End of the Cold War

How did economic dissatisfaction contribute to the cold war’s end?

1 END OF THE COLD WAR

Study Questions

I. How did dissident movements contribute to the Cold War’s end II. How did economic dissatisfaction contribute to the cold war’s end? III. How did the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union  contribute to the cold wars end?  

I. Intro

A. End of the cold war

a. November 9, 1989 promise question, berlin wall fell and war  ended

b. People didn’t think the war would happen

c. Why did the end happen?

i. The three study questions are what contributed to its end.

d. Countries involved in the cold war

i. Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary,  

How did the arms race between the united states and the soviet union contribute to the cold wars end?

Bulgaria,  

ii. Yugoslavia escaped SU sphere but still had same government iii. These are tied together by soviet domination and a military  alliance which was very important If you want to learn more check out How much money do women make for every dollar a man makes?

1. WTU: Warsaw treaty organization or Warsaw pact

2. This was under soviet domination and all had to  

contribute troops

3. The famous western counter part is the NATO

4. NATO: north Atlantic treaty organization

5. Held countries of Western Europe together under  

command of the US. Still exists today.  

e. Political and economic systems of eastern Europe

i. Authoritarian (single-party rule)

How did dissident movements contribute to the cold war’s end?

We also discuss several other topics like How to predict the covalent bond strength?

1. Had own single communist party each

2. Called themselves communist or socialist but all were  

Bolshevik/ Leninist and the revolutionary vanguard.  

ii. Command economy

II. Study Question 2

A. Dissident Movements

a. Dissident: a term from this part of history, an E. European  phenomena. This comes from the word dissent. We also discuss several other topics like Where and how the insecticide can be used?

i. Dissent: to disagree  

ii. Dissident: someone who dissented or diasagreed with the  

ruling communist party.

1. This was a very brave thing to do at the time

2. The governments regularly arrested dissidents.  

3. Thousands in prison on the eve of the cold war We also discuss several other topics like The radio dj says “sometimes this hour. i’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to the adele concert to one lucky caller.” this is an example of which type of reinforcement schedule?

b. Dissident Movements emerged in the 70s and 80s

i. Crushing of Prague Sprint in 1968 is when it started

ii. This was a new way to protest by expressing dissatisfaction.  iii. Happened in significant numbers

iv. Never large numbers of dissidents in these countries

v. Impact was large, though.  

vi. Very important because they kept hope alive for change.  vii. The movements mentioned in last lecture:

1. The brontosaurus movement

2. Polish ecology club

B. Czechoslovakia

a. Years following Prague Spring of 1968

i. Gained a new leader: Gustav Husak

1. Maid leader of Czech communist party 1969-1987

2. Chosen mainly by Soviet Union because of his loyalty  

unlike the prior leader.  

3. Didn’t like dissidents

ii. International document created:

1. Helsinki Accords

a. International document about human rights Don't forget about the age old question of Kelps are brown seaweeds. how are kelps different from other brown seaweeds?
If you want to learn more check out Why do buyers go to markets?

b. Any government that signed was committing  

itself to respecting human rights.

c. Signed 1975

d. Spelled out wat human rights meant

- Right to freedom of expression

- Right to live in freedom from fear  

especially fear of ones’ government

e. Signed in Helsinki, Finland 

f. Signed 1975 by 35 different governments

g. All of the governments of eastern Europe  

including soviet union signed this

h. This committed themselves to respecting human

rights

i. The commitment on paper didn’t translate in  

reality

b. The Plastic People of the Universe

 i. Rock and roll band 

ii. Origins in Czech in 1968

iii. 1960s was a time of freedom for the Czechoslovakians

iv. Leader: Ivan Jirous, nicknamed “Magor” which means  blockhead

1. Trained in art history

2. Taught him the power of culture as a powerful tool  

against injustice

3. Used music as a tool for resistance

4. Influenced by frank zappa

v. Once Prague spring was crushed, PPOTU were made illegal to play along with other rock bands

1. Illegal because they often sung songs against the party

2. Songs critical of SU

3. Communist leaders thought rock had a band influence  

on young people and this made tem lose their morals

4. They didn’t stop playing so they went underground  

and played illegally. This isn’t easy for a rock band  

because it’s loud with a bunch of people.  

5. Didn’t take long before they were caught

6. Magor was arrested many times and spent a lot of time

in jail. Other members of the band were regularly  

arrested along with audience members.  

