1. End of the Cold War but other Tensions EMERGE…
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION

2. STAR WARS
President Reagan supported Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars,"
Soviets accuse the U.S of violating an Antiballistic Missile Treaty.
Soviets forced to spend heavily to match the program …predict what happened?
what conflict were they involved in?

3. 1979 –1988 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
100,000
Soviet troops invaded
Afghanistan as
communists attempted to seize control of the government.
U.S.-backed Muslim freedom fighters waged a war against the Soviets for nearly a decade before Soviet troops withdraw in 1988
An expensive failure for the Soviet Union
Soviet people suffered from food shortages and lack of basic necessities

4. 1985 - Gorbachev comes to power
On March 11, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev ushered in an era of reform.
Perestroika
economic reform- restructuring to
allow more private ownership
Glasnost
means openness, allowed greater free expression and criticism of Soviet policies in gov’t

5. Impact of Glasnost and Perestroika:
Sparked demands for democracy and independence by Eastern European satellite nations
The Soviet Union no longer had the power to stop them!

6. 1989 – The Berlin Wall falls
Gorbachev ends the Cold War policy, which had been to pledge to use Soviet force to protect its interests in Eastern Europe.
Remember cases in the 50s and 60s?
After massive public demonstrations in East Germany and Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall fell in November, 1989

8. 1990 – German unification
At a September 12 meeting in Moscow, the United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France and the two Germanys agreed to end Allied occupation rights in Germany that had existed since 1945
On October 3, 1990, East and West Germany were finally re-united as the Federal Republic of Germany.

9. Unexpected Consequences in Eastern Europe…
The Communist dictator of Romania is assassinated
The Velvet Revolution- Czechoslovakia peacefully breaks into two different nations

10. SOLIDARITY AND FREEDOM IN POLAND
1980, shipyard workers created a labor union called Solidarity
grew to 9 million people
Glasnost propelled the movement
Lech Walesa became head of the Solidarity Labor Union
In 1990, Walesa became President of a democratic Poland

11. Civil War in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia was created as a result of WWI…remember the “powder keg”
Became communist but not aligned with Soviet Union during Cold War
ethnic tensions during the Cold War were kept under control because of Totalitarianism
With the collapse of the Communist bloc, ethnic and religious tensions spilled over into Yugoslavia
It dissolved into separatism and warring states: Roman Catholic Slovenia and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina was mixed with Muslims (40), Serbian Orthodox (30) and Catholics (18)
Bosnian independence was announced in Civil War breaks out
There was violence on both sides, but Orthodox Serbs commit ETHNIC CLEANSING in an attempt to rid the state of Muslims

12. After the Civil War… US and NATO TROOPS SENT IN TO MAKE / KEEP PEACE
Yugoslavia was broken into six separate nations
Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic was tried for war crimes (died of a heart attackin prison before verdict)

15. WHAT NEXT?
Vladimir Putin