-
The opening of the wall, known in Germany as die Wende (The Change), was a consequence of the demands for freedom of movement in the former GDR and constant evasions towards the capital embassies of countries of the Prague and Warsaw Pact countries and By the border between Hungary and Austria, that imposed less restrictions from the 23 of August. In September, more than 13,000 East Germans migrated to Hungary. Shortly after,
-
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and brought
some changes:
• disarmament treaty was signed so the USA and the USSR agreed to remove medium-range
nuclear missiles from Europe within 3 years.
• Gorbachev announced the immediate reduction of the weapons stockpile and the number
of troops in the soviet armed forces. -
The USA developed nuclear missiles which could be launched from almost anywhere. They also
developed the Strategic Defence Initiative (Star Wars) for using laser weapons to shoot down
soviet missiles from space -
The Americans were
defeated for several reasons:
• US bombs killed a lot of civilians.
• Vietcong guerrillas were very skillful soldiers. American troops were not used to fight in the
jungle.
• North Vietnam had the support of China and the Soviet Union.
• American public opinion turned against the war.
• The Vietcong treated the South Vietnamese well and gained their support -
he USSR and the USA agreed to limit their nuclear weapons and they signed the strategic
Arms Limitation Talks Agreement (SALT 1). They planned more arms limitation but the USA
refused to sign the SALT 2 agreement (in 1979) after the soviet invasion of Afghanistan. -
-
Conflict between the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba in October 1962, which was generated by the discovery by the United States of Soviet mid-range nuclear missile bases in Cuban territory.
-
tensions with the
eastern bloc were reduced. -
In Berlin, 2,5 million people left East Berlin for the West,
half of them were young people. A 30 mile barrier (wall)
was erected across the city of Berlin
dividing the Eastern sector from the West -
President Kennedy authorized an invasion of Cuba
by rebels trained by the CIA. They landed in the
Bay of Pigs, but they were defeated. -
t constituted the creation of t
he
European Economic
Community
(EEC) or
Common Market
. Its main objectives were the free movement of peo
ple,
goods, services, and capitals by suppressing the cu
stoms duties among the member countries. -
Polish workers in Poznan went on strike (1956) but
were soon controlled by Russian troops. -
n 1956, a rebel named Fidel Castro attempted to overthrow
the government, but was defeated and forced into exile. In 1959, Castro began a guerrilla war and
soon marched on Cuba´s capital, Havana, and overthrew the government. -
In Hungary, the people of Budapest (1956) protested
against the harsh government of Rakosi. They were
treated differently at first allowing them to hold free
elections, ending communism there. But Soviet tanks
invaded Hungary, killed a lot of people (20,000
Hungarians) and the new Primer Minister, Kadar, was
loyal towards Russia. -
. The Eastern Bloc formed the Warsaw Pact
-
When Stalin died he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev, who began a process of DeStalinization
to fight the abuse of power of cult of personality of the previous leader -
It involved the creation of the
European Coal and Steel
Community
(ECSC) It was signed by France, Western Germany, It
aly, Belgium, the Netherlands,
and Luxembourg. It created a free-trade area for co
al and steel in the signing countries. -
to avoid rivalries and to be more competent
-
the Second World War Korea was a colony of Japan. Japan was defeated and Korea was
divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel. The North was communist and the
South was under the influence of the USA and had an anti- communist dictatorship. -
The frontier between Eastern and Western Europe had been
drawn in Berlin. -
the Western Powers formed NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) against the
communist threat -
It was an agreement that was signed by
Belgium
, the
Netherlands
, and
Luxembourg
in order to remove customs and to promote free move
ment of
capital, goods, and workers. -
Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia,
Albania and Bulgaria had pro-soviet Communist governments controlled by USSR (Stalin). Under
this goverments big companies and banks were nationalised and heavy industry was developed.
The land was distribute among the peasents -
The Western allies (the USA, Britain and France) agreed to a single government in their zones.
The Soviet Union was opposed to these moves. Stalin wanted to keep Germany as weak as
possible so he decided to blockade Berlin:
