Breakdown of the Grand Alliance:

Reasons for tensions of superpowers:

Soviet sphere of influence:

Beliefs:
Geographical area surrounding Russia, as the
USSR ‘liberated these areas after WW2 they  Russia was
stayed and maintained control and influence to communist and ruled
impose communism by a dictator
 USA was a capitalist
Democracy which
valued freedom
History:
 In 1918 US tried to
destroy the Russian
revolution
 Stalin signed a Nazi-
Soviet pact in 1939
Events:
 Yalta/Potsdam = open
disagreements
 Atomic bomb suspicion
 USSR: rigged elections
 Churchill: iron curtain
speech

Conferences:

Teheran: Yalta: Potsdam:

Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt Attlee, Truman, Stalin

Agreements: Agreements: Agreements:

 Agreed to a second front to aid  Germany would pay reparations  De-nazification

USSR in WW2
 Allies agreed to soviet sphere of
influence to give them security
Disagreements:
 Opposed Churchill’s invasion of the
Balkans as it was to stop the spread
of communism
 Stalin wanted huge reparations
from Germany but Churchill and
Disagreements:
Roosevelt thought it should be
rebuilt
 Nazi parties banned and war criminals tried  Arguments about the details of the
 Germany and Berlin would be divided into 4 boundaries between the zones.
zones: USA, USSR, Britain and France
Disagreements:
 Russia would help against Japan when
Germany was defeated.  Reparations, USSR wanted more
 Freed countries could choose their own  Atomic bomb- used by Truman in Japan,
government done behind USSR’s back (show of
 Poland could be run under USSR influence strength)
but more democratically  USSR wanted to impose a communist
gov. in Poland- Stalin had arrested the
non-communist leaders of Poland.
 Britain and US reluctant to allow Poland to
be communist

Iron curtain:
Churchill’s speech: 1949
Described the border between the democratic countries
of the west and communist countries of the east as an
iron curtain
Stalin called Churchill's speech a "declaration of war".
The long telegram: 1946
Telegram sent from US ambassador in
Moscow to President Eisenhower reporting:
 Stalin had given a long speech calling
for the destruction of capitalism
 USSR was building military,
developing A-bomb
 Ambassador called for the
containment of communism
Truman Doctrine: 1947
Speech made by President Truman:
 Communism needed to be contained
as it was a threat to the modern
world
 Communism enslaved people to the
state and it must be stopped
 The USA should provide money and
troops to help free governments
form communist takeovers
Breakdown of the Grand Alliance:
Marshall Plan: 1947
plan to help Europe recover from the
war created by General George
Marshall
 Congress agreed in March
1948 when Czechoslovakia
turned Communist
 The aid was given in the form
of food, grants to buy
equipment, improvements to
transport systems, and
everything "from medicine to
mules".
 Provided an escape for
resorting to communism after
the devastation of the war
 Countries must trade with the
USA to get the money
 15-17 billion was set aside for
the plan
 Stalin labelled it ‘economic
imperialism’
Buffer Zone:
Stalin:
Twenty million Russians died during the Second
World War, so Stalin said he wanted a buffer zone of
friendly states around Russia to make sure that
Russia could never be invaded again.
Novikovs Telegram: 1946
Telegram sent from Soviet ambassador to Stalin
reporting:
 America desired to dominate the world
 After Roosevelts death the US was no longer
interested in co-operation
 The US public was being prepared for war
Cominform: (1947) the communist information
bureau
 Represented communist parties in Europe
 Used to ensure the loyalty of the eastern
European governments
 Rejected the Marshall plan
Comecon: (1949) the council for mutual economic
assistance
 Aimed to control the communist parties
across Europe
 Prevented trade with the US
 Ensured benefits of economic recovery
 Soviet Control:

Country Date Method

Albania 1945 Communists immediately took power.
Bulgaria 1945 In the 1945 elections, a Communist-
led coalition was elected, but the
Communist control in the satellite states:
Communists executed the non-
Communists.
 Ruthlessly used the police and army to stamp on any
Romania 1947 In the 1945 elections, a Communist-
opposition
led coalition was elected to power.
The Communists gradually took over  Arranged economies so that they were dependent
and in 1947 they abolished the on the USSR by ‘rationalising’ industry’s to prevent
monarchy. countries from becoming self-sufficient.
Poland 1947 Stalin invited 16 non-Communist  Fixed elections- pretence legitimacy
leaders to Moscow and arrested them.  Made each country a single-party state by getting rid
Thousands of non-Communists were
of opposition
arrested, and the Communists won
the 1947 election.  Ensured communist party in each state had leaders
Hungary 1947 Free elections in 1945, non- that would obey Moscow
communists won, 1947, more ‘free  Created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust so
elections’ but communist won out of people felt as if they could not oppose soviet rule
intimidation and by executing the  By 1949, all the governments of Eastern Europe,
opposition
except Yugoslavia, were hard line Stalinist regimes.
Czechoslovakia 1948 In 1948, Communist workers went on
strike, the non-Communist minister
Masaryk committed suicide and
Gottwaldov took over the
government.
Yugoslavia 1948 Communist state not under soviet
control, split from USSR in 1948 and
took Marshall aid
 Berlin Blockade:

The post war conferences agreed to divide Germany up into 4 zones but the aim was to reunite the zones as soon as possible. The USSR was opposed to the gradual
rebuilding of West Germany and tried to disrupt it by blockading Berlin.

Trizonia: 1948 Blockade plan: 1948-49

 After the war the three allies Britain,USA and France decided to unite
their zones, forming a new country called West Germany
 They created a new currency also to help with trade
 This marked further separation of these countries with the USSR, causing
tension and was suspected by Stalin to against the agreements made in
Potsdam about Germany
 Stalin became worried as US influence and power was growing due to
Marshall aid and he knew west Germany had valuable economic
resources that could be used in a war against him
 Stalin wanted to gain overall control over the area and showcase USSR
power and strength by isolating west Berlin till the allies gave it up
 The plan involved blocking road, rail, river and canal links from the west to
Berlin
 Forcefully gaining entry would be an act of war and retreating (Stalin’s aim)
would portray weakness
 This attempt had the long-term goal of taking over the whole of Germany
 The west responded with the berlin airlift

The Berlin airlift:

 This blockade was seen as

 The west’s response to the blockade was an airlift where they transported food and supplies by air to the trapped Berliners
 Thousands of tonnes of food, oil, clothing were flown in with a plane lifting off at 30 second intervals at its peak. 200,000 flights made in 9 months of the blockade.
 -Eventually Stalin realised that blockade would not work and it was lifted on 12th May 1949. USA looked strong and generous while USSR looked evil.

West: East:

 Propoganda victory: made to seem kind and
generous by not abandoning their people
 West Germany is officially formed in 1949 – the two
areas become permanently separate states
 1949 - Western European countries and US set up
NATO to counter the Soviet military threat- building
on the Marshall plan as a military alliance
 Made the USSR look aggressive and ruthless
 October 1949 – east Germany (GDR) was
officially formed
 1955 USSR formed the Warsaw pact to
counter NATO- building on Comecon as a
military alliance
 Soviet control in Hungary:
The Hungarian uprising:
Causes:
 Secret speech created hopes of reform but nothing
happened
 Bad harvests/fuel shortages led to riots in Budapest on 23rd
October 1956
 Khrushchev withdrew the red army from Hungary on
Nagy’s request
 Nagy announced his reforms including leaving the Warsaw
pact
 The Hungarians were religious, but the Communist Party
had banned religion, and imprisoned Cardinal Mindszenty.
Events:
 Nagy asked Khrushchev to move the Russian troops out.
Khrushchev agreed and on 28 October 1956, the Russian
army pulled out of Budapest.
 For five days, there was freedom in Hungary. The new
Hungarian government introduced democracy, freedom of
speech, and freedom of religion. Cardinal Mindszenty, the
leader of the Catholic Church, was freed from prison.
 Then, on 3 November 1956, Nagy announced that Hungary
was going to leave the Warsaw Pact. However, Khrushchev
was not going to allow this. Russian tanks enter Budapest
 At dawn on 4 November 1956, Khrushchev sent 200,000
soldiers and 6,000 tanks into Hungary
 2,500 were killed, 20,000 wounded and 200,000 fled tp the
West
 Nagy was executed and replaced by Janos Kadar, as prime
minister.
Control 1945-55:
 Hungarian coal, oil and wheat were shipped to Russia while Hingarian citizens were
deprived of food
 Non-communist political parties were abolished
 Russian officials controleed the government police and army
 Cominform began a reign of terror, executing popular political leaders and their
supporters
De-Stalinisation: Imre Nagy:
 When Stalin died Khrushchev took over Liberal leader of Hungary appointed
and in 1956 hinted that control would in 1956 who wanted:
relax.
 To leave the Warsaw pact
 His secret speech promised an end to
Stalinism in the whole of the soviet  No more communist
sphere government
 Khrushchev released political prisoners  Free elections and
democracy
 Khrushchev appointed a more liberal
lead in Hungary and the people took  UN protection from the
USSR
this opportunity to start demonstrating
Effects:
 Repression in Hungary - thousands of Hungarians were arrested and imprisoned.
Some were executed and 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled to Austria.
 Russia stayed in control behind the Iron Curtain - no other country tried to get rid of
Russia troops until Czechoslovakia in 1968.
 Polarisation of the Cold War - people in the West were horrified - many
Communists left the Communist Party - and Western leaders became more
determined to contain communism.

