11.5 The End of the Cold War

Notes

In the 1980s, economic problems and reform movements brought the Cold War to an end.

• The Soviet economy stagnated, and the war in Afghanistan was costly. The U.S. increased military spending under President Ronald Reagan.
• Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader in 1985. He introduced glasnost (openness, more freedom of speech) and perestroika (economic restructuring).
• In Poland, the Solidarity labor union led by Lech Wałęsa challenged communist rule and won elections in 1989.
• In 1989, communist governments fell across Eastern Europe. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, and Germany reunified in 1990.
• The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991 into 15 independent republics.
• China took a different path: Deng Xiaoping introduced market reforms from 1978 but kept one-party rule. The government violently crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.