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Yalta conference
Wartime confernce in 1945 that took place in te Soviet Union. The 3 major leaders of the world (Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and Fraklin Roosevelt of the U.S.) atended. They were trying to decide what the postwar world would be like. It was here they decided to transfer some polish teritory to the USSR. -
Yalta conference consequences
The Yalta conference ended with a compromise that was extremely vague. The Yalta Conference basically left control of Eastern Europe in Soviet hands. Roosevelt succeeded in accomplishing his two major goals: Stalin promised to wage war against Japan three months after Germany surrendered and it also promised to support the formation of the UN. Churchill, however, left the conference feeling gloomy and fearing what would become of the Soviet Union. -
The iron curtain speech
In this speech, Churchill gave the very descriptive phrase that surprised the United States and Britain, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." Before this speech, the U.S. and Britain had been concerned with their own post-war economies and had remained extremely grateful for the Soviet Union's proactive role in ending World War II. It was Churchill's speech that changed the way the democratic West viewed the Communist East. -
The Iron Curtain Speech Consequeces
The speech caused tension because it showed that Britain and the USA were 'teaming up' against Stalin. This is due to him finall defining their relationship between te two countries.It also 'stirred the pot' in a way because Churchill didn't have to make such a speech but he decided to anyway and knew it would anger Stalin. This caused further tension between the big three and resulted on atomic/nuclear war as well as the cold war. -
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine is the idea that the United States would intervene, on a global basis, to prevent Communism from spreading. The central idea was called "containment" - containing the Communists in Eastern Europe (and later China).It started in Greece and Turkey, with the US providing military aid to forced fighting the Communists in 1947.It continued with the Berlin airlift when the Russians tried to block access to the city of Berlin in 1948. -
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine became a metaphor for emergency aid to keep a nation from communist influence. Truman used disease imagery not only to communicate a sense of impending disaster in the spread of communism but also to create a "rhetorical vision" of containing it by extending a protective shield around non-communist countries throughout the world.This angered the soviets, fueling the cold war. It also signaled America's post war embrace of global leadership and ended its isolationism. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was announced June 5, 1947, by Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a speech at Harvard University in which he declared that United States policy was directed 'not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.' It was a plan really to rebuild Europe following WW 2 -
The Marshall plan Consequences
The U.S. and Europe become major trade partners,The postwar years were the first time that Western European countries had worked as closely for mutual gain. The international cooperation demanded by the Marshall Plan laid the groundwork for the formation of the European Union (EU). In an interesting twist of economic fate, today's gross domestic product in the EU and the value of its currency exceeds that of the United States. -
The Berlin Air Lift
The East Germans built a wall to keep East Germans from defecting to West Germany. This left West Berlin isolated with no way in or out. The only way to get supplies into or people out of West Berlin was to fly. The US started flying plane loads of supplies in until the East German government started allowing vehicular traffic back into West Berlin. -
The Berlin Airlift consequences
Nato was created.The Soviets were humiliated. They thought the western allies who had reduced their armies would give in and let them have West Berlin. And so tensions between the two grew. -
China 1949
Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The announcement ended the costly fullscale civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's. The creation of the PRC also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the Chinese Revolution -
Consequences of China 1949
The outbreak of the Korean War, which pitted the PRC and the United States on opposite sides of an international conflict, ended any opportunity for accommodation between the PRC and the United States. Truman's desire to prevent the Korean conflict from spreading south led to the U.S. policy of protecting the Chiang Kai-shek government on Taiwan.For more than twenty years after the Chinese revolution of 1949, there were few contacts, limited trade and no diplomatic ties between the two countries -
The Korean War
The Communist north invaded the South Korean area. The UN asked the U.S. and token forces from other countries to help the South Koreans. The U.N. forces pushed the Communists out of South Korea and far to the north. Communist China invaded and attacked the U.N. forces who were tired of war after WWII. The U.S. was also tired of war and did not give it their best. -
The Korean War Consequences
The Korean War gave rise to the idea that the two superpowers, United States and Soviet Union, could fight a "limited war" in a third country.It was one of the most destructive wars and brought economic and social damage to Korea. However, the War was able to boost the economy of both Japan and the US. The War also legitimized the United Nations and led to further expansion of military power. The Korean War also showed the growing anti-communist feeling across the US. -
The Rosenberg Case
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Julius Rosenberg an electrical engineer who had worked for the U.S. army signal corps, and his wife Ethel were indicted for conspiracy to transmit classified military information to the Soviet Union. In the trial that followed the government charged that in 1944 and 1945 the Rosenbergs had persuaded Ethel's brother and Harry gold with top-secret data on nuclear weapons. Both Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty and received the death sentence. -
