Role of Gorbachev- end of the Cold War

Created by: Georgia Ivy
Created on: 18-04-15 14:00

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Role of Gorbachev
- New Thinking
  - needed to end the Cold war due to poor economy and living standards
  - needed to end tensions before he could embark on the perestroika needed at home
    - Link between foreign and domestic policy
  - refused to accept the Cold war was 'normal conditions of international relations'
- Policies
  - GLASNOST
    - was a policy that called for increased openness and transparency in government and activities in the Soviet Union.
    - gave the EE communist satellite states the freedom to choose their own political system
  - PERESTROIKA
    - was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
  - Ending the Brezhnev Doctrine
    - Chernenko's funeral 1985- told EE leaders his intentions to give them autonomy
    - Dec 1988 speech rejected Marxism-Leninism and formally abandoned BD
      - gave the EE communist satellite states the freedom to choose their own political system
- Eastern Europe Bloc and People Power
  - allowed satellite states to hold free elections without intervention
  - April 1989- each country 'should find its own path to socialism'
  - Encouraged Krenz to open Berlin Wall
    - Turning point- countries such as Czechoslovakia and Romania encouraged to reform by Gorbachev's liberal stance
  - Irony being that he was a reformer and not a revolutionary
    - expected EE to choose socialism. Misjudged the popular desire for Capitalism
- Transformed relations with USA
  - Common security
    - spoke at 'Forum for a Nuclear-Free World and the Survival of Humankind' international conference
      - different language from previous leaders
        'not rivalry and competition'
        
        'interdependence'
    - Built trust with Reagan and Thatcher
      - 'A man I can do business with' -Thatcher
    - Pugwash movement and Palme commission
  - Nuclear Arms control and the end of Zero Sum thinking
    - 1986 Reykjavik
      - happy to make concessions on INF deal (1987)
        Oka rockets (outside of 500-5000km range)
    - made far more concessions than Reagan and therefore more of a key figure
      - similar to Nixon at SALT, Reagan tried to maintain advantage
        refusal to give up SDI as part of arms treaty
    - agreed to START agreement which reduced nuclear arsenals to 30%
- abandoned Third World expansion
  - withdrew forces from Afghanistan (1989)
  - reduced Soviet troops in EE by 500,000
  - Ended aid to Ethiopia, Vietnam, Cambodia

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Role of Gorbachev- end of the Cold War

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