1. April 25, 2017
Global II Agenda:
DO NOW: DBQs
NOTES #45: What caused the collapse of the Soviet Union?
CLASS ASSIGNMENT: “Gorbachev and the Breakup of the Soviet Union”
NOTES-CHECK #s 41–45 TODAY

4. What caused the collapse of the Soviet Union? Notes #45

5. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new leader of the Soviet Union.

6. Gorbachev with U.S. President Ronald Reagan
and U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush

7. Gorbachev instituted policies of glasnost and perestroika to reform the Soviet Union politically and economically.

8. Under Gorbachev’s leadership, the Soviet Union faced the problem of ethnic minorities demanding the right of self-determination.

9. Examples of movements toward self-determination include the overthrow of Romania’s dictator in 1989 or Poland’s election of a president in 1990.
Romania’s dictator
Nicolae Ceausescu;
overthrown and
executed in 1989
Poland’s president
Lech Walesa;
elected in 1990

10. In 1989, the Berlin Wall was destroyed and Germany was later reunited, which was symbolic of the end of the Soviet Union’s domination of Eastern Europe. 10

11. Following the Berlin Wall’s destruction, communism collapsed in the Soviet Union and the Cold War officially ended.
Soviet Union (1922–1991)

12. Boris Yeltsin; President CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)
By 1991, Gorbachev resigned, the Communist Party broke up, Boris Yeltsin gained political power in Russia, and the Soviet Union no longer existed.
Boris Yeltsin; President
of Russia (1991–1999)
CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)