.The End of the Cold War eatning Outcomes In this chapter, you will: + understand why Communism néastern Europe and the Soviet Unioncallaprea Repub ‘country whose leaderis a president ora prime minister nota king, Was the end of the Cold War inevitable? | This is a picture of Mikhail Gorbachev. He was the leader of the Soviet Union until it broke up in 1991 into smaller, a separate republics. He played a part in the break up of the USSR. The purple mark on his head is a birthmark — a mark that appears on a person’s skin from birth. Itis called a portwine stain because it is purple like port wine, a drink made of alcohol. When Gorbachev first came to power, Soviet artists and photographers covered up his birthmark. The Soviet Union’s top leaders had, since Stalin's time, covered up parts of any paintings and photos that made them look less than perfect. Gorbachev was different. Gorbachev said that his photographs and portraits should not, hide his birthmark. He ruled the USSR in the same way and did not cover up the problems that the Soviet Union had. ‘Mikhail Gorbachev This chapter explains why the Cold War came to an end in 1991, There were many reasons why the Cold War ended. In Eastem Europe, many people did not want the Soviet Union to control their countries. When people in Eastern Europe ‘compared their lives with the lives of people living in Westen Burope, they realised that the Westerners had berter wages, had more goods to buy and were not as strictly controlled by the government as they were in the Communist countries. ‘Thus, many people living in Eastem Europe wanted to see the end of Soviet control of their countries. Economic problems in the 1970s and 1980s meant that the Soviet Union did not have enough money to keep its troops in Eastern Europe.Gorbachev tried to save money by pulling Out Soviet troops from Eastern Europe, Without Soviet support, most of the Communist governments in Eastem Europe fell from power. People living in the Soviet Union were unhappy that the government could not make enough of the basic goods they needed. The changes that Gorbachev introduced to make the Soviet economy and government better caused new problems, The result was the breakdown of Communism in \\\ the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. ‘This chapter has four parts: 1. Why wasn’t the Communist system working? ‘This part will look at the problems of the Soviet Union's economy and government, 2. How did Gorbachev try to get the Communist system to work again? . ‘The second part looks at Gorbachév's changes. 3. What effect did Gorbachev's changes have on Eastern Europe? ‘The third part considers how Eastern Europe was affected by Gorbachev's changes. 4, Why did the Soviet Union break up? The fourth part examines why the Soviet Union ended. Coney How does this chapter fit in with the rest of the book? ore) crea oeracen meas ussr. citer Cero en Peer ns Gime‘Queuing was a way of fe for the Soviet people. ‘Shoppers inthe Russian capital, Moscow, waited inline for hours to buy {food and other basic items Why wasn’t the Communist system working? ‘The Soviet Union had a large supply of resources, such as oil and gas. With these resources, it should have been a very rich county. Yet, when the Soviet people went to the shops, there was often nothing to buy. Thinking Point How do you think this man felt when he was living under the Communist system? Give reasons for yo Source 1 Memories of an ordinary Russian citizen who lived in the USSR What lremember most were the long queues. People would start queuing before the shops opened. | was never sure if there would be anything left to buy by the time I reached the end of the queue. In all ‘my years of living under the Communist system, | could only buy two pairs of shoes a year, a fixed amount of meat and other types of food. Very often, we could not get the things we really needed — like toilet paper. When I could buy toilet paper, I felt so happy, like Ihad just won the lottery. Internal reasons Inefficient economy An inefficient economy uses the country’s resources in a wasteful way. That means the resources are not used where the citizens'need them ost and the result is that citizens cannot get what they want, such as food, clothing and housing, ‘The command economy of the Soviet Union started to show signs of inefficiency in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The main sign of its inefficiency was that Soviet citizens could not get basic things such as food and clothing, There were several reasons, why the command economy ih De Poor decisions by central government the central government did not always make the right decisions, Icusuwally had no idea what the local conditions were like at the factories located in different pants of the Soviet Union, Often, local conditions would be very different, so it was hard for the central government to make decisions that were suitable forall parts of the county. Stow decisions by central government The factory managers bad to wait for the central government to make decisions about what to make, how much to make and how much to charge for the goods. ‘The managers had to wait a long time for these decisions. Thus, the Soviet people had to wait even longer for the goods to get to the shops. In the West, however, the factory managers would ake these decisions themselves, so Western consumers did not have to wait as long as Soviet citizens for the goods to be ready for sale in the shops No quality control ‘The central government focused on targets that were easy to measure. In this way, it knew that it would be able to check whether the targets had been met. The central govesnment thus set targets for the number of ‘goods that the workets should make. The central government did not set targets for the quality ofthe goods produced, as it was harder to measure quality. So the goods produced in the Soviet Union were often of poor Guality and customers were not happy with the quality of the goods they bought No incentive to work hard There was no reward or incentive to work hard, since all workers were given the same benefits, All Soviet workers were guaranteed jobs for life. They were given subsidised health care, housing and education. Soviet workers became less efficient than workers in the capitalist West as a result of the command economy Most of the money was spent on the military The Soviet government spent most of its money on building up the military. In some years, up 0 50 per cent of government spending was on the military. There was not much money left to make consumer goods. Not enough consumer goods were made and people had to line up for hours hoping to buy these goods Few consumer goods were made The table on the right compares a group of one thousand people in the USSR to another gioup of one thousand people in the USA. The table shows the number of consumer goods each group owned in the USSR and the USA in 1966 Alcoholism made workers less efficient ‘Alcoholism was a big problem in the Soviet Union. Alcohol was sold very cheaply and was easily available, With few other consumer goods available, the workers often spent their money on alcohol. Many workers went to work drunk and produced very low quality work. Workers who svere alcoholics were unhealthy. Men in the Soviet Union could expect 0 Tive until they were 62 years old in 1980. This was five years shorter than in 1964, when Soviet men could expect to live until they were 67 years old HistoryBYTES. Find out more about lifein the USSR. Use the keywords: Cold War, memories, USSR. Thinking Point Why do you think there was a difference in the figures shown? How do you think the Soviet people felt when they compared their lives withthe lives of Americans? Source 2 Number of consumer goods owned (for every 1,000 people) in 1966 er mes Motor cars 5 | 398 TWsets a | 376 Refrigerators | 40. | 293 Washing 37 | 259 machines ‘Consumer goods Food, dthing, shoes and housing are txamples of cnsumer goods. They are ‘goods used (consumed) by indviduals nd fails szmpeeuye paz | { |