The Rosenberg Case Consequences
The Rosenbergs were the first US citizens to prosecuted for espionage. Their trial lead to a great deal of controversy. The trial caused uneasieness in the american people. Now united states citizens believed communism to be spreading into their own country which in turn caused them to support the governments efforts in the cold war. -
Stalin dies- The end of the Korean War
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dies of a stroke.. On July 27, an armistice is signed ending the Korean War. The border between North and South roughly the same as it had been in 1950. The willingness of China and North Korea to end the fighting was in part attributed to Stalin's death. -
Death of Stalin Consequences
With no clear successor evident, the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet publicly declared a form of collective leadership. But this merely masked the beginnings of a bitter power struggle. Stalin's old position was deemed unnecessary because soviets no longer wanted one person to be in control. -
Massive Retaliation
The doctrine of massive retaliation was based on the West's increasing fear at the perceived imbalance of power in conventional forces, a corresponding inability to defend itself or prevail in conventional conflicts. By relying on a large nuclear arsenal for deterrence, President Eisenhower believed that conventional forces could be reduced while still maintaining military prestige and power and the capability to defend the western bloc. -
Massive Retaliation Consequences
Aside from raising tensions in an already strained relationship with the Soviet bloc, massive retaliation had few practical effects. The threat is hard to make credible, and is inflexible in response to foreign policy issues. Everyday challenges of foreign policy could not be dealt with using a massive nuclear strike. In fact, the Soviet Union took many minor military actions that would have necessitated the use of nuclear weapons under a strict reading of the massive retaliation doctrine. -
The Hydrogen bomb
The first United States test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, detonated at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as the first test of Operation Castle. Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States with a yield of 15 megatons of TNT. That yield, far exceeding the expected yield of 4 to 6 megatons, combined with other factors, led to the most significant accidentle radiological contamination ever caused by the United States. -
The Hydrogen Bomb 1954 consequences
This was the biggest bomb the US blew up. Unfortuanatly the bomb caused other big bombs to be blown up all over the world. This led to growing tensions all around the world due to everyone wanting the best bomb. This uneasieness is one of the major factors that caused the cold war. -
Dien Bien Phu
the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. The battle culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations over the future of Indochina at Geneva. -
Dien Bien Phu Consequences
The battle was the first time that a non-European colonial independence movement had evolved through all the stages from guerrilla bands to a conventionally organized and equipped army able to defeat a modern Western occupier in pitched battle.The Western fear of a Communist extension in Southeast Asia, named the Domino Theory by Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Dien Bien Phu siege and the departure of the French from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, was a factor leading to the direct US intervention. -
The Guatemalan Coup
The CIA coup called project PBSUCCESS which caused a civil war here in Guatemala. The US usurped a coup against the Guatemalan government to halt a communist regime that had started. It was deemed necessary because of a financial interest held at the time by the United Fruit Company. When the war finally ended, thousands and thousands of innocent people were left dead. It's a really sad story and ripped the lives of so many here. The backlash of that one decision devastated Guatemala. -
Consequences of the Guatemalan Coup
The CIA-installed usurper government had difficulty persuading the officer corps of the Guatemalan Army to abandon their Constitutional allegiance to the head-of-state President, and become the Guatemalan Army commanded by Col. Castillo. In the event, most of the officer corps abandoned the elected President of Guatemala, because, as political conservatives, they disliked Decree 900 and its socio-economic changes, yet neither did they prefer the régime of Col. Castillo. -
Khrushchev's secret speech
Superficially, the speech was an attempt to draw the Soviet Communist Party closer to Leninism. Khrushchev's ulterior motivation, however, was to legitimize and help consolidate his control of the Communist party and government, power obtained in a political struggle with Stalin loyalists Vyacheslav Molotov and Georgy Malenkov. Known as the "Secret Speech" because it was delivered at an unpublicized closed session of Communist Party delegates, with guests and members of the press excluded. -
Krushchevs speech consequences
The ensuing confusion among many Soviet citizens, bred on the panegyrics and permanent praise of the "genius" of Stalin, was especially apparent in the Georgian SSR, where the days of protests and rioting ended with the Soviet army crackdown.The speech was a major cause of the Sino-Soviet Split in which the People's Republic of China and Albania condemned Khrushchev as a revisionist. In response, they formed the anti-revisionist movement, criticizing the post-Stalin leadership for deviating. -
Sputnik
The first artificial Earth satellite launched by the Soviets. It was a 585 mm (23 in) diameter shiny metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses detectable -
Sputnik consequences
The surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis, began the Space Age and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The same rocket that launched Sputnik could send a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes, breaching the oceanic moat that had successfully protected the continental United States from attack during both World Wars. -
Castro takes power
Castro is sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba, accepting the position on the condition that the Prime Minister's powers be increased.Between 15 and 26 April Castro visited the U.S. with a delegation of representatives, hiring a public relations firm for a charm offensive and presenting himself as a "man of the people". -
Consequences of Castro taking power
Castro disagreed with the US and pitted Cuba against the US while supporting the USSR during the cold war. An example of this support is when Cuba's government ordered the country's refineries – then controlled by the U.S. corporations Shell, Esso and Standard Oil – to process Soviet oil, but under pressure from the U.S. government, they refused. Castro responded by expropriating and nationalizing the refineries. -
U2 affair
A United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union.The United States government at first denied the plane's purpose and mission, but then was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet government produced its intact remains and surviving pilot, Francis Gary Powers, as well as photos of military bases in Russia taken by Powers. -
U2 Affair Consequences
The incident showed that even high-altitude aircraft were vulnerable to missiles. The United States emphasized high-speed, low-level flights for its bombers and began developing the supersonic F-111. The Corona spy satellite project was accelerated. The CIA also accelerated the development of the Lockheed A-12 OXCART supersonic spyplane that first flew in 1962 and later began developing the Lockheed D-21 unmanned drone. -
Bay of Pigs
A counter-revolutionary military trained and funded by the United States government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the revolutionary leftist government of President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado. Launched from Guatemala, the invading force was defeated by the Cuban armed forces, under the command of Prime Minister Fidel Castro, within three days. -
bay of pigs consequences
The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro's administration, who proceeded to openly proclaim their intention to adopt socialism and strengthen ties with the Soviet Union, leading to the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The invasion was a major embarrassment for U.S. foreign policy, with Kennedy ordering a number of internal investigations. Across much of Latin America, it was celebrated as evidence of the fallibility of U.S. imperialism. -
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Crisis was the last major politico-military European incident of the Cold War about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of post–World War II Germany. The U.S.S.R. provoked the Berlin Crisis with an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of Western armed forces from West Berlin—culminating with the city's de facto partition with the East German erection of the Berlin Wall. -
Berlin wall consequences
Tensions rise between every country who own a portion of Berlin. The Us becomes incredibky infuriated by the whole thing. Soviets respond to all of the US advancements. Soviets and US have yet another reason to hate each other. -
The Cuban Missle Crisis
known as the October crisis in Cuba and the Caribbean crisis (Russian: Kарибский кризис, tr. Karibskiy krizis) in the USSR — was a 14-day confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side, and the United States on the other. It was one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is generally regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear conflict.It is also the first documented instance of the threat of mutual assured destruction. -
Consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Russia started building up it's navy and more submarines to be missile launchers,USA made a secret deal with Russians to remove some missiles we had on alert and stationed in Turkey aimed at Russia. Americans found out how quickly one little problem could escalate into almost World War III. Cold war started growing cold. -
Hot Line 1963
The "hotline" was established following an agreement by the signing of the "Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Line" by representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States at the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee, after the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis made it clear that reliable, direct communications between the two nuclear powers were a necessity. The hotline is a system that allows direct talk between Soviets and US. -
Consequences of the Hotline 1963
The "Hot Line" agreement, the first bilateral agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union that gave concrete recognition to the perils implicit in modern nuclear-weapons systems, was a limited but practical step to bring those perils under rational control.The communications link has proved its worth since its installation. During the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, for example, the United States used it to prevent possible misunderstanding of U.S. fleet movements in the Mediterranean. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of "conventional'' military force in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the resolution authorized the President to do whatever necessary in order to assist "any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty". This included involving armed forces. -
Consequences of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Johnson administration relied upon the resolution to begin its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam and open warfare between North Vietnam and the United States. So the resolution was partially responsible for getting the US involved in one of the worst wars it's ever fought in. -
Indonesian Coup
