From the End of the Cold War to 9/11

1980 – The End of Détente

• In the 1970s, the USA and the USSR tried to improve relations; this was known as détente but by the early 1960s, détente had broken down
  • In 1981, President Ronald Reagan took power in the USA and he believed in a much more aggressive foreign policy
  • The nuclear arms race restarted, with the USSR putting new missiles in eastern Europe and the USA installing the cruise missile
  • In its latest crackdowns in eastern Europe, the USSR introduced military rule in Poland in 1981 to crush a popular protest movement led by the trade union Solidarity
  • The Soviet war in Afghanistan brought back all the tensions of the Cold War

1981-82 – Ronald Reagan

• Ronald Reagan took office as president of the USA in January 1981
  • A supporter said that he was able “to convey whatever he was thinking in terms that everybody understood” and he “seemed to have a warmth about him”
• Reagan was not a political thinker, he believed Soviets were bad, and Americans were good
  • Most of his views were shaped by a think tank of hard-line anti-communist advisers called the Committee on the Present Danger
  • They believed in increasing US defence spending and taking a tough line with the USSR whenever possible
• Reagan closely followed their advice
  • He supported anti-communist forces in Afghanistan and Nicaragua
  • He dramatically increased the US defence budget
  • He introduced new weapons systems
• In 1982, Reagan approved the multi-billion-dollar project of the Strategic Defence Initiative which would use satellites and lasers to destroy missiles
  • His supporters claimed that he aimed to escalate the nuclear arms race in order to end it
  • He knew that the USSR wouldn’t be able to compete with the technology and would be forced to admit defeat
  • His critics suggested that his policies were more about money that politics
  • Defence companies had made huge donations to his presidential campaign; perhaps he felt the need to pay them back
• Reagan’s determination, charisma and willingness to invest in weapons development were vital assets and he had support from Britain and Germany in his tough line against the USSR
  • He put the USA into $4 trillion debt
• Reagan’s success was helped by the USSR’s crisis
  • The Politburo was made up of ageing politicians
  • Brezhnev died in 1982 and Andropov, his successor, died early in 1984
  • These men only responded with criticism as a warmonger who was recklessly advancing the arms race
  • Politburo members were also aware that the USSR’s economy was suffering due to the war in Afghanistan and Soviet support of its allies in Vietnam and Cuba

1985-87 – Mikhail Gorbachev

• Gorbachev was born in 1931, studied law, became a persuasive speaker and then worked as a local Communist Party official, reaching the Politburo in 1980
  • He was a close friend of Andropov, and being his second in command, shared many of his views about reforming the USSR
• He became leader of the USSR in 1985 with fresh ideas
  • As a realist, he saw the USSR’s terrible state with a weak economy due to spending too much money on the arms race and funding the Afghanistan war
  • As an idealist, he believed that communist rules should improve life and after travelling, he saw that non-communist states were in a better position
  • As an optimist, he believed that communism could work, with radical reforms
• Gorbachev was forced to be careful as he faced opposition from hardliners in his own government; however, he gradually declared his policies with the key ideas of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring)
  • Glasnost reduced state control of the media, giving the people factual news coverage of issues such as the economy and war in Afghanistan for the first time
  • Perestroika introduced economic reforms that allowed people in the USSR to trade for profit – a massive challenge to one of the basic beliefs of communism
  • Gorbachev launched a campaign against corruption in the USSR and began to attack the privileges that party and police officials had over citizens
  • He also decided to talk to Reagan

1985-88 – The Gorbachev and Reagan Summits

• Gorbachev’s reforming of the USSR was difficult due to the economical issues caused by the arms race; they could never outspend the USA, so announced cuts in armament expenditure
• At the same time, Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, gave speeches about international trust and cooperation rather than confrontation, and suggested that him and Reagan meet face to face to discuss their differences
• Reagan was keen to discuss nuclear disarmament; he was shocked to discover that in 1983, the USSR nearly launched a nuclear strike the USA because they believed the USA were planning to launch the first strike against them
• In Geneva, on 19 November 1985, they met at their first summit and got on well
• Their second summit was in Reykjavik in October 1986, their third in Washington in December 1987, and their fourth in Moscow in June 1988
• There was a breakthrough in December 1987 when they both agreed to reduce their missile stockpiles and cooperate fully with an inspection regime
• The final summit in June 1988 was mainly symbolic as it was the first time Reagan had been to the USSR and the first time, he met Soviet people
  • Reagan took back his reference to the ‘evil empire’ of the USSR

