1. The Cold War Ends
The Fall of the USSR

2. The Cold War: India’s
Role• As the Cold War progressed, countries in
all corners of the world chose sides.
• India, the second largest country in the
world, under its Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi, decided to move more distant
form the US and closer to the USSR.
• However, India never officially joined
either side’s alliance and tried to assert
itself as an independent country.
• Under Indira Gandhi, India also started a
nuclear program due to their rivalry with
Pakistan.

3. Margaret Thatcher: The “Iron Lady”
• Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the
United Kingdom became a closer ally of the
US.
• Thatcher reformed the British government to
make it more capitalist by reducing
government controls on businesses and
allowed more free trade.
• She took certain services that were
government run and turned them over to
private businesses.
• Thatcher also strengthened and asserted the
UK’s military power by purchasing missile
systems from the US.
• Her strong leadership earned her the
nickname the “Iron Lady”
Thatcher is known as
one of Britain’s
greatest leaders, for
strengthening her
country’s economy
and military.

4. Contributors to the fall of the
USSR:The Arms Race
• The Cold War theory of deterrence
suggested that each country
needed to show great strength in
order to deter its enemy from
thinking it could successfully attack
the other.
• Throughout the Cold War, both
sides spent huge amounts of
money on their armed forces. The
US was able to afford the military
spending, while the USSR’s
spending put a serious burden on
their economy.
These things aren’t
cheap

5. The Failure of Communism
• Communism proved to be a failed
economic theory and communist
countries lagged far behind the West
in economic growth.
• State controlled industry was capable
of producing military supplies but was
inefficient when it came to producing
regular consumer goods.
• People in Communist countries did
not enjoy the standard of living of
those in Western Democracy.
• This caused many within communist
states to reject the philosophy.
Communism could produce
good products for the
military, but not for the
regular consumer.

6. Nationalism in the Iron Curtain
• People in the Iron Curtain
countries became upset with
the communist system and
indirect rule by the USSR.
• A number of nationalist
movements took place as
countries wanted to rule
themselves under a different
system.
• Up until the 1980s, the USSR
would swiftly crush any
revolution.
However, nationalist
movements and protests
continued to weaken their
control.
The Prague Spring Movement was
Crushed by the USSR. Other
nationalist movements that followed
would see more success

7. A new leader: Gorbachev
• In 1985 a new leader, Mikhail
Gorbachev was given control of
the USSR.
• Gorbachev was a younger
leader, the first leader who had
never lived under Tsarist Russia.
He saw that the USSR was in
drastic need of reform and
started programs to try and
improve the country.
• Ultimately, Gorbachev’s reforms
would lead the USSR to collapse. Gorbachev represented a
departure from the older
communist leaders

8. Gorbachev’s reforms
• Glasnost: Openness. Gorbachev wanted to lessen the
strict control of the Communist party. He
encouraged people to think of new ways to improve
the USSR.
• Perestroika: Restructuring. Gorbachev also changed
the USSR’s economy to try and make it more
efficient. He would allow for some aspects of
capitalism (ex. small private businesses).
• Democratization. Gorbachev also allowed for some
free elections to take place that did not just include
members of the Communist party.

9. USSR’s new Foreign Policy
• Gorbachev realized that the
Soviet union could not keep up
with the USA in an arms race.
• He met with US President
Reagan and signed treaties to
limit nuclear arsenals.
• Gorbachev also pulled his Soviet
forces out of a costly war in
Afghanistan.
• He encouraged E. Europe
communist leaders to look for
ways to improve their
economies rather than to rely on
aid from the USSR.
Gorbachev and US President
Ronald Reagan. Their
friendship helped ease the
tensions of the Cold War

10. 1989: Nationalism in E. Europe
Without aid from the USSR, the Iron
Curtain started to lift and communist
regimes fell.
• Poland 1989. Free elections were held
and the communist party was voted out
of office in favor of members of the
Solidarity party.
• Hungary 1989. Hungarian communist
reformers took control and dissolved
their own party.
• Czechoslovakia 1989. Demonstrators
demanded an end to the communist
regime and forced their leaders to
resign.
• Romania 1989. Military leaders
overthrew Romania’s brutal dictator
and established a new government.
Uprising in Romania, this
time there would be no
support for the Iron
Curtain Countries

11. German Unification
• The East German government had
resisted change and reform, but the
East German people were hungry for
change.
• Late in 1989, they staged huge
demonstrations and forced the
Communist leader to resign.
• The new communist leader decided
to tear down the Berlin Wall and
allow people to leave E. Germany.
The exposure to democracy and
capitalism made people unwilling to
want to continue life under a
communist dictatorship.
• The communist leaders would be
forced to resign and Germany would
reunite as a capitalist country the
next year.
People Dancing on top of the
Berlin Wall on the day it is torn
down

13. The USSR dissolves
• In August 1991, hard-line old
communists tried to regain control of
the country in a military coup. They
wanted to end Gorbachev’s reforms.
• However, the Russian people resisted
the coup and members of the military
refused to participate. The coup was a
failure.
• Gorbachev was dedicated to the
Communist Party, but was still
unpopular after the coup.
• The 15 Republics of the USSR all
declared independence. The Soviet
Union was no more and the Cold War
was totally over.
• Boris Yeltsin, already elected as
President of Russia’s republic now had
full control of Russia. Russia would
inherit the nuclear arsenal of the USSR.

14. NATO’s new role
• By the end of the Cold War the
Warsaw Pact had dissolved.
However, NATO continued to exist
and sought a new role.
• NATO expanded to include more
countries, some of whom had
formerly belonged to the Warsaw
Pact.
• NATO continues to exist as an
alliance, and has organized military
action in the former Yugoslavia and
Afghanistan.
• NATO is now committed to
maintaining cooperation and peace
in different regions of the world.