Perestroika, Glasnost, and the End of the Cold War GH2/Napp
Do Now:
“In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader. To improve social and economic conditions, Gorbachev developed two new programs. One, perestroika (restructuring), was a program to make the Soviet economy more efficient. Citizens gained the right to set up their own businesses. Heads of large factories were told to make their plants profitable. Another reform, glasnost (openness), granted increased freedom of speech and the press to Soviet citizens.
Because of these reforms, relations with the West improved. In 1987 and in 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union signed major nuclear arms reduction treaties. Gorbachev ordered Soviet forces out of Afghanistan in 1989. He also stopped supporting Marxist governments and movements around the world to end the economic drain on the country.” ~ Global History: The Growth of Civilizations
Questions:
1-Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?
______
2-What was perestroika? ______
3-What was glasnost? ______
4-Why did Soviet relations with the West improve when Gorbachev came to power? ______
Notes:
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Became Soviet leader in 1985
- Wanted to reform Soviet society
1-Glasnost (openness): Increased freedom of speech and press
2-Perestroika (restructuring)
a)Made Soviet economy more efficient
b)Citizens gained right to set up businesses
c)Greater efficiency in factories
3- Abandoned Brezhnev Doctrine
a)Abandoned idea that Soviets had the right to interfere in satellite countries
- Effects
- Russia, Ukraine, and other republics declared independence
- By 1991, Soviet Union collapsed
- Cold War ended
- Berlin Wall came down in 1990
1-East and West Germany united
- Poland elected non-communist government in 1989
1-Led by Solidarity and Lech Walesa
- Former satellite nations abandoned communism
- Privatization
a)Transition to free market economy
b)State-owned industries turned over to individuals
c)Difficulties during transition – economic problems and crime
Questions:
1-Who was Mikhail Gorbachev and what did he want to do?
2-What was glasnost?
3-What was perestroika?
4-What was the Brezhnev Doctrine? Did Gorbachev adhere to it or abandon it?
5-What happened to West Germany and East Germany when Gorbachev was the leader of Russia?
6-Who was Lech Walesa and what was Solidarity?
7-What happened in 1991?
8-What happened to the Soviet satellites?
9-Define privatization.
10-Why do you think communism failed in the Soviet Union?
11-What problems exist in the former Soviet Union today?
12-Why did the Cold War end when the Soviet Union collapsed?
Explain the meaning of the cartoon:
1. Which leader’s policies included glasnost and perestroika?(1) Fidel Castro
(2) Nikita Khrushchev
(3) Mikhail Gorbachev
(4) Deng Xiaoping
2. The goal of Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika and glasnost was to
(1) expand collectivization and communes
(2) resume development of Soviet nuclear weapons
(3) stimulate economic growth and political discussion
(4) stop expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into Eastern Europe
3. Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe by
(1) introducing the policies of perestroika and glasnost
(2) violating nuclear arms agreements
(3) invading Afghanistan
(4) signing the Camp David Accords
4. What has the end of communism in the Soviet Union caused many countries in Eastern Europe to do?
(1) shift to a command economy
(2) maintain a communist form of government
(3) pursue free-market economic policies
(4) join the Warsaw Pact
5. The destruction of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union signify the
(1) end of the Cold War
(2) collapse of the Taliban
(3) strength of the Warsaw Pact
(4) power of the European Union / 6. One way in which Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy and Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of perestroika are similar is that both
(1) allowed elements of capitalism within a communist economic system
(2) strengthened their country’s military defenses
(3) supported censorship of news and of personal correspondence
(4) increased tensions during Cold War
7. Which action occurred in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev?
(1) Peasants were forced onto collective farms.
(2) Citizens experienced more personal freedoms under glasnost.
(3) The United States and the Soviet Union ended diplomatic relations.
(4) The Soviet government increased its control over the Orthodox Church.
8. A study of the fall of the Roman Empire and of the collapse of the Soviet Union shows that powerful empires can
(1) lose strength when mercenaries enforce reforms
(2) be threatened only when directly attacked by outsiders
(3) conquer more than one continent and remain stable
(4) be weakened by both internal and external pressures
9. Mikhail Gorbachev instituted the policies of glasnost and perestroika to
(1) reinforce the basic economic principles of communism
(2) bring the Soviet Union into the European Economic Community
(3) reform the Soviet Union politically and economically
(4) gain acceptance for free political elections