1953-81 – Soviet Treatment of Dissent in Eastern Europe

• In East Germany in 1953, people’s resentment at lack of freedom, poor living standards and availability of consumer goods turned into mass protests in many towns and cities
  • The main protest in Berlin was crushed by East German police and Soviet troops
• In Poland in 1956, there were mass protests demanding greater freedom and economic improvements
  • The leader, Gomulka, promised reforms but when Khrushchev threatened Soviet military intervention, Gomulka abandoned reforms and clamped down on dissent
• In Hungary in 1956, protests against censorship, repression and Russian domination turned into a full-scale revolution, which was brutally crushed by Soviet tanks and soldiers
  • Many thousands were killed in the fighting
  • Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians fled the country
• In Czechoslovakia in 1968, The Prague Spring happened; Czech leaders introduced reforms to end censorship and increase freedom
  • The USSR sent in tanks and troops to remove the leaders and crush the movement
• In Poland in 1980, a trade union, Solidarity, which called for increased pay and greater freedom, turned int a nationwide movement with massive support
  • Soviet tanks and troops carried out ‘training exercises’ on the border to make it clear that they would intervene if necessary
  • The Polish army seized power, imposed martial law and imprisoned all Solidarity’s leaders

1989 – The Fall of the Berlin Wall

• In March 1985, Gorbachev called the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries together and explained to them that he was committed to a policy of non-intervention in their affairs
• Most of the Warsaw Pact leaderswere traditional hard-line communists who disagreed with Gorbachev’s ideas and were sure that the USSR would not abandon them
  • Over the next few years they came to realise they were mistaken
• As Gorbachev introduced his reforms across the USSR, demand for reforms rose in other communist countries
• In July 1988, he made a speech to the Warsaw Pact summit stating his intention to withdraw large numbers of Soviet troops, tanks and aircraft from other communist states
  • He reinforced these intentions in a speech to the Polish parliament soon afterwards
  • Hungary was particularly keen on the departure of Soviet troops and when the pressed Gorbachev about it, he promised they would withdraw as Hungary wished
• In March 1988, Gorbachev followed up his intentions, again making it clear to communist leaders that they must listen to their people and they won’t be supported by the USSR
  • In the following months, communism collapsed suddenly and dramatically
• The Berlin Wall was abandoned by guards in November 1989 and jubilant crowds began to dismantle it

1989-90 – The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe

• May 1989 – Hungarians began dismantling the barbed-wire fence between Hungary and non-Communist Austria
• June 1989 – in Poland, free elections were held for the first time since WWII; Solidarity won most seats it contested; eastern Europe got its first non-Communist leader
• September 1989 – thousands of East Germans holidaying in Hungary and Czechoslovakia refused to go home; they escaped to West Germany through Austria
• October 1989 – protests in East Germany when Gorbachev visited; he ordered Honecker to reform; Honecker ordered troops to fire on demonstrators but they refused; Gorbachev clarified that Soviet tanks will not move in to ‘restore order’
• November 1989 – East Germans marched in their thousands to the checkpoints at the Berlin Wall; guards threw down their weapons and joined the crowd in dismantling the wall
• December 1989 – a short, bloody revolution happened in Romania, ending in the execution of Communist dictator Ceausescu
• December 1989 – the Communist Party in Hungary renamed itself the Socialist Party, and announced free elections to be held in 1990
• December 1989 – in Bulgaria, there were huge demonstrations against the Communist government
• March 1990 – Latvia was the first Baltic republic to declare independence from the USSR

1991 – The Collapse of the USSR

• The collapse of Soviet control of eastern Europe was astonishingly fast, but even more extreme events followed
• By October 1990, the Berlin Wall had been torn down, and East and West Germany were reunited
  • Gorbachev was reluctant to accept this at first, but he negotiated and agreed
  • The new Germany became part of NATO
• Throughout 1990-1, many of the republics that had made up the USSR began to demand independence
  • Gorbachev was reluctant to break up the USSR but had no choice
• In August 1991, a group of hard-line communists tried, but failed, to overthrow Gorbachev
  • Gorbachev survived the coup, but his position was weakened
• On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation and the end of the Soviet Union
  • Gorbachev was deemed a failure by Russians, but a hero in the West, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

1990s – The End of History?