Summits:
Geneva summit: May 1959
 Lay groundwork for K to meet E
Camp David: September 1959
 6 month ultimatum withdrawn and furthers
summits decided
 Eisenhower and Khrushchev
Paris summit: May 1960
 USSR shot down American spy plane over Russia
and captured its pilot
 Eisenhower refused to apologise for spying and
Khrushchev walked out
 There was no Test Ban Treaty.
 There was no discussion about the problem of
Berlin - which, ultimately, led to the Berlin Wall.
Vienna conference: June 1961
 Kennedy and Khrushchev
 Khrushchev took advantage of Kennedy and re-
introduced the 6 month ultimatum
Kennedy’s visit: 1963
 He wanted to show the world that the USA would
not let west Berlin down and would protect it
whatever happened with the soviet union
 made his famous 'I am a Berliner' speech next to
the Berlin Wall:
 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ['I am a Berliner'].
The Berlin wall:
The Problem:
 Many Germans crossed over from the East to west of Berlin so
the East suffered a brain drain and a loss of skilled workers
 The USSR felt it had to force the west out of Berlin due to the
damage it was causing
 The USSR then demanded withdrawal
 They declared Berlin as East German in November of 1958 and
said the west had to leave the city in six months
 The US objected and suggested summits
Cause of the Berlin wall:
 After the Vienna conference Kennedy began to prepare for war,
invested £3.2 billion of defence spending and spent £207 million on
building nuclear fallout shelters and the USSR realised it could not win a
nuclear war.
 The East German economy was suffering greatly due to a brain drain
and lack of skilled workers/labourers
 Nearly 2,000 refugees a day were fleeing to the West through west
Berlin
 The Soviets believed (rightly) that West Berlin was a centre for US
espionage.
 Kennedy refused to leave Berlin
 The east German government was unpopular
Effects:
 The problem of the division of Berlin was solved and Khrushchev
avoided a war with the US
 Refugees were unable to leave and Peter Fechter the first refugee
attempting to escape was killed
 The East German gov. became even more unpopular
 An important symbol of the cold war was created

