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Richard Nixon & Policy Detente
Détente (a French word meaning release from tension) is the name given to a period of improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union that began tentatively in 1971 and took decisive form when President Richard M. Nixon visited the secretary-general of the Soviet Communist party, Leonid I. Brezhnev, in Moscow, May 1972.
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Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anticommunist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War (1978–92) and remained in Afghanistan until mid-February 1989. -
Solidarity Movement in Poland (Lech Walesa)
A charismatic leader,[15] he was an organizer of the illegal 1970 strikes at the Gdańsk Shipyard (the Polish 1970 protests) when workers protested the government's decree raising food prices; he was considered for chairman of the strike committee.[6][11] The strikes' outcome, involving over 30 workers' deaths, galvanized his views on the need for change -
Ronald Reagan addresses the National Association of Evangelicals
On March 8, 1983, President Reagan delivered an address to a meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida. It referred to communism as "the focus of evil in the modern world," and quickly became known as his "Evil Empire Speech." The speech was delivered at a time when Congress was debating a resolution in support of a "nuclear freeze," a doctrine supported by the Soviet Union that would have prevented the deployment of U.S. cruise and Pershing II Missiles in Europe. -
Stragetic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars")
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983,[1] to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). -
Gorbachev, Perestroika, Glasnost
To reform the distraught Soviet Union, the democratization of the Communist Party was promoted through Party Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev‘s policies of “perestroika” and “glasnost.” -
Summit in Geneva, Switzerland
For the first time in eight years, the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States hold a summit conference. Meeting in Geneva, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev produced no earth-shattering agreements. However, the meeting boded well for the future, as the two men engaged in long, personal talks and seemed to develop a sincere and close relationship. -
Reykjavik Summit, Iceland
On October 11, 1986, halfway between Moscow and Washington, D.C., the leaders of the world’s two superpowers met at the stark and picturesque Hofdi House in Reykjavik, Iceland. Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev had proposed the meeting to President Ronald Reagan less than thirty days before. The expectations for the summit at Reykjavik were low. -
Reagan speech at Brandenberg Gate, West Berlin
President Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate of the Berlin Wall about the state of relations between East and West Europe, calling on Soviet President Gorbachev to tear down the wall. "A people free to choose will always choose peace." - Ronald Reagan -
Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF Treaty
The INF Treaty was signed by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev at a Washington Summit on December 8, 1987 -
Fall of Berlin Wall
it took about three decades until the Wall was torn down.
Several times people in the Communist countries rised up against the Communist system but they failed. -
Fall of Soviet Union
In December of 1991, as the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War,
"If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party."