A self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian National Armed Forces members who assassinated six Indonesian Army generals in an abortive coup d'état.[1] Later that morning, the organization declared that it was in control of media and communication outlets and had taken President Sukarno under its protection. By the end of the day, the coup attempt had failed in Jakarta at least. Meanwhile in central Java there was an attempt to take control over an army division and several cities. -
Consequences of the indonesian coup
The Indonesian killings were an anti-communist purge following the failed coup in Indonesia. The most widely accepted estimates are that more than 500,000 people were killed. The purge was a pivotal event in the transition to the "New Order"; the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was eliminated as a political force, and the upheavals led to the downfall of president Sukarno and the commencement of Suharto's thirty-year presidency. -
The Six Day War
Israel launched surprise bombing raids against Egyptian air-fields after a period of high tension. Israeli initiated aerial clashes over Syrian territory, Syrian artillery attacks against Israeli settlements in the vicinity of the border. It went on like this until Within six days, Israel had won a decisive land war. Israeli forces had taken control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. -
Conseqences of the Six Day war
The political importance of the 1967 War was immense; Israel demonstrated that it was able, and willing to initiate strategic strikes that could change the regional balance. Egypt and Syria learned tactical lessons and would launch an attack in 1973 in an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim their lost territory -
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. It began when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected the First Secretary of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and continued until 21 August when the Soviet Union and all members of the Warsaw Pact, with the notable exception of Romania, invaded the country to halt the reforms. The reforms were an attempt by Dubček to grant extra rights to citizens -
Consequences of Prague Spring
The Soviets did not like all the changes occuring. Czechoslovakia began to give the impression that they'd rather side with the US. The Soviets did not like this and invaded. They greatly changed the cssr leadership with this invasion. -
The Tet Offensive
It was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that was launched by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks that were launched against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam, during a period when no attacks were supposed to take place. -
Tet Offensive consequences
South Vietnam was a nation in turmoil both during and in the aftermath of the offensive. As government troops pulled back to defend the urban areas, the Vietcong moved in to fill the vacuum in the countryside. The violence and destruction witnessed during the offensive left a deep psychological scar on the South Vietnamese civilian population. Confidence in the government was shaken, since the offensive seemed to reveal that even with massive American support, the government could not protect it -
Vietnamization
A policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during the Vietnam War to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops."This referred to U.S. combat troops specifically in the ground combat role, but did not reject combat by U.S. air forces, as well as the support to South Vietnam, consistent with the policies of U.S. foreign military assistance organizations. -
Consequences of Vietnamization
With vietnamization Nixon began joint operations to attack places such as Cambodia. In 1969, Nixon ordered B-52 strikes against PAVN bases and supply routes in Cambodia. The orders for U.S. bombing of Cambodia were classified, and thus kept from the U.S. media and Congress. In a given strike, each B-52 normally dropped 42,000 lb (19,000 kg) of bombs, and each strike consisted of three or six bombers. -
Nixon Visits China
It was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, which at that time considered the U.S. one of its staunchest[?] foes, and the visit ended 25 years of separation between the two sides. -
Nixon's visit Consequences
Nixon dubbed the visit "the week that changed the world." The repercussions of the Nixon visit were vast, and included a significant shift in the Cold War balance, pitting the PRC with the U.S. against the Soviet Union. "Nixon going to China" has since become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician. -
Salt
The common name for the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. It froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers at existing levels and provided for the addition of new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers only after the same number of older intercontinental ballistic missile and SLBM launchers had been dismantled. The Soviets and the US were required to limit the number of sites protected by an anti-ballistic (ABM) system to two each. -
Salty consequences
Salt was the start of fixing international relations. The US and Soviets were finally trying to end the extreme arms race. They were both settling on limits to be met when dealing with wmds. In the end the terrifying competition had an end in sight thanks to Salt -
Vietnam War Agreement
Intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam. The governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North), the Republic of Vietnam (South), and the U.S, as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) that represented indigenous South Vietnamese revolutionaries, signed the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam. -
Consequences of the vietnam war agreement
Nixon announced a suspension of offensive actions against North Vietnam. Kissinger and Tho met again on 23 January and signed off on a treaty that was basically identical to the draft of three months earlier. The agreement was signed by the leaders of the official delegations on 27 January at the Majestic Hotel in Paris.The Paris Peace Accords had little practical effect on the conflict, and were routinely flouted mainly by the North Vietnamese, as well as the Saigon government. -
