End of the Cold War: Challenges to Soviet Control
“As a nation we have the right to decide our own affairs, to mould our own future. This does not pose any danger to anybody. Our nation is fully aware of the responsibility for its own fate in the complicated situation of the contemporary world.”
Lech Walesa
Introduction
The first step in the end of the Cold War came when Mikhail S. Gorbachev implicitly abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine. On 14 April 1988, the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the United States and Soviet Union serving as guarantors, signed an agreement known as the Geneva accords. This included five major documents, which, among other things, established a timetable that ensured full Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan by 15 February 1989. Gorbachev demanded that the retreat be orderly and dignified -- he didn't want television images reminiscent of the chaotic 1975 US pullout from Vietnam. "We must not appear before the world in our underwear or even without any," he told the Politburo inner circle. "A defeatist position is not possible." The withdrawal was intended as a sign of conciliation toward the West and reassurance to the East Europeans, but it encouraged others to challenge Soviet power.
The second act of the drama began in the fall of 1989 with peaceful revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe (except Romania) and the fall of the Soviet "outer empire." Shortly after Poland's electorate voted the Communists out of government in June 1989, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would not interfere with the internal affairs of the Eastern European countries. By October, Hungary and Czechoslovakia followed Poland's example.
On 09 November 1989, the East German Government opened the Berlin Wall. East Germany, the center of contention throughout the Cold War, was united with West Germany and integrated into NATO. As one historian noted, in Poland communism took ten years, in Hungary ten months, in East Germany ten weeks, and in Czechoslovakia ten days to disappear. In Romania -- the bloody exception to the rule of peaceful transition -- the end came with the execution of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife on Christmas Day. The collapse of the Warsaw Pact a year later plus the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe [that substantially reduced Soviet superiority in conventional forces in Europe] resulted in a stronger Western alliance -- so strong that the US could redeploy forces from Europe to the Persian Gulf for use against Iraq.
On 09 November 1989, the East German Government opened the Berlin Wall. East Germany, the center of contention throughout the Cold War, was united with West Germany and integrated into NATO. As one historian noted, in Poland communism took ten years, in Hungary ten months, in East Germany ten weeks, and in Czechoslovakia ten days to disappear. In Romania -- the bloody exception to the rule of peaceful transition -- the end came with the execution of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife on Christmas Day. The collapse of the Warsaw Pact a year later plus the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe [that substantially reduced Soviet superiority in conventional forces in Europe] resulted in a stronger Western alliance -- so strong that the US could redeploy forces from Europe to the Persian Gulf for use against Iraq.
Instructions:
- Read the following sources: Chapter 16 "History - 20th Century World: The Cold War (purple text)", pages 410 to 421 of the text "Modern World History (blue text)", "'Solidarity' in Poland 1980-1990.pdf", "Poland (1980-9).pdf", "Solidarity.pdf", "The End of Communism.pdf", "The Collapse of the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe.pdf" and "The Collapse of Communist Europe.pdf".
- Also read the following sources (from the Hungary 1956 & Czechoslovakia 1968 topic): "The Hungarian Uprising (1956) & Czechoslovakia (1968).pdf", "The Red Army in Budapest and Prague.pdf", "The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 & Czechoslovakia - 1968.pdf" and "Peaceful Coexistence & Czechoslovakia (1968).pdf".
- Complete the following table by identifying the long-term and intermediate causes of the breakdown of Soviet control in Central and Eastern Europe (see below). Make sure in your explanation you emphasize why it was significant in the development of the Cold War (feel free to use the information in your Hungary 1956/Czechoslovakia 1968 homework to help you with this activity).
Exam Questions
Paper 2: Topic 5 - The Cold War
May Exams
November Exams
Paper 3 Questions
Paper 2: Topic 5 - The Cold War
May Exams
- Define, and analyse the importance of, two of the following: (a) containment (b) COMECON (c) détente (d) east European satellite states. (TZ2 May 2009)
- To what extent did events in Eastern European countries contribute to the end of the Cold War? (TZ1 May 2011)
- How did events in Eastern Europe contribute to the end of the Cold War? (TZ2 May 2011)
November Exams
- Analyse the factors which led to the ending of the Cold War. (Nov 2005)
- To what extent was the collapse of communist regimes the result of domestic problems rather than external pressures? (Nov 2007)
- Why did the Cold War end? (Nov 2008)
- To what extent was the arms race the principal reason for the end of the Cold War? (Nov 2009)
- For what reasons, and with what results, was Soviet influence challenged in two countries in Central or Eastern Europe between 1945 and 1970? (Nov 2011)
- “Walesa’s leadership was the most important factor in the achievement of Poland’s independence from Soviet control.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? (Nov 2011)
- “Walesa’s leadership was the most important factor in the achievement of Poland’s independence from Soviet control.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? (Nov 2011)
- To what extent did (a) ideological and (b) economic factors contribute to the ending of the Cold War? (Nov 2011)
Paper 3 Questions
- For what reasons, and with what results, did communist regimes in Eastern Europe (excluding USSR) collapse (1989-90)? (Nov 2005)
- Analyse the reasons for the decline and fall of one communist regime in eastern Europe (excluding the USSR). (Nov 2006)
- Analyse the impact of the ending of the Cold War on one European state (excluding the USSR) between 1990 and 1995. (Nov 2007)
- Explain the reasons for, and results of, the Sovietization of one Soviet satellite state in Europe, between 1945 and 1990. (May 2009)