Problems with the Brezhnev era
Stagnant economy
o 1972 – crop failures – Reliance on US
Overspending on military – 25% of Soviet GNP
o Cuban missile fuelled belief of missile gap
o Arms race
Moral and productivity decline as living standards deteriorated
Limited availability of consumer goods
Primary product dependency on oil
High profile exiles – fear of a return of the red scare
No longer financially viable to support eastern Europe
Gerontocracy – ruled by old people
Gorbachev’s response – New thinking
Zero Sum logic – reshaped attitude towards US progress
First major reform – limiting sale of alcohol and its consumption
Perestroika – economic reforms
Ended centralised planning – allowing for a degree of self
management
o Gosplan disbanded
Ended state price controls
Law on Joint ventures – opened USSR up for foreign investment
Perestroika – failed – wages remained bellow inflation
Overall criticism of communist system
Glasnost – openness
Brought about because by Chernobyl and release of Sakharov
Re-examination of soviet past and allowed for open debate on past
government actions
Prioritised domestic policies rather than support for eastern Bloc
The Summits
, Gorbachev wanted to redefine US-soviet relations – interdependence
Geneva – 1985
- Fist Gorbachev – Reagan meeting
- No formal agreement
- Basis of fresh start and future talks
- Groundwork of tensions about SDI
Reykjavik – 1986
- Became clear both sides wanted arms reductions
- -SDI stumbling bloc
Washington – December 1987
- INF treaty signed – First time both sides agreed to eliminate a whole
category of nuclear weapons
- Soviet union made no demands of US, Britain or France
Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan
Moscow treaty - 1988
- Focus on humanitarian issues and trade
- No arms agreements met
- Confirmed implementation of INF treaty
- Reagan – took back “evil empire” comments
SDI
- Alarmed Soviet Union – would grant US nuclear monopoly
- As a result, fear of SDI forced Soviet Union to maintain high military
spending – further damaging economy
Fall of the eastern Bloc
Brezhnev doctrine ended – 1985
Communism could only survive if people were committed to it
Stagnant economy
o 1972 – crop failures – Reliance on US
Overspending on military – 25% of Soviet GNP
o Cuban missile fuelled belief of missile gap
o Arms race
Moral and productivity decline as living standards deteriorated
Limited availability of consumer goods
Primary product dependency on oil
High profile exiles – fear of a return of the red scare
No longer financially viable to support eastern Europe
Gerontocracy – ruled by old people
Gorbachev’s response – New thinking
Zero Sum logic – reshaped attitude towards US progress
First major reform – limiting sale of alcohol and its consumption
Perestroika – economic reforms
Ended centralised planning – allowing for a degree of self
management
o Gosplan disbanded
Ended state price controls
Law on Joint ventures – opened USSR up for foreign investment
Perestroika – failed – wages remained bellow inflation
Overall criticism of communist system
Glasnost – openness
Brought about because by Chernobyl and release of Sakharov
Re-examination of soviet past and allowed for open debate on past
government actions
Prioritised domestic policies rather than support for eastern Bloc
The Summits
, Gorbachev wanted to redefine US-soviet relations – interdependence
Geneva – 1985
- Fist Gorbachev – Reagan meeting
- No formal agreement
- Basis of fresh start and future talks
- Groundwork of tensions about SDI
Reykjavik – 1986
- Became clear both sides wanted arms reductions
- -SDI stumbling bloc
Washington – December 1987
- INF treaty signed – First time both sides agreed to eliminate a whole
category of nuclear weapons
- Soviet union made no demands of US, Britain or France
Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan
Moscow treaty - 1988
- Focus on humanitarian issues and trade
- No arms agreements met
- Confirmed implementation of INF treaty
- Reagan – took back “evil empire” comments
SDI
- Alarmed Soviet Union – would grant US nuclear monopoly
- As a result, fear of SDI forced Soviet Union to maintain high military
spending – further damaging economy
Fall of the eastern Bloc
Brezhnev doctrine ended – 1985
Communism could only survive if people were committed to it
