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Joseph Stalin Dies-Nikita Krushchev becomes Soviet Unions' New Leader
Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. On March 20, 1953, Nikita Khrushchev, a loyal member of the Communist party, began to rise as dictator of the Soviet Union. -
Krushchev Looses Power-Leonid Brezhnev Takes Power
On October 15, 1964 Nikita Khrushchev was removed from power, after he was accused of loosing prestige in his country as a result of the Cuban Missle Crises. Leonid Brezhnev quickly took power of the Soviet Union. one of the first changes he made was limiting basic human rights and freedom of speech. -
President Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union
On May 22, 1972, United States 37th President Richard Nixon visited the Soviet union. Nioxon was the first President/Leader to visit the Soviet Union since World War II. -
President Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT
On September 30, 1972, president Richard Nixon and Soviet Leader Leonis Brezhnev signed the new treaty SALT which stands for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. The SALT Treaty was a 5 year agreement that limited the number of missles launched each year. -
SALT II
In June, 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezshnev signed the SALT II Treaty. At first the United States refused to sign the SALT II treaty because of Soviet protessters who threatened a secound round of SALT negotations. Later, the SALT II Treaty was signed. -
Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan
On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan because Afghanistan wanted to be independant. The Soviet Union was taking over the middle east, fast. When a Muslim Revolution toppled the communism in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union decided to invade Afghanistan, in hopes to restore communism. -
Solidarity
In Poland, Lech Walesa was starting the anti-communist movement. He started a Polish Workers Union called Solidarity. The government refused to recognize the Union, but after the Union got bigger, the government started to give in, and Lech Walesa became a national hero. -
Poland becomes Democratic
With the many protesters, the government started to crackdown on Solidarity, which made the people unhappy. Later, Solidarty was legalized, and a democratics election was held. -
Star Wars
Ronald Reagan started the Star Wars program aproximently 1983. The Star Wars program was a program to protect the United States from enemy missle. -
Gorbachev begins Perestroika
Gorbachev began perestroika to help restore the Soviet Union's economy. Perestroika is a policy of economis restoring. -
Soviet Union's New Young Leader
The Soviet Union got a new leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.Gorbachev was a young leader, who was praised for his youth, energy, and political skills. -
Gorbachev begins Glasnot
In 1985, Gorbachev came up with the new polocy called Glasnost. Glasnost was openness. This gave oviets more speech freedomn, and religious freedoms as well. -
Troubles for the Soviet Union
Many countries in East Europe started to gain their freedoms. Many ethnic groups in the Soviet Union also wanted to be free. The Soviet Leaders, were in trouble! -
Democratization
Democraitzation was the opening to the new political system. The new political system gave more freedoms, and changes in voting. -
Soviet Union Foreign Policy Changes
Gorbachev relized that the Soviet Union economy could no longer afford the costly arms race, On Dec of 1987, Gorbachev announced a "new thinking" in foreign affairs thats tressed diplomacy over force. -
President Regan and Gorbachev sign INP
In December of 1987, United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the INP (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty. This treaty banned nuclear missles with ranges of 3oo to 3, 400 miles. -
Lithuania becomes Independant
lithuanis had been independant from the Soviet Union until World War II. Lithuania was eager to gain their independance. Their wish came true on March of 1990. Lithuanis became independant. -
Gorbachev Blockades Lithuania
Gorbachev blockaded Lithuanis in response to their independance. The purpose of the blockade was to try to get Lithuanis to re-join the Soviet Union. This did not work, and the Soviet Union sent in troops to attack unarmed civilians. This ended badly, and the Soviet Union ended up declaring themselves independant from Moscow. -
Hunagry Reforms
After hearing about the changes in Poland, the people in Hungary also wnated change aswell. An election was held, and communist was voted out. Later, the Socalist party and democratic party was formed and demanded to make changes to Huangary's government and economy. -
Gorbachev VS. Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin, a parliment member, was starting to gain supporters in the Soviet Union, and Gorbachev was starting to loose supporters. Yeltsin believed that Gorbachev's actions inb Lithuania were too harsh, and that the current system should should all change. -
Hardliners Take Action
On August 18, 1991, a group of Hardliners detained Gorbachev in his Summer home to try to get him to redign as leader of the Soviet Union, so they could put someone more conservative into power. To intimidate Gorbachev, the Hardliners sent tanks and soldiers. People were not intimidated by the tanks and didnt want their freedoms of Gorbachev taken away, so they supported Gorbachev. -
August Coup
During the hardliners attempt, Yeltsin climbed atop a tank, and made an inspiring speech to the people. He demended soilders to stop being used to intimidate the people. He then asked to elt let Gorbachev speak. The Hardliners then orders the soilders to attack Gorbachev, but the soilders refused. This takeover attempt is known as August Coup. -
The Soviet Union Ends
Gorbachev eventually resigned, and Boris Yeltsin formaly took over as leader. Afetr the resigning, all of the countries that had been part of the Soviet Union declared to be independant. Thsi ended the Soviet Union, communism, and the Cold War -
Yeltsin faces Problems
Once Yetlsin took power, he had losts of problems to face. Yeltsin introduced Shock Therapy. Shock Therapy is a rapid short to free-market econimics that eliminated government invlovment in the economy. Yeltsin alos tried to encourage other countries to invest in Russia to get their economy on track. Yeltsin also raised prices immensly in Russia, which caused a great inflation. -
Problems fro, the Collapse
Once the Soviet Union collapsed, ethinc conflicts arose in the satellite nations. The Satellite nations also wanted to be independant. This caused many tensions along country boarders. Eventually many suicides occured, and thousands of people died.
