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U.S boycott of 1980 summer olympics
In 1980, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
It was known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union -
Caribbean Basin Initiative
It was a unilateral and temporary United States program initiated by the 1983 Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. The CBI came into effect on January 1, 1984, and aimed to provide several tariff and trade benefits to many Central American and Caribbean countries. -
Iran-Contra Affair
the name given to a series of secret and illegal actions by US government officials under President Ronald Reagan. In 1985, officials in the National Security Council sold military weapons to Iran so it would help in freeing US prisoners in Lebanon. -
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the CommunistParty of the Soviet Union
His dual program of “perestroika” (“restructuring”) and “glasnost” (“openness”) introduced profound changes in economic practice, internal affairs and international relations. -
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
The treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between 500-5,500 km -
Berlin wall collapses
The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. -
First Mcdonalds opens in Moscow
The arrival of McDonald’s in Moscow was a small but certain sign that change was on the horizon. In fact, less than two years later, the Soviet Union ceased to exist as a nation, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as leader of the country, and various Soviet republics proclaimed their independence -
Germany is reunified
The Day of German Unity, Germany’s national holiday, marks the day in 1990 on which the German Democratic Republic (East) acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. -
Boris Yelstin elected President of Russia
Though a Communist Party member for much of his life, he eventually came to believe in both democratic and free market reforms, and played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. -
Warsaw Pact is dissolved
The Warsaw Pact remained intact until 1991. Albania was expelled in 1962 because, believing that Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev was deviating too much from strict Marxist orthodoxy, the country turned to communist China for aid and trade. In 1990, East Germany left the Pact and reunited with West Germany; the reunified Germany then became a member of NATO.
