Collapse of Communism

1. Collapse of Communism

2. What two factors caused the Soviet Union’s collapse? • Internal problems • External pressures

3. What internal problems contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union?

4. Increasing Soviet military expenses to compete with the United States • Rising nationalism in the Soviet republics • Fast-paced reforms, like the shift to a market economy • Economic inefficiency • Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika

5. What Republican became president in 1981? • Ronald Reagan

6. What American president called the Soviet Union “an evil empire”? • Ronald Reagan

7. What president challenged the moral legitimacy (authority) of the Soviet Union? • President Ronald Reagan

8. What was the basis of President Reagan’s defense policy? • A massive military buildup

9. What was the effect of President Reagan’s military buildup on American relations with the Soviet Union? • It increased tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

10. What action did President Reagan take in Western Europe during his first term? • Reagan placed new nuclear missiles in Western Europe.

11. How did the renewal of the arms race with the United States affect the Soviet Union during President Reagan’s presidency?

12. It forced the Soviet Union to increase its military budget to keep up with the United States.

13. What was the state of the communist economy in the Soviet Union during the early 1980s? • Inefficient

14. Who became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985? This leader was known for the policies of “Glasnost” and “Perestroika.” • Mikhail Gorbachev

15. What was the two-fold purpose of Gorbachev’s new policies? • 1) Revive the Soviet economy • 2) Reform the Soviet system

16. What is the Russian word for openness? • Glasnost

17. Name Gorbachev’s policy of encouraging freedom of expression in the Soviet Union. • Glasnost

18. What Russian word referred to restructuring Soviet society? • Perestroika

19. What types of economic and political changes did Gorbachev want to occur in Soviet society?

20. 1) Less government control over the economy • 2) Some private enterprise • 3) Steps toward democracy

21. What type of restructuring did Perestroika do? • Economic restructuring

22. What expectations did Gorbachev’s new policies raise among the Soviet people? • 1) Higher standard of living • 2) Increased freedom

23. How did Gorbachev’s reforms affect the Soviet system? • They placed more internal pressure on communism.

24. With what movement did Gorbachev have to deal inside the Soviet Union? • Nationalism in the Soviet republics

25. What were the two sources of external pressure on the Soviet government under Gorbachev? • 1) East European satellites • 2) President Reagan

26. What kind of pressure on the Soviet Union did President Reagan increase? • Military pressure • Economic pressure

27. What countries were Soviet satellites after World War II? • The countries of Eastern Europe

28. What does one call a nation that is formally independent, but dominated by another power? • A satellite

29. What was the name of the revolutionary labor movement in Poland during the 1980s? • The Solidarity movement

30. Who said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”? • President Ronald Reagan

31. What structure divided East Berlin from West Berlin during the Cold War? • The Berlin Wall

32. What was the best known symbol of the Cold War? • The Berlin Wall

33. What was the communist part of Berlin during the Cold War? • East Berlin

34. What was the democratic part of Berlin during the Cold War? • West Berlin

35. What government built the Berlin Wall? • East Germany

36. Why was the Berlin Wall built? • To prevent people from escaping from communist East Berlin to democratic West Berlin

37. What happened to the Berlin Wall in 1989? • It was torn down.

38. What happened in Germany in 1990? • East Germany and West Germany reunited under the democratic West German government.

39. What happened to the Soviet Union in 1991? • It fell apart or collapsed.

40. What were the three Baltic republics? • Estonia • Latvia • Lithuania

41. What action did the Baltic republics take in 1991? • They declared their independence from the Soviet Union.

42. What precedent did the Baltic republics set in 1991? • Other Soviet republics declared their independence from the Soviet Union.

43. What political party was dismantled in the Soviet Union in 1991? • The Soviet communist party

44. What action did Gorbachev take on Christmas Day, 1991? • He resigned and declared the Soviet Union had ended.

45. What war, which began in 1945, ended by the end of 1991? • The Cold War