Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the USA and the

USSR attempted to reduce their hostilities. This was due

to economic circumstances, increasing nuclear threat and
the rise of Chinese power.

The Communist government in Russia disintegrated due

to many key factors.
In 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and killed
President Amin. On 1 January 1980, the Soviets installed
a pro-Soviet government led by former Afghan exile,
Babrak Karmal. Islamic groups opposed the Soviet
occupation. They were nationalists and against
communism’s suppression of religion. The Soviets were
under pressure to withdraw from Afghanistan. The United
Nations requested they leave and the USA placed
economic sanctions on the USSR. When Mikhail
Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he withdrew troops
from Afghanistan. The Soviets signed a peace treaty in
1988. They had withdrawn from the country by 1989. Many
Middle Eastern countries were critical of the invasion and there was unrest in republics within
the USSR with large Muslim populations.

Opposition to Soviet policies was growing in other

associated states of Eastern Europe. The majority of
people were against Soviet interference and the presence
of the Red Army in the Eastern Bloc. European countries
like Poland and Hungary who supported Soviet Union
were now turning against it. Thousands of people were
leaving East Germany for the West through Hungary, making
the Berlin Wall ineffective.
The USSR was not prepared to send in forces. As a result the
East German government was forced to consider opening the
border.
On the night of the 8th November, 1989 the border was opened
and the Berlin Wall, which had become a symbol of Soviet
oppression, was brought down.

1.

The Russian economy was struggling severely. They could not

commit the expenditure necessary to maintain the arms race
with the uS.
Living standards in the USSR were falling, while in the West
they were rising rapidly. Consumer goods were of a much
poorer standard as industrial production lagged behind the West.
Gorbachev wanted to modernise the USSR and improve
relations with the USA. Realising the Soviets could no longer
compete in the arms race if Russia was to be modernised, he
looked for ways to end military competition and reduce tensions
between the superpowers.

1.
Gorbachev wanted to radically reform how the USSR was
governed, how it operated and how it co-operated with
foreign countries. He introduced the policies that wpuld
improve relations with the West and the state of the Soviet
economy.
He supported greater freedom of speech and wanted
communist politicians to take criticism on board, look to
make changes and stamp out corruption.
attempt to modernise and ‘rebuild’ the Soviet state.
Gorbachev realised military spending had to be reduced
and this meant ending the arms race with the USA.

The Cold War had begun because each side had the very
different systems of communism and capitalism.
Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika were to
change this. Glasnost encouraged Russians and Eastern
Europeans to speak out against communism.
In late 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and 15 newly
independent nations were born from its corpse, including
a Russia with a democratically elected, anticommunist
leader. The Cold War had come to an end.