USA, USSR and Cuba- Deteriorating relationships:
 Before 1959 the US and Cuba had a close
economic and geographical relationship, they ran
90% of the phone and electricity supply, 50% of
railways, 40% of all sugar production and owned
and supplied all oil refineries
 In 1959 Fidel Castro became leader of Cuba after a
revolution against the corrupt former leader
Batista and was a Marxist-Leninist (communist)
 The US became concerned with this development
and Eisenhower refused to acknowledge Castro as
a leader
 Reforms began under Castro and in 1960 he took
away US owned land and made an agreement to
sell the USSR sugar and buy its oil
 The USSR provided oil arrived and the US owned
refineries refused to take it resulting in Castro
nationalising all US businesses.
 The USA banned trade from Cuba and the USSR
agreed to buy sugar and provide more goods and
loans
Nuclear weapons in Cuba:
 September 1962: soviet ships carried nuclear
weapons and missiles to Cuba
 October 1962: U2 spy planes photographed Cuban
missile sites
 The missiles were in range of the US – could reach
mainland US in 10 minutes and D.C in under 20
 The threat of nuclear war became increasingly
apparent. It was vital that Kennedy and
Khrushchev came to some sort of agreement - the
future of the world depended on it.
The Cuban Missile crisis:
The Bay of Pigs: 1961
Plan:
 The USA had tried and failed to
assassinate Castro so planned an
attack on the Bay of Pigs
 They wanted to get rid of Castro in a
way that portrayed it as a Cuban
incentive so disguised US planes as
Cuban and trained Cuban fighters
and Kennedy was assured ordinary
people would join in once the
invasion began
Reality:
 Castro knew the plan from the
beginning
Consequences:
 most Cubans didn’t want Batista
back
 planes were photographed and
published as US planes attacking
Cuba
 second air strike cancelled but 1,400
troops still invaded and were met
with 20,000 of Castro’s troops and
surrendered
Consequences:
 strengthened alliances with the USSR
 Cuban army strengthened by soviet
protection
 Russian nuclear weapons placed in
Cuba
Naval blockade:
 The US decide in a naval blockade as their
response to the nuclear discovery
 The USSR says it will ignore this blockade
and see it as an act of war
 Kennedy proceeds with the blockade
 On the 24th of October 1962 the ships
closest to the blockade turn around
 26th October: Khrushchev sends a letter
suggesting negotiations of the missiles
could occur if the blockade is lifted
 27th October: a second letter arrives
demanding the removal of missiles in
Turkey in return
 Kennedy publicly responds and accepts
letter 1 and ignores 2, Khrushchev agrees to
withdraw and Kennedy privately agrees to
letter 2, 2 months later
 USSR retained their communist ally on
Americas doorstep and evened up the arms
race
 US had a propaganda victory (secret
withdrawal from turkey) – looked stronger
 Kennedy improved his reputation
 Avoided nuclear wars
 The Hotline agreement created a direct
communication link between Washington
and Moscow
 The Limited test ban treaty(1963) both
sides agreed to ban all nuclear weapon
testing unless underground
 M.A.D ensured in the arms race, preventing
war

