Today we continued with more notes beginning with Teresa's powerpoint.
Effect of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan:
- In 1979 the USSR started wanting more control over Afghanistan and its people
- They were trying to preserve Afghanistan's falling communist government
- People were stuck in their clan of religious groups
- USSR invaded to help the communist government stay in power
- The Mujahid were Muslim fighters who fought against the Soviets
- They used Guerrilla Warfare on the Soviets
- Was a small group of combatants who used ambush techniques to raid larger less mobile armies
- Since there are a lot of mountains in the Afghanistan area, the Mujahid knew the land and had a home advantage
- Today the Mujahid has turned into the Taliban and al Qaeda
The Strategic Defense Innitiative:
- Was created by Ronald Reagan
- He announced his defensive system in his speech nationwide on TV
- Was a U.S. government program that was used to protect the US from potential missile attacks, especially from the Soviet Union
- The system had many new technologies, including automatic space vehiciles, rail guns, and laser guns
- Because of these things, the system was nicknamed Star Wars after the popular movie and was thought to be a joke
- Was initially designed to defeat a Soviet Union offensive strike
- If the Soviets were to launch a missile, satellites would detect them and then dummy rockets on the ground would go up and knock it off course into the ocean
- The idea is that we could strike someone but they couldn't strike us
- Critics said that the system was based on unproven technologies and could not be used effectively
- Star Wars has become very important today and is used all over the world including Colorado, Alaska, Alabama, and Los Angeles
- The technology is still being tested today and is not completely operational
The Fall of Communism and the End of the Cold War:
- Iron Curtain was used to describe the boundary between communist countries and non-communist countries *(Warsaw Pact countries and NATO countries)*
- Countries behind the iron curtain were struggling economically
- Gorbachev came to power and US/USSR relations improved as he was more willing to comply with us
- Glasnost (openness)-greater willingness to allow western ideas and goods into the Soviet Union
- Perestroika allowed limited market incentives to Soviet citizens
- United States and Soviet relations improved during the 1980s
- Reykjavik Summit (October 1986)-Gorbachev proposed reduction of nuclear arsenals
- Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty was signed on December 8, 1987 to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons
- Soviet Bloc (Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechlosovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) began to fall apart in 1989
- Poland as well as other countries elected non-Communist governments
- Hungary took down the barbed wire on the borders of Austria and the West
- Berlin Wall was being torn down with pickaxes by fall 1989
- Officially came down on November 10, 1989
- Leaders in every Eastern European nation were replaced except Bulgaria
- Many Soviet republics declared independence by mid 1990
- Communist party was forced to resign in the Soviet Union after 73 years
- The Baltic States left *(Estonia, Lativa, Lithiuania, etc.)*
- Boris Yeltsin formed the Commonwealth of Independent States
- Soviet Union was officially dissolved on December 25, 1992 with the CIS *(organization of many former Soviet Union countries formed after the Soviet Union broke apart)*
- Fall of Communism:
- Signs of the falling communist party were visible in the mid 1980s
- Gorbachev tried to modernize the economy and make the Communist Party more democratic
- Economic and political systems gained more freedom
- Law of State Enterprises gave businesses more independence from the government
- Workers were encouraged to speak out and start their own businesses
- Congress of People's Deputies replaced the old parliament
- Reduced the amount of influence the Communist Party had
- Many Eastern Europe Soviet countries overthrew their Communist governments and replaced them with republics
- The Iron Curtain grew very weak and eventually fell apart
- Perestroika and glasnost led to Communism collasping in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
- President Yeltsin ended the Communist power in Russia by suspending and banning the Communist party and seizing back their property
- This was a big symbol of the end of Communism in Russia
- Soviet Union being replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States was the ultimate symbol of the fall of Communism
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