· 2 to 3 slides:Summary of how international affairs of the 1980s contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War…
After watching the Communist takeover in Eastern Europe, the former British prime minister Winston Churchill coined a phrase to describe what had happened. On March 5, 1946, in a speech delivered in Fulton, Missouri, Churchill referred to an “iron curtain” falling across Eastern Europe. The press picked up the term, and for the next 43 years, it described the Communist nations of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. With the Iron Curtain separating Eastern Europe from the West, the World War II era had come to an end. The Cold War was about to…
‘From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet Sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence…
In 1991, when Boris Yeltsin seized the power and the Belavezha Accords were signed, the decision to disband the Soviet Union had been made and supported by the governments of Ukraine and Belarus. On December 12, 1991 Russia’s secession from the Union was sealed, the Belavezha Accords were ratified and the 1922 treaty on the creation of the Soviet Union was denounced. It had been a long road, and arguably it was predictable. It was finally time for change.…
Perestroika- “Gorbachev set in motion in 1985 plans for . . . a program of political and economic restructuring which he dubbed perestroika” (903).…
I apologize in advance for this burdening of telegraphic channel; but questions involved are of such urgent importance, particularly in view of recent events, that our answers to them, if they deserve attention at all, seem to me to deserve it at once. There follows…
The break up and dissolution of the Soviet Union on the 25th December 1991 heralded the end of the Cold War. It ushered in what had been termed 'the new world order ', furthermore, it was suggested by Francis Fukuyama to have signalled the end of history and the battle of ideas which had dominated much of the twentieth century (Huntington, 1996; 31). The 'clash of civilizations ' had already seen the demise of fascism as a credible force in 1945, the close of 1991 would see the end of communism in Europe. The relatively sudden collapse of the USSR has compelled thinkers and analysts to seek answers as to why the world’s second superpower could collapse so quickly…
As the war draws to a close and the USSR closes in on Berlin, the clash between Communism and capitalism becomes an unavoidable event. With an Allied victory, communist USSR would be a major player in determining the fate of postwar Europe. With differing societal beliefs between the capitalist west and communist USSR, the redrawing of Europe, particularly the division between West and East Berlin, left serious repercussions that played a definite impact on the Cold War.…
In this paper I read documents of The Sinews of Peace (‘Iron Curtain Speech’), Central Intelligence agency report, “Consequences of a Breakdown in Four-Power Negotiations on Germany”, Letter from Khrushchev to Ulbricht regarding the situation in Berlin, and Speech by President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, ‘Remarks on East-West Relations.’ The documents took place around 1946 through 1961. As each document explains and ties together the tension that was occurring in Europe and the Wester Powers. As the division was separating major cities and countries, of control and communism that was destructing the peace and recovery of the Wars.…
During the period of 1492 to 1750, Europe experienced drastic changes during their Age of Discovery. As a result of contact and colonization, Western Europe’s economy, political, social, and military systems changed, but also maintained certain aspects that enabled them to build strong civilizations. Such changes include increased (international) trade routes, more centralized governments such as monarchies, decreased unifying influence of the Catholic Church, and increased interest in military conquest and expansion.…
During the year between 1450 and 1750, the society was gradually transforming from the postclassical period to the early modern world. While there were negative parts of the society where there was a prevalent diseases and famine which made the general insecurity within the postclassical society, there was a basic optimism starting from the early modern period. The society no more had to be insecure with great improvements in terms of economy, politics, environment, society, and culture.…
The Soviet Union was looking to expand their way of life and basically take away liberty, slowly but surely. It may not have seemed so at first, and it is apparent because of the actions of presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter. With their choices to deny containment in the spirit of trade and relations,…
In 1989 the Berlin wall fell down and soon did the power of the Soviet Union. Then in 1991 on Christmas Day the Soviet flag flew for the last time. In the beginning the Soviet Union was one of the largest communist nations with 15 states and it capital being Moscow. In World War II Eastern Europe had already become divided but in 985 Mikhail Gorbachev took power and began huge reform. He allowed more freedom of speech and began allowing open voting for each country. After the fall of the Berlin wall Gorbachev was astounded but he still kept pushing reforms. With all this change many of the states like Poland, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine seceded from the Soviet Union in order to control their own territories who were vastly different. The nation was divided between conservative communists and those who wished for democracy.…
From 1945 to 1961, the cold war affected the political development of European nations by causing the formation of the Iron Curtain, which was the division of a free, democratic West and a totalitarian East. Socially, NATO and the COMECON were established, which formed the west and east into different blocs. Politically, the soviet assertion of dominance in Eastern Europe gained momentum in Eastern Europe and economically, Germany was separated into two separate states.…
"Collapse of the Soviet Union: Was the Collapse of the Soviet Union Inevitable?" History in Dispute. Ed. Paul Du Quenoy. Vol. 16: Twentieth-Century European Social and Political Movements: First Series. Detroit: St. James Press, 2004. 38-48. World History In Context. Web. 2 May 2013…