THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION

RONALD REAGAN

• Commenced a military buildup.
• Started a new arms race.
• Gave military aid to Afghan rebels.
• Called the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
• Wanted the Berlin Wall torn down.

LEONID BREZNHEV

• Was determined to keep Eastern Europe communist.
• Benifited from relaxed Soviet Union.
• Created the Brezhnev Doctrine.
• Uninterested in reform.
• Insisted on the right of the Soviet Union to intervene if communism was threatened elswhere.

PROBLEMS FACED

• Had a declining economy.
• The ruling class was corrupt.
• Farmers had no incentive to work.
• Governors had no plan of rule.
• Government's central planning led to a huge and complex bureaucracy.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV AND THE COLD WAR

• Soviet Union wanted to restore pro-soviet regime.
• Encouraged "Glasnost," a policy of openness.
• Agreed to eliminate intermediate range missiles.
• Hoped to make far-reaching economic and international reforms.
• Stopped giving Soviet military support to communist countries.

PERESTROIKA

• Means "restructuring"
• Gorbachev wanted to start a market economy based on limited free enterprise.
• Gorbachev established a new soviet parliament.
• He strengthened his power bo establishing a new state presidency.
• He was the Soviet Union's first and last president.

THE END OF THE SOVIET UNION

• Ethnic tensions increased.
• Gorbachev struggled to deal with problems caused by his reforms.
• A group of conservatives arrested Gorbachev ant tried to sieze power.
• Ukraine voted for Independence on December 1,1991.
• Gorbachev resigned December 25, 1991.

BORIS YELTSIN

• Was president of the Russian Republic.
• He was committed to introducing a free market economy.
• Used brutal force to keep the province of Chechnya under Russian control.
• Opposed NATO's expansion.
• Resigned at the end of 1999.

VLADIMIR PUTIN

• He was elected president in 2000.
• Vowed to adopt a more assertive international role.
• Vowed to bring Chechnya under Soviet control.
• Launched reforms to boost growth and budget.
• Threatened to attack Ukraine in 2013.

GROUP MEMBERS

• Tyrone Foster
• Jacob Little