Alexander Dubcek:
 Became leader in January 1968
 Was a good friend of soviet leader
leonid Brezhnev
 A communist leader who supported
the warsaw pact but was working
towards a ‘better’ communism
(socialism)
 His reforms resulted in the ‘prague
spring’ – a period of increased political
freedom and lots of criticisms of
communism resulted
 Dubcek and three other leaders were
arrested and sent to Moscow because
of his reforms
Brezhnev Doctrine:
Gave the USSR the right to invade any
Eastern Bloc country that was
threatening the security of the Eastern
Bloc as a whole.
Soviet Control in Czechoslovakia:
Causes of the Prague spring:
 The policy of détente encouraged the
uprising. Romania had also broken free of
Russian control, and was improving relations
with the West.
 The Czechs hated Russian control, especially:
Russian control of the economy, which had
made Czechoslovakia poor and the
censorship and lack of freedom.
 The impact of Soviet control led to a decline
in Czech’s economy and living standards
 Some Czechs thought the USA would help
them.
Effects of the Prague spring:
 Czechoslovakia returned to communist
control and Russian troops were stationed
there. Half the leadership of the KSC, along
with the directors of many firms (especially
publishing companies) were sacked and 47
anti-communists were arrested.
 Russia stayed in control behind the Iron
Curtain. The Brezhnev Doctrine stated that
Iron Curtain countries would not be allowed
to abandon communism, "even if it meant a
third world war".
 Increase of the Cold War. People in the West
were horrified and so were many communist
countries, especially Romania and Yugoslavia.
Prague spring:
 In April 1968, Dubcek's government announced
an Action Plan for what it called a new model of
socialism - it removed state controls over
industry and allowed freedom of speech.
 For four months (the Prague Spring), there was
freedom in Czechoslovakia. But then the
revolution began to run out of control. Dubcek
announced that he was still committed to
democratic communism, but other political
parties were set up.
 Also, Dubcek stressed that Czechoslovakia
would stay in the Warsaw Pact
 Brezhnev could not allow reforms as any
weakness in control could mean the break-up
of the Warsaw pact
 Brezhnev failed to convince Dubcek to stop the
reforms and introduced the Brezhnev doctrine
 On 20 August 1968, 500,000 Warsaw Pact
troops invaded Czechoslovakia. Dubcek and
three other leaders were arrested and sent to
Moscow.
 The Czechoslovakians did not fight the
Russians. Instead, they stood in front of the
tanks, and put flowers in the soldiers' hair. Jan
Palach burned himself to death in protest.
 Brezhnev put in Gustav Husak, a supporter of
Russia, as leader of the KSC.
Causes of Détente:
 The USSR was struggling economically with
keeping up with the US in the arms race
 America was also suffering economically with
inflation and poor living conditions
 The Cuban missile crisis was a scare and caused
both sides to take a step back from the brink
 Both the US and USSR had a growing concern
of China which regained their common
interests to cause an improvement in relations
 US president Nixon was keen to establish
better relations and Brezhnev wanted to
persuade the west to accept soviet control in
eastern Europe so efforts were made to reduce
tension
Outer space treaty: 1967
 No nuclear weapons in space
Nuclear non-proliferation treaty: 1968
 An agreement to prevent the spread of nuclear
weapons
 Countries with nuclear weapons would not
help other countries get them too
 Countries without nuclear weapons would not
try to get them
 Countries with nuclear weapons agreed to talk
about disarmament.
Apollo-soyuz mission: 1975
 Joint space mission US/USSR
 Space station inhabited by both powers
 Shows unification and co-operation
Detente:
SALT 1: 1972
 Superpowers agreed to limit the
number of nuclear weapons they had
 Both sides halted the production of
ICBM’s
 Each side would limit the amount of
nuclear submarines to 50 and if either
side built more the other side would
build more to have the same amount
 Each side agreed to limit the number
of Anti-Ballistic missiles they
developed to two each
 This agreement was largely seen as
temporary so negotiations of SALT 2
began
SALT 2:
 Vladivostok Agreement: 1974- each
side agreed they would reduce their
overall stockpile to 2250 each
The problem with both these treaties is that it
did not contribute to making the world a safer
place as the nuclear capacity both sides
retained still had the power to obliterate the
world
Helsinki agreement: 1975
 In 1971, the Warsaw pact countries proposed a
conference with NATO to discuss European
Security.
 The conference began in Helsinki in 1973 with
thirty three countries attending. A series of
meeting followed over the successive months
with an agreement reached in 1975.
 This agreement covered three areas:
Security:
 All countries boundaries accepted
 All disputes to be settled peacefully (UN)
 No interference in international affairs
 Countries would inform one another if they
performed military manoeuvres
Co-operation:
 Trade: the USA would buy oil from the USSR
and the USSR would by wheat from the USA
 Industrial co-operation: joint projects
 Scientific co-operation- sharing research
 Educational co-operation: student exchanges
Human rights:
 Freedom of speech, movement, religion and
information
 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan:

The Carter Doctrine: January 1980

Declaration that the USA would not allow soviet

aggression in the Middle East.
Events:
 Formed an alliance with China and Israel to
 1978: the Kabul revolution: the Afghan royal
support the muslim rebels – CIA supplied them
family was overthrown and the new government
with weapons
were determined ‘to build socialism in
 Imposed economic sanctions by stopping trade
Afghanistan’ – they soon became allies with the
with the USSR
USSR
 Ended diplomatic relations and refused to sign
 Spring 1979: a civil war between the government
SALT 2
and a mujahedeen opposed to socialist reforms
 The USA boycotted the Russian Olympic games
broke out
in Moscow on 1980 and the USSR did the same
 The mujahedeen were Muslim rebels fighting a
in L.A in 1984
Holy War against communism and were backed
by sophisticated weaponry by the USA and Britain
 October 1979: socialist president was
assassinated and the leader of the army took
over a military coup
Why did Carter react so strongly?
 The USSR invaded to declare Carmal as president
but it was a major disaster  The USA was worried that the USSR would
 The conflict lasted 10 years, 1.5m died including get more control in the middle east
15,000 Russian soldiers  Afghanistan might mean Soviet influence
in Iran
 Iran could block Middle East oil exports at
the straits of Hormuz, this oil was
essential to the USA’s prosperity
 Strategic Defence initiative:

Star wars: Problems in the USSR:

 President Raegan was determined to win the
cold war so launched SDI and have satellites in
the space that would destroy soviet
intercontinental ballistic missiles before they
reached the USA
 Raegan described the USSR as an ‘evil empire’
and amped up the arms race pouring money
into the new missile technology- this went
against the outer space treaty of 1967 and
consequently broke detente
 US technology was developing fast in the
1980’s especially computing so these advances
were quickly successful
 Concern regarding the economy after costly failures
in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
 USSR had to cut spending on weaponry as industrial
production was falling
 Due to the poor economy the people of Russia
were suffering greatly making them lose faith in the
USSR and have a growing dissatisfaction with
communism
 Alcoholism in Russia reached epidemic proportions
causing a further decline in soviet industry
 The Soviet Union was locked in an unwinnable war
in Afghanistan and facing cuts as 70% of industry
was spent on military production

Effect of SDI:

 Russia could not afford to keep up in the

arms race and the space race
 They were struggling economically to
compete and the USSR opposed
computers which was essential for
development in the ‘star wars’
programme
Geneva, November 1985:
 Gorbachev and Raegan met at the Geneva
summit and agreed to more meetings
Reykjavik, October 1986:
 Raegan and Gorbachev said they would work
to cut down the number of nuclear weapons
they had
 Gorbachev wanted an end to the SDI in return
which Raegan did not agree to
INF treaty: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
 Got rid of all nuclear missiles with a 500-
5500km range
 Signed in December 1987
Malta summit 1989:
 George bush/Gorbachev
 Began CFE and START 1
CFE agreement 1990:
 Set limits to the non-nuclear forces that the
Warsaw pact and NATO could have in Europe
 Made difficult due to many countries leaving
the Warsaw pact
START 1: 1991
 Gorbachev/bush
 Set limits to the number of nuclear weapons,
reduction by 1/3 by destroying them
 Both sides would continue to reduce but it did
not cover some nuclear submarines or space
weapons
Gorbachev:
Causes of reform:
Glasnost:
 Policy of openness
 Gorbachev knew he needed to solve
the bankruptcy, trade with the west
and rethink the way of governing the
country
Perestroika:
 The policy of ‘restructuring’
 Factories would be set their own
targets to encourage competition
 Money would be saved by removing
troops and spending less on weapons
 More would be spent on housing
education and healthcare
Impact of reform:
 Break-up of the eastern Bloc
 June 1989: Poland defeat communist gov.
 Summer1989: Hungary hold free elections
 November 1989: Czechoslovakia (velvet revolution)
 Novemeber 1989: Berlin wall falls- 1990:
reunification of Germany
 December 1989: Romania and Bulgaria revolution
 Warsaw pact ended in 1991
 Soviet people were unhappy and distrustful of
the government
 Foreign relations changed- more open minded
and positive
 Desperate to get the USSR out of the war in
Afghanistan
 Believed openness would make all eastern
European bloc countries better
 Had to improve trade relations to rebuild
economy- West would only improve trade if
repression reduced
 Cost of troops and hardware was crippling the
economy
 Wanted to move to a better socialism
 ‘We will proceed towards better socialism
rather than away from it. Those in the west
who expect us to give up socialism will be
disappointed’ (1988)Gorbachev
Berlin wall: 1989
 Straight after the Hungarian
revolution people started leaving
east Germany through Hungary
forcing the gov. to announce free
movement across the berlin
border
 9th November 1989: East Germans
flooded into West Berlin and the
Berlin wall fell
 The end of the cold war:

Break- up of the USSR: August coup:

 Glasnost policies made way for open Gorbachev was very unpopular amongst soviet
criticisms of the policys and hardliners and in august 1991 a group tried to take
communism control because:
 Perestroika made the economy
 Perestroika was ruining soviet economy
worse so living conditions
 Glasnost had caused the break up of the
deteriorated even more
eastern bloc
 Soviet republics demanded
 Glasnost was causing a break-up of the USSR
independence in 1990-91

Why did the USSR lose the cold war?

Gorbachev and Yeltsin:
 Propaganda: capitalism did better so it was
hard to ’sell’ something clearly worse  Yeltsin prevented the coup and defeated
 Afghan war: huge cost of the long war drained them in a few days while Gorbachev remained
the economy in his holiday house unable to do anything
 Economy: the societ econmy was never as  Gorbachev returned to power afyer but
productive as theUS looked weak In comparison
 Arms race: catching up with the US was  He tried to fix the USSR’s problem by provifing
crippling their economy the republics with more freedom but most
 Freedom: the Eastern Bloc and soviet republics wanted independence
republics only existed because of force and  On 25th December 1991
repression
 Technology: a fear of computers and
communication about communism caused the
USSR to fall behind in the star wars.