• Many people in the USA felt they had triumphed over the USSR in the Cold War
  • US businesses were selling their good internationally, exposing more people to the American lifestyle
  • Americans were confident that their way of life triumphed because it was the best and that they were making the world a better place
• A political writer Fukuyama argued that western liberal democracy had triumphed and that the world had realised this
• ‘History’ was the stories of competing nations, religions and ideologies, and this had ended with everyone wanting the US-style freedom, democracy, goods and culture
• Fukuyama’s views were controversial at the time, and as the 1990s went on, many claimed he was being overly optimistic
• Events across the world proved that conflict still existed
  • Venezuela – during the Cold War, the USA had supported corrupt dictatorships because they were anti-communist; this led to resentment one the Cold War ended; in Venezuela, people elected a socialist and anti-US leader, Chavez
  • Northern Ireland – a conflict between Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists which had begun in 1969 was still going on
  • The Balkans – after the collapse of communism, the former communist state of Yugoslavia split along religious and ethnic lines, resulting in a series of civil wars
  • Rwanda – in the mid-1990s, ethnic conflict broke out, resulting in a genocide by the majority Hutus against the minority Tutsis – one of many African religious conflicts
  • China – it embraced capitalism, but there was no relaxation of political control; the Communist Party remained firmly in charge
  • Russia – it became a democracy with a capitalist economy; however, many Russians resented the US culture, which seemed to be swamping the Russian identity
    • It was still a long way off US-style democracy and the economy only brought prosperity to a minority of Russians
    • Russia faced a war in Chechnya as the Muslim Chechens wanted to break away from Russian control
  • Philippines and Korea – US companies began to move the production of their goods to factories in Asia which reduced their costs due to the lower wages
    • However, working conditions were often poor, generating resentment
    • As in Russia, citizens felt that US culture was swamping their own
• The Middle East was particularly lacking peace, with various conflicts
  • Israel – it was founded in 1948 and carved out of land inhabited by Muslim Arabs for centuries; most bordering countries were hostile, and Israel only survived due to its close ties with the USA; creating resentment towards the USA among many Muslims
  • Iraq and the Gulf War – Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein from 1976; initially, when he went to war with Iran, he was hugely supported by the USA; however, in 1990, Saddam invaded neighbouring Kuwait which was an ally of the USA
    • The USA led a coalition against Iraq and defeated Saddam in the Gulf War of 1991
    • The USA stated that it was fighting to defend a country that had been illegally attacked
    • Most Muslims in the region believed that the USA was trying to control the region and its valuable oil supplies
  • Iran – it had been hostile to the USA since an Islamic revolution overthrew the US-supported shah in 1979, and both Saudi Arabia and Israel were allies of the USA
    • Iran had long rivalled with Saudi Arabia as the most important country in the region
    • Iran was extremely hostile to Israel because Israel conflicted with Muslim Palestinian Arabs
  • Afghanistan – after the Soviet army withdrew, civil war broke out between factions
    • By the mid 1990s, the most powerful group was the radical Muslim organisation, the Taliban and were supported by Pakistan
    • They believed in a strict form of Islam and were suspicious of and hostile towards outside influence
    • Many of the Taliban had been mujahidin, so they had been armed and trained by the USA; this was an unanticipated consequence of the USA’s involvement in the Afghan war against the USSR

1979-94 – The Roots of al-Qaeda

• Al-Qaeda is rooted in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, and it was founded by Osama bin Laden
• The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to assist its communist government in dealing with a revolt by Muslim tribal leaders
  • Most Afghans in rural areas were very conservative and strictly Muslim, disliking and distrusting communism as an atheist system
  • These tribal leaders fought against the government because of its modernising reforms, which challenged traditional views
  • When the Soviets invaded, people flocked to join the mujahidin to stand against the invading enemy and the government
• The mujahidin were supported by neighbouring Muslim states, notably Pakistan
  • Their war against the Soviets was funded by the USA (for political reasons) and Saudi Arabia (for religious reasons), who saw this struggle as a jihad (holy war)
    • US president Ronald Reagan had no hesitation in supporting the mujahidin
  • The USA and Saudi Arabia poured in supplies, trainers and advisers
    • These advisers provided the mujahidin with the equipment, training and skills to fight a larger, efficient modern army
• In 1979, Osama bin Laden was involved in fundraising for the Afghan war effort, but then he became a member of the mujahidin
• When he was in Afghanistan, he was influenced by the radical Muslim preacher Abdullah Azzam who argued that Islam was under threat and Muslims had to take responsibility through fighting their enemies through jihad
• Azzam’s ideas forms the basis of al-Qaeda’s actions
  • To wage jihad in any form against western democracies, communism and Jews and the state of Israel
  • To fight Muslim governments that were not strict enough, or who cooperated with al-Qaeda’s enemies
• In 1990, bin Laden returned to a divided Saudi Arabia; some accepted modern American-style values, and others who rejected them, believing in a strict Muslim way of life
  • Saddam Hussein, Iraqi leader, invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia
  • Bin Laden offered King Fahad his fighters, but the king refused, instead accepting support from the USA and its allies
• Bin Laden publicly criticised the king for this, so he was exiled by his country and disowned by his family
  • He was stripped of his citizenship in 1994

1990s – The Development of al-Qaeda

• Bin Laden was still able to control much of his wealth and he had allies in the Taliban in Afghanistan, so he built up al-Qaeda
• He was a charismatic and clever leader, generous to his followers and a good fighter
  • His second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri was also very capable
• The fighters were well-trained in all aspects of terrorist warfare and they were committed
• They had secure bases and could rely on the Taliban for security and secrecy
• The organisation was wealthy with bin Laden’s personal funding, from supporters in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and income from the Afghan drugs trade
• They understood the power of modern technology
• The movement was like a franchise, it was flexible and impossible to combat 

• In a sense al-Qaeda consisted of three movements
  • A hard-core militant terror organisation
  • A network of support for other groups
  • A rallying point for modern militant Islam
• Many al-Qaeda attacks were not carried out by their operatives, but by people close to them
  • In 1993, a Pakistani militant used a truck bomb to attack the World Trade Centre
  • In 1995, four men attacked the Saudi National Guard and Us troops supporting them
• In 1998, bin Laden announced the formation of the World Islamic Front in which he warned of attacks on the USA and hinted on methods to be used
  • In August 1998, US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were hit by truck bombs
  • The attack in Kenya was well-planned and operatives had intentionally assimilated with citizens years earlier, killing 213 and wounding over 4,500
  • In Tanzania, 11 died and 85 were wounded
  • In October 2000, suicide bombers drove a boat packed with explosives into the side of the US warship, the USS Cole, killing 17 sailors

2001 – 9/11

• On the morning of 11 September 2001, two hijacked jet airliners were deliberately crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, killing around 3000 people
  • Another one was aimed at the pentagon, and a fourth was forced to crash land
• The USA, and the whole world, looked on with shock at the event, but particularly that it had taken place in the heart of the USA and that anyone would want to do this to them
  • Around 3000 people died in the attack
• Islamic militants celebrated, and bin Laden used the media to praise the attackers

2001-14 – The US response

• On 20 September, President Bush issued a demand to the Taliban leader Mullah Omar to turn Osama bin Laden over to the US authorities
  • The Taliban refused, so the USA gathered allies whose forces joined with Afghan opponents of the Taliban in an assault in October
    • The Taliban and al-Qaeda couldn’t respond to the missiles and airpower
    • They lost Kabul, Kandahar and they fell back into their mountain strongholds, with the Taliban leader fleeing to Pakistan
• The USA defeated al-Qaeda and the Taliban militarily so focused on political measures which had some unintended consequences
  • Afghan civilians were killed and interrogated so were reluctant to cooperate with the USA
  • Many countries allied with the USA but retained sympathy for Islamic militancy
  • Reactions were extreme and there was tension in the USA and UK between the media and governments
  • Afghanistan was difficult to control and there were insurgencies
  • Heroin production increased massively in Afghanistan
• Osama bin Laden was discovered and killed by US forces in 2011
  • Islamic militancy continues
  • In 2014, Islamic State took control of much of Syria and Iraq

Describe the actions of Ronald Reagan towards he USSR in the 1980s. [5]

Describe the changes that Mikhail Gorbachev brought about in the 1980s. [5]

Outline the development of al-Qaeda in the 1990s. [5]

Outline the conflicts in Europe after the end of the Cold War. [5]

Outline the main conflicts in the world after the end of the Cold War. [5]

Outline the War on Terror following 9/11. [5]

Explain why the USSR was so weak by the 1980s. [10]

Why did the USR collapse in 1991? [10]

What caused the end of the Cold War? [10]

Explain why al-Qaeda attacked the USA on 11 September 2001. [10]

Explain the reasons for conflict in the post-Cold War world. [10]

‘The 9/11 attacks were the result of ideology and nothing else.’ Do you agree? [10]