Fell in foreign currency earnings as a result of downward slide in
oil prices in the 1980s
Perestroika June 1987
Economic reform
Relaxed the production quote system, allowed for private
ownership of business and paved the way for foreign investment
Aimed to redirect countrys resources from costly Cold War
military commitments to more productive areas in the civilian sector.
Reagan
President of the US from 1981-1989
Escalated the Cold War
Build up of Armed forces
The forward march of freedom and democracy will
leave MarxismLeninism on the ash heap of history. [June 8, 1982]
"Communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human
history whose last pages even now are being written. [March 3, 1983]
Reagan Doctrine
Reagan and his administration provided covert aid to
anti-communist resistance movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Soviet Afghan War (1979-1989)
USA special forces trained and equipped resistance movements
in Afghanistan to fight off Soviet occupation
In what has become something of a pattern, these resistance
fighters would later help fight against US occupation in the 2000s Afghanistan War
End of the Cold War
Reagan acted diplomatically with Gorbachev in order
to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements
Reagan wanted a world free of nuclear weapons
He believed them to be "totally irrational, totally inhumane, good
for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization.
Gorbachev and Reagan held 4 summit conferences
First in Geneva, second in Reykjavik, Washington D.C & Moscow
"General
Secretary Gorbachev, if you
seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Reagan speaking at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987
End of the Cold War
At the Washington D.C. summit, Gorbachev and
Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) which eliminated an entire class of Nuclear Weapons
They laid the framework for the Strategic Arms Reduction
Treaty of START I
November 1989, 10 months after Reagan left office &
George HW Bush became president, the Berlin Wall was opened and the Cold War was unofficially declared over (December 3 1989)