7. They were not respecting the Helsinki Accord

c. Charter 77

i. A very important dissident movement

ii. One of the 2 movements that had the greatest impact

iii. Promise question

iv. Received name from a document that appeared in January  1977 aka the name

v. Protects the right for the plastics to play music of their choice aka human rights

vi. Leader: Vaclav Havel

1. First president of Czech after the cold war

2. He was vitally important to the people

3. Main author of charter 77

vii. This reminded people that the SU and others signed the  Helsinki Accords

viii. Pointed out that the arrests meant the government was  violating the Helsinki Accords

ix. Declared the Charter 77 was illegal because it was dissenting their policies

x. Havel was arrested  

xi. Copies circulated around the country in the 70s and 80s

xii. People who agreed were invited to sign their name to the  document

xiii. Signing the document was very brave. Only about 10,000  people signed it which was a lot for such a brave thing.

xiv. Many people were arrested

xv. At the eve of the end of the war, many were imprisoned for  signing the document

xvi. Contributed to the crumbling of communist rule

xvii. Kept hope alive

xviii. Encouraged people to call for the end of single party rule and bring democratic rule

III. Study Question 2 (II): How did economic dissatisfaction contribute to the  cold war’s end?

A. Economic Dissatisfaction

a. Command economies

i. Government control all aspects of economy

b. Very lousy economies

i. Lack of motivation to produce goods

c. Produced shortage economies

i. Lack of basic consumer goods like food and toilet paper

d. Gave attention to heavy industry in Black Triangle not consumer  good production

i. Coal

ii. Iron

iii. Steal

B. Poland, 1970

a. December 1970, workers strikes broke out throughout Poland b. Very shocking event for Polish communist party because they saw  themselves as representing and helping the workers

c. Strikes broke out in December because government announced  they were raising food prices.  

i. Protested the increase in cost of living for people already  struggling to get by

d. When price raises were declares, Edvard Gierek, the leader of the  communist party, didn’t try to throw them into jail in 1970. i. Instead of jailing them, he tried to negotiate to return them  to work

ii. Made 2 promises:

1. Pay hike for workers

2. More consumer goods would be made available like  

meat

iii. Tried to live up to these and could live up to the first promise  but not the second because the economy wasn’t strong  

enough.

iv. Food grew even more scarce so opposition against Gierek  grew

e. More strikes happened in 1976

i. Gierek wasn’t negotiating this time

ii. Gierek ordered strikers to be arrested

iii. This lessened income to feed children and families

iv. A group formed in Poland: KOR

C. KOR: committee for the workers’ defense

a. Formed to help striking workers.

b. Very important dissident group in Poland but not the most important c. Formed 1976 with a specific goal

i. Formed to collect funds for families of striking workers

ii. Given to wives to feed the children

iii. This kept men from feeling bad about striking

d. The members weren’t workers, they were intellectuals and students e. KOR was an intellectual dissident movement and collaborated with  the workers which built an alliance; this was a powerful  

combination.

f. Gierek and other leaders declared KOR illegal

g. They went underground and continued

h. Kept hope alive and encouraged people to call for democratic rule i. Made the economy worse

j. Especially bad in 1980

i. Polish economic dissatisfaction grew more intense

D. July 1980

a. Rose price of food again

b. More strikes!

c. Strongest and most organized center was polish city Gdansk (German name is Danzig)

i. This is a port city in north Poland

ii. Still were major ship building happens and for other parts of  eastern Europe

iii. Strikes broke out throughout Poland

iv. Learned a lot from previous strikes so they learned to  

organize themselves

d. Summer 1980, organized into committees

i. These were called inter-factory strike committees

ii. All factories through Poland came to have these

iii. Operated on local level in factories to address grievances of  individual workers.  

iv. Became organized enough to have a national meeting and  elect representatives.  

v. In Gdansk, created one unified national body of striking  

workers to represent all the workers. This was called the  

Solidarity

 e. Solidarity and Charter 77 were the 2 most important dissident  movements in Europe.  

f. Leader of Solidarity: Lech Walesa

i. Electrician by training in Gdansk for ships

g. Elected president of Poland after the war

h. Solidarity founded in September 1980

i. Sept 1980-dec 1981, communist party didn’t know what to do so  they left them alone

j. Leading communist party weren’t prepared to jail the members.  This was a good time for the Poles and they enjoyed it.

k. December 1981, SU told them it was time to crack the whip l. New person in charge to run the government of Poland was  General Wojciech Jaruzelski

m. Establish Marshall rule in Poland aka military rule over Poland i. Members were arrested and jailed  

ii. Thousands of members of Solidarity were arrested, some got  away and established underground networks

n. This still didn’t stop Solidarity

o. Through 1980s, Solidarity kept hope alive.

IV. Study Question 3 (III): How did the arms race between the United States  and the Soviet Union contribute to the cold wars end?  

A. The arms race between SU and US

a. Been going since end of WWII

b. Heated up in late 1970s

i. One reason: 1977 SU developed a new type of nuclear  missile and started placing them through eastern Europe

ii. SS-20s. this was a mobile nuclear missile making it hard for  US to find and count them

iii. US responded by placing minute men missiles ICBMs through Western Europe and US.  

c. Heated more in 1983

i. Strategic defense initiative “star wars program” by  

Ronald Reagan

ii. Protective barrier of satellites to find coming missiles and  deflect them

iii. This scared SU

B. Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader of SU

a. Learned of star wars program

b. Decided there was no way SU could afford to participate in space  race

c. Decided to end arms race

d. Admitted the SU economy was in bad shape

e. Instead of competing, he decided to start dismantling soviet  military

f. Focused on lessening soviet troops in east Europe

g. Went from ½ mill troops in E. Europe  

h. December 1988, he announced the SU was going to withdrawal  troops from eastern Europe as well as WTO troops

i. When they opened berlin wall, there were no soviet troops to stop  them.