Timeline of the Fall of

Communism

1
 February 1972
• Nixon visits China
– Perhaps the first sign that change was
possible and that enemies could work
together while maintaining their ideological
integrity.

2
 July 1972
• SALT I Treaty is signed;
– The greatest symbol of a nation’s strength was in
their nuclear arsenal. Both the USA and USSR had
stockpiled thousands of nuclear warheads and launch
vehicles. This treaty limited both of the arsenals and
lowered the threat of nuclear war.
• Détente: Means a relaxing or easing of
tensions between two counties andthis became
the metaphor of US-USSR relations in the
1970s.

3
 January 1973.
• Cease Fire in Vietnam
– The long American nightmare had finally
come to an end.
– The USA’s inability to keep communism from
spreading into Southeast Asia demonstrated
a need to re-examine our policy and how and
where we could assert our influence if it was
needed.
– Along with the Watergate Crisis of 1974-76, it
changed the way we viewed the presidency.

4
 December 1975
• Helsinki Accords: Designed to reduce
tension between the Soviet and Western
blocs. It was an attempt to secure
common acceptance of the post-World
War II status quo in Europe, including the
division of Germany.

5
 August 1978
• Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
(Soviet/Afghan War)
– The Soviet Union sent in the military to
preserve the communist regime established in
Kabul.
• There will be many similarities between the Soviet
involvement in Afghanistan and the US
involvement in Vietnam.

6
 October 1978
• Pope John Paul II from Poland becomes
the Pope. (1978-2005)
– The first non-Italian pope since 1520 and from
Poland, a communist controlled country that
was beginning to seek its independence from
Soviet control.
– Pope John Paul II quietly opposed communist
control of his country and supported all
nations seeking reforms and independence.

7
 1979: July
• SALT II is signed by Soviet Leader Leonid
Brezhnev and US President Jimmy
Carter
– Sought to stop new programs to create
nuclear weapons and limit the ICBMs
currently deployed.

8
 May 1979
• Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime
Minister of United Kingdom.
– “The Iron Maiden of the United Kingdom”
– The USA’s greatest ally in Europe and worked
with the USA to curtail any Soviet aggression
into Europe and ending the Détente for a
more forceful approach to the Soviet Union.

9
 1980: February
• US Hockey Team defeats the Soviet
Union team at the Winter Olympics.
– Do not underestimate this event!
– The Soviet Union appeared dominant in many
ways in the 1970’s and sports was no
exception.
– When the US team of young college boys
defeated the professional (and undefeated)
Russian national team it was a significant
event in sports and politics!
10
 November 1980
• Ronald Reagan elected President
– A conservative republican and former
governor of California, Reagan’s foreign
policy was to accelerate the Cold War with
military programs, such as SDI, the B-1 and
B-2 bombers, and revive various missile
programs
– Referred to the Soviet Union as an “Evil
Empire” and ended the practice of Détente.

11
 September 1981
• Polish Solidarity uprising
– It was the first non-communist trade union in
a communist country. In the 1980’s, it
constituted a broad anti-communist social
movement. The government attempted to
destroy the union with the martial law of 1981
and several years of repressions, but in the
end it had to start negotiating with the union.
• Lech Walesa
12
 1983
• Reagan proposed Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI aka: Star Wars)
– Use ground-based and space-based systems
to protect the United States from attack by
strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The
initiative focused on strategic defense rather
than the prior strategic offense doctrine of
mutual assured destruction.

13
 1985
• Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power in the
Soviet Union
– He was the last General Secretary of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union and the last head of state of
the USSR, serving from 1985 until its collapse in
1991.
– His attempts at reform — perestroika and glasnost —
as well as summit conferences with United States
President Ronald Reagan, contributed to the end of
the Cold War, ended the political supremacy of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and
led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
– He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

14
 April 1986
• Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident
in the Soviet Union
– Although a domestic matter concerning the
Soviet Union, their secrecy concerning this
disaster did not look good for the new leader,
Gorbachev.

15
 October 1986
• Reykjavík Summit: Reagan and Gorbachev
meet to discuss nuclear weapons limitation.
– The US refused to end SDI research and the Soviets
were reluctant to include Human/ Civil Rights issues.
– The meeting adjourned with no agreement.
Nevertheless, participants and observers have
referred to the summit as an enormous breakthrough
which eventually facilitated the INF Treaty.

16
 June 1987
• Perestroika: Gorbachev’s economic
reform program for the Soviet Union.
• Glasnost: it aimed to liberalize freedom
of the press gradually, and to allow for
freedom of dissent.

17
 June 1987
• Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev! Tear Down this
Wall Speech” in Berlin
– Continuing his policy of escalating the Cold
War, Reagan delivered a speech imploring
the Soviet Union to remove the barriers that
separated, both physically and symbolically,
the Eastern and Western people.

18
 December 1987
• INF Treaty: Calls for the elimination of
intermediate range ground launched
ballistic and cruise missiles.

19
 January 1989
• Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan
after a unsuccessful war of nine years.
– After billions of rubles ($) and the death of
thousands of Russian soldiers, the Soviet
Union withdrew from Afghanistan and
surrendered the country to the Muslim
government.
– Apparently, the USA sent covert military
assistance to the rebels fighting the Soviets.

20
 1989: June
• Tiananmen Square protest in China
– Participants were generally against the
authoritarianism and economic policies of the ruling
Chinese Communist Party and voiced calls for
democratic reform within the structure of the
government.
– The demonstrations centered on Tiananmen Square
in Beijing, but large-scale protests also occurred in
cities throughout China, including Shanghai, which
stayed peaceful throughout the protests.
– In Beijing, the resulting military crackdown on the
protesters by the PRC government left many civilians
dead or injured.

21
 September 1989
• Hungary becomes independent of the Soviet
Union.
– At a party congress in October 1989, the Communists
agreed to give up their monopoly on power, paving
the way for free elections in March 1990.
– Mikhail Gorbachev condoned Hungary’s moves
toward a multi-party system and promised that the
USSR would not interfere in Hungary’s internal
affairs.
– Other countries will soon follow Hungary’s example.

22
 November 1989
• The Berlin Wall Falls
– When Hungary became democratic it opened its
borders with Austria. Therefore, East Germans could
travel from East Germany (East Berlin) through
Czechoslovakia to Hungary and into Austria (Western
Power) and back into West Germany.
– As this happened, the Wall became unnecessary and
on Nov. 9, the East German government opened the
border crossing to the West.
– More than any other event, the Fall of the Berlin Wall
signified the ending of the Cold War.
23
 December 1989
• Communist governments in Czechoslovakia,
Bulgaria, and Romania collapse.
– Multi-party, democratic systems of government are
established throughout the Soviet controlled Eastern
European States.
– Most of these “revolutions” were peaceful, and only in
Romania were Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife
executed.
• Vaclav Havel becomes President of Czech
Republic.

24
 March 1990
• Lithuania breaks away from the Soviet
Union and becomes an independent
republic, Latvia andEstonia soon follow.
– Lithuania was not a member of the Warsaw
Pact, but was one of the 15 states that made
up the USSR.
– The Soviet Union (USSR) was breaking apart
and the states were creating democratic
reforms.
– “Rebellion in the Baltic States”
25
 May 1990
• Boris Yeltsin is elected President of
Russia
– The first popularly elected President of Russia
– Yeltsin put into place many radical reforms to
convert Russia to Free Enterprise
– Left office very unpopular due to corruption
and failed policies

26
 October 1990
• Germany is reunited.
– After being divided and occupied for 45
years after World War II, the German states
were once again united.
– October 3 is celebrated as the “Day of
German Unity.”
• Willy Brandt/Helmut Kohl were two of the
leaders who worked for German
unification.

27
 August 1991
• Soviet coup attempt fails to reverse the changes
occurring in Russia.
– Many of the “Hard Line” communists attempted to
take over the Soviet government to halt the
democratic reforms that were taking place in Eastern
Europe and within the Soviet Union.
– After three days of attempts to sway the military and
party officials, the coup (palace revolt) failed and
Gorbachev was returned to power.
– Yeltsin played an important role in stopping the coup.

28
 December 1991
• President George Bush declares the end
of the Cold War.
• Gorbachev resigns and the Soviet Union is
dissolved.
• The Soviet flag “Hammer and Sickle” is
lowered from the Kremlin for the last time.

29