. This is an overthrow of the gov’t 5. Where is Tiananmen Square?