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He gives his inaugural address on this date.
He had an iron determination to restore American military power. -
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Destruction of all of NATO's Pershing IIs and GLCMs and all of Soviet SS-20s. Represents a milstone in the history of nuclear arms control.
Gorbachev however was forced to swallow a drastically asynmetrical reduction of theater nuclear weapons. 851 soviet launchers and 1836 missiles to 283 American launchers and 867 missiles. Angered the hardliners which thought Gorbachev made the USSR seem weak with this compromise -
Called for a new approach to international relations based on the principle of global secruity. Announced a unilateral reduction of Soviet armed forces by half a million men in the next 2 years. Again shows weakness through compromise
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By the beginning of the 1990's, the country's gross national product had declined by 2%, the govt's foreign debt sky-rocketed. Bleak economic conditions led to growing disillusionment with perestroika.
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Lithuania defiantly declared its independence and elected a non-communist as president.
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Latvia also announced its intention to secede, and this was followed by Estonia's similar expression
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Launched a vigorous campaign on behalf of the full democratization of the Soviet political system
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23 participants signed the CFE treaty which established a blance of conventional forces in Europe by by prescribing substantial reductions in Soviet conventional weapons such as tanks, combat aircraft and artilarry.
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Recorded a countrywide vote of 776 percent in favor of a renewed union
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The hardliners carried out the August Coup to remove Gorbachev from power