Cold War (1985–1991)

The time period of around 1985–1991 marked the final period of the Cold War. It was a time of big changes in the world. Inside the Soviet Union, leaders tried new ways to improve their country. They wanted to fix problems and let people talk more freely.

One key leader during this time was Mikhail Gorbachev. He became the main leader of the Soviet Union and started important changes. He called these changes perestroika for the economy and glasnost for allowing more open discussion. These changes helped ease tensions between the Soviet-led bloc and the United States-led bloc.

As these changes grew, the Soviet Union lost its hold on countries in Eastern Europe. By 1991, the Soviet Union itself broke apart, ending the Cold War. This time was important because it led to a new shape for Europe and the world.

Thaw in relations

Main articles: History of the United States (1980–1991) and History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)

See also: Glasnost, Perestroika, Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration, Geneva Summit (1985), Reykjavík Summit, and Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty

In the mid-1980s, a new leader named Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union. He brought fresh ideas and wanted to make big changes. His reforms, called glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), helped create friendlier relations between the Soviet Union and the West.

During this time, leaders from the United States and the Soviet Union met several times to discuss reducing weapons. They made an important agreement to remove certain missiles, which helped ease tensions between the two countries. These meetings and agreements marked a period when the two superpowers worked more closely together than before.

Revolt spreads through Communist Europe

Main articles: Revolutions of 1989 and Dissolution of the Soviet Union

In the late 1980s, many people in countries ruled by communist governments began to stand up for their rights. In Poland, a group called Solidarity grew very strong with support from workers, intellectuals, and the Catholic Church. In 1989, Poland held talks that led to free elections, and people who opposed the communist government won.

Soon, similar changes happened in other countries. In Hungary, leaders opened a border gate, allowing many people from East Germany to escape to the west. This showed that the communist governments were losing their power. In East Germany, large protests led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, a big symbol of the Cold War.

These changes also affected the Soviet Union itself. Some parts of the country wanted to become independent, and in August 1991, some leaders tried to take control away from Mikhail Gorbachev. But the people stood up for their leaders, and the plan failed. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart into many separate countries, marking the end of the Cold War.

End of the Cold War

After big changes in 1989, leaders from the Soviet Union and the United States met on the island of Malta to talk about what was happening. They decided to work together to bring countries closer, solve problems, and support peace and democracy. This was called a "New World Order" by the leader of the United States.

During this time, both countries started talking about reducing weapons and made agreements to help them do this. They also worked together when Iraq invaded another country, showing that they could be partners even in tough situations. As the Cold War ended, many long-running fights around the world also began to stop because the two big powers were no longer supporting different sides.

The end of the Cold War brought big changes. The group of countries that followed the Soviet Union stopped meeting, and Soviet soldiers left many places in Europe. Even though the Cold War was tense, it also led to a more peaceful time for many people. Leaders from both sides helped by choosing to talk and work together instead of fighting.

Legacy

Main article: Post–Cold War era

After the Cold War ended, many countries in Central and Eastern Europe changed quickly. Some joined groups like the European Union and NATO, which helped their economies grow. However, some parts of the former Soviet Union had a harder time. Their economies struggled, and many people faced tough times.

The United States and other Western countries did well during this time, and many other places around the world began to build more democratic governments.

The end of the Cold War also meant the end of big competitions in space between countries. While space activities continued, big new exploration programs slowed down as countries focused more on their own economic needs.

Timeline of related events

1985

• January 20, 1985 – Ronald Reagan was sworn in for a second term as President of the United States.
• March 10, 1985 – General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Konstantin Chernenko died.
• March 11, 1985 – Soviet Politburo member Mikhail Gorbachev became the general secretary of the Communist Party.
• March 24, 1985 – Major Arthur D. Nicholson, a US Army Military Intelligence officer was shot by a Soviet guard in East Germany.

1986

• January 1, 1986 – Reagan and Gorbachev gave each other a new year's address.
• February 22–25, 1986 – People Power Revolution overthrew Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.
• April 26, 1986 – The Chernobyl Disaster happened.
• October 11–12 – The Reykjavik summit took place.

1987

• January 1987 – Gorbachev introduced the policy of demokratizatsiya in the Soviet Union.
• January 27, 1987 – The United States recognized the independence of Mongolia and started diplomatic relations.
• March 4, 1987 – In a televised address, Reagan took responsibility for the Iran–Contra affair.
• June 12, 1987 – "Tear down this wall" speech by Reagan in West Berlin.
• June 29, 1987 – June Struggle in South Korea.
• July 15, 1987 – The Republic of China ended 38 years of martial law.
• November 15, 1987 – Brașov rebellion in Romania.
• December 8, 1987 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C..

1988

• February 12, 1988 – A meeting happened off the coast of Crimea in the Black Sea when the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy hit the American missile cruiser USS Yorktown.
• February 20, 1988 – The regional soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan decided to join Armenia, but the Kremlin refused.
• August 8, 1988 – 8888 Uprising in Burma.
• August 17, 1988 – Pakistani president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq died.
• August 20, 1988 – The Iran–Iraq War ended.
• September 17, 1988 – Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea; the first time since that both the Soviet Union and the United States took part; it was also the last Olympic Games for the Soviet Union and its satellite states.
• October 5, 1988 – Augusto Pinochet, dictator of Chile since September 1973, lost a nationwide referendum.
• December 21, 1988 – Pan Am Flight 103 bombing.

1989

• January 7, 1989 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito died, and was succeeded by his son Akihito.
• January 20, 1989 – George H. W. Bush became president of the United States.
• February 1989 – The Soviet–Afghan War ended; fighting continued inside Afghanistan without Soviet troops.
• June 3, 1989 – Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini died.
• June 4, 1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, People's Republic of China.
• June 4, 1989 – Solidarity's big win in the first partly free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland started a series of anti-communist Revolutions of 1989 across Central, later South-East and Eastern Europe.
• August 14, 1989 – South African president Pieter Willem Botha resigned after the Tripartite Accord was put into place.
• August 19, 1989 – The opening of the border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic started a chain reaction, which led to the end of the GDR and the Eastern Bloc breaking apart.
• August 23, 1989 – Soviet Politburo member Alexander Yakovlev spoke out against the secret protocols of the Hitler-Stalin Pact.