Cambodia
The Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge) and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North) and the Viet Cong against the government forces of Cambodia (the Khmer Republic), which were supported by the U.S. and the Republic of Vietnam (South). After five years of savage fighting, the Republican government was defeated when the victorious Khmer Rouge proclaimed the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea. -
Cambodian Consequences
The war was over but the terrible dreams of the Khmer Rouge were about to come to fruition in the newly proclaimed Democratic Kampuchea. Khmer Rouge troops immediately began to forcibly empty the capital city, driving the population into the countryside and killing tens of thousands in the process. The Year Zero had begun -
Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted nine years. Part of the Cold War, it was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national insurgent groups called the mujahideen. The insurgents received military training in neighboring Pakistan, China, and billions of dollars from the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.The decade long war resulted in millions of Afghans fleeing their country, mostly to Pakistan and Iran. Hundreds of thousands of civilians died -
Afghanistan consequences
Before the war, Afghanistan was already one of the world's poorest nations. The prolonged conflict left Afghanistan ranked 170 out of 174 in the UNDP's Human Development Index, making Afghanistan one of the least developed countries in the world. Once the Soviets withdrew, US interest in Afghanistan slowly decreased over the following four years, much of it administered through the DoD Office of Humanitarian Assistance. With the first years of the Clinton Administration, all aid ceased. -
Solidarity Lech Walesa
After another food-price hike led to a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk—a strike of which he was one of the instigators—Wałęsa scaled the shipyard fence and, once inside, quickly became one of the strike leaders. The strike inspired some similar strikes, first at Gdańsk, then across Poland. Wałęsa headed the Inter-Plant Strike Committee, coordinating the workers at Gdańsk and at 20 other plants in the region. The communist government, signed an accord with the Strike Coordinating Committee -
Consequences Walesa
The agreement, besides granting the Lenin Shipyard workers the right to strike, permitted them to form their own independent trade union.The Strike Coordinating Committee legalized itself as the National Coordinating Committee of the Solidarity Free Trade Union, and Wałęsa was chosen chairman of the Committee.The Solidarity trade union quickly grew, ultimately claiming over 10 million members. -
Star Wars/SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative)
In a televised speech on national security, President Ronald Reagan proposed the development of new technology to intercept enemy nuclear missiles. It investigated new technologies like ground and space based lasers, and automated space vehicles. It was dubbed "Star Wars" by critics.
The end of the cold war led to criticism that SDI was unnecessary, and in 1991 President G. H. W. Bush called for a more limited version using rocket-launched interceptors based on the ground at a single site. -
Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)
The INF Treaty was a bilateral ratified treaty between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., which required the elimination of all missiles with ranges between 625 and 3,500 miles by June 1, 1991, and all missiles with ranges between 300 and 625 miles in 18 months. In all, 2,692 missiles were to be eliminated.
It resulted in the elimination of 846 U.S. INF missile systems and 1,846 Soviet INF missile systems. All operating bases were closed from any further INF missile system activity. -
Berlin Wall Falls
After weeks of discussion about a new travel law, the leader of East Berlin's communist party (SED), Gьnter Schabowski, said on November 9, 1989 that the border would be opened for “private trips abroad”. An onrush of East Berliners towards West Berlin began, there were celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate, and demolition work began the next day.
On July 1, 1990, an economic, monetary and social union between East and West Germany was formed, and all travel restrictions were dropped. -
Gorbachev Comes Into Power
The Congress of People's Deputies elected General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev as the new president of the Soviet Union for a five year term. This revealed Gorbachev had serious weaknesses in his power base as he barely won by a 2/3 vote in Congress. This would eventually his resignation in December 1991.
The slow pace of reform in the Soviet Union could not keep up with the rapidly crumbling economy and factionalized political system and while he instituted many reforms he was forced to resign. -
German Reunification
Economic union with the West occurred in July, and on Oct. 3, 1990, political reunification took place under the former West German constitution. Kohl's conservatve coalition took power.
The economy of the East largely collapsed, the costs of reunification and privatization of state-owned businesses in the East pushed Germany into recession and increased social tensions. By 1994, however, the economy had improved, and Kohl led his coalition to a narrow victory in national elections. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Gorbachev resigned and The Soviet Union collapsed because they underestimated the degree that non-Russian ethnic groups in the country would resist assimilation into a Russianized State and they didn't meet the needs of the State leading to economic decline.
It became the “Commonwealth of Independent Republics,” and was composed of most of the 15 countries that made up the Soviet Union. This collapse led to a complete reformation of political, economic and military alliances all over the world.
