The Fall of the USSR

 

Soviet-Afghan War

In 1979 the USSR invaded ___________ to keep a communist government in power.  This aggression ended ___________, with the US cutting off grain sales to the USSR and _____________ the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. 

 

To stop the spread of communism, the US supplied the Afghan ____________ with weapons.  The rebels defeated the Red Army in a bitter 10-year war that demoralized and weakened the Soviet ____________.

 

Reagan & Gorbachev

In the 1970s the US also suffered from a poor economy, long gas lines, low __________, and an embarrassing ____________ crisis with Iran.  President Jimmy Carter admitted the US was stuck in a “_____________,” as the Soviet Union pulled ahead in nuclear missile technology. 

 

In 1980 Ronald Reagan was elected president in a _______________ victory and renewed American _____________.  Reagan was firm with the USSR and called it the “______________,” as well as the “focus of evil in the modern world.”

 

Believing peace could only be achieved through _____________, Reagan increased military spending and proposed the “_______________” program (SDI), which further crippled a weak Soviet economy that could not keep up. 

 

Reagan also fought communism in Latin America.  When the communist ________________ overthrew the repressive Nicaraguan government in 1979, Reagan secretly supplied the contrarevoluticionarios, or _______________, with weapons.  The civil war weakened Nicaragua, but by 1990 the Sandinistas handed over power to a freely elected government.

 

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader and faced huge problems.  There was civil ________________ over the Afghan war, and the weak Soviet economy could not match Reagan’s defense spending and also afford _______________ goods.

 

To ease Cold War tensions Gorbachev removed Soviet troops from Afghanistan and signed treaties with President Reagan that ______________ the arms race.

 

Gorbachev also introduced two sweeping reforms aimed at improving the Soviet government and economy.  However, both ______________ would have _______________ consequences that would lead to the collapse of the USSR.

 

1) Glasnost – policy calling for openness that ended censorship and encouraged people to discuss problems in the USSR (1985).

 

Political ______________ were freed, and the media began reporting the ____________ aspects of the USSR such as the gulags, poverty, corruption, and the 1986 _________________ disaster.  This weakened Soviet power and caused many to lose _____________ in communism.

 

2) Perestroika – restructuring of the USSR’s government and economy in order to stimulate economic growth (1987).

 

Under perestroika _______________ reforms were introduced into the USSR’s command economy, with local level ________________ given the power to make production decisions, instead of incompetent party officials.  While this was designed to boost efficiency and output, the rapid change brought economic ________________. 

 

With censorship gone the people of the USSR voiced their desire for ________________ and held huge freedom rallies.  During a speech in West Berlin Reagan aroused the German people by saying “Mr. Gorbachev, ______________ this wall!”

 

Freedom in the East

Due to an extremely weak economy, by 1989 the USSR could no longer _______________ its communist satellite governments.  With a reduction in Soviet influences, Eastern Europeans protested and called for _____________. 

 

Poland, a Soviet satellite, was experiencing economic problems that caused unrest.  In 1980 an electrician named _____________ formed _____________, an independent trade union that called for political change.

 

The communist Polish government outlawed the union and ______________ Walesa, but when the USSR weakened Poland held free ____________ and Walesa became president in 1989.

 

Germany was finally reunited when mobs of Germans tore down the Berlin Wall.  By 1991 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania regained their ______________, and the remaining satellites soon followed. 

 

 

Seeking to revive the USSR communist ______________ staged a _____________ against Gorbachev. The coup failed when democratic resistance rallied behind Russian President _______________, who convinced the Red Army not to fire on Russian civilians.  Gorbachev soon resigned, and the USSR ceased to exist.

 

 

 

Collapse of the Soviet Union