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U.S. boycott of 1980 Summer Olympics
In March of 1980, President Carter informed the United States Olympic team that they would be boycotting the Summer Olympics in Moscow. This boycott was a form of retaliation for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Kremlin after rejecting his demand to pull out. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by President Reagan in 1983 as a form of U.S. protection from foreign nuclear missiles. The initiative was stongly criticized, as for it was unreallistic and nicknamed the "Star Wars". -
Caribbean Basin Initiative
The "Caribbean Basin Initiative" was a United States program initiated by the 1983 "Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act". The CBI aimed to provide several tariff and trade benefits to many Central American and Caribbean countries. -
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In March of 1985 Mikhai; Gorbachev became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union after Chernenko died. When in power, he called for rapid technological modernization and increased worker productivity, and he tried to make the Soviet bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. -
Iran-Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra Affair was a political scandal in the United States. The scandal began as an operation to free the seven American hostages being held in Lebanon. The plan turned into an arms-for-hostages scheme, where members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages. -
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) ratified
This was an agreement between the uNited States and the Soviet Union to eliminate their intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles. The treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges. -
Berlin Wall collapses
The Berlin Wall was basically a boundary dividing West Berlin and East Germany, and a symbolic boundary between Democracy and Communism. The Berlin wall fell along with the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. -
1st McDonalds opens in Moscow
When the first McDonalds opened in Moscow people from all over came out and waited in line for Big Macs, fries, and shakes. The enthusiastic reception it received from the Russian people were signs that times were changing in the Soviet Union. -
Germany is Reunified
In 1990 East Germany became yet again a part of the Federal Republic of Germany. With the reunificated came the making of a new country with a new Constitution and letting the new federal states join the existing Federal Republic of Germany. -
Warsaw Pact is Dissolved
In Februaryy of 1991 the Warsaw Pact signed its own obituary with an agreement to dissolve the 36-year-old military alliance by March 31. Warsaw Pact had stopped working as its Eastern European members (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and, East Germany) cut themselves loose from Moscow one by one. -
Boris Yelstin elected President of Russia
Boris Yelstin was elected the first president of Russia. He served a notorious time period as president. He survived a coup attempt against him in 1993 and won a second election in 1996. -
End of the Soviet Union
In December of 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen new independent countries. The United States rejoyced for the the fall of their enemies and the end to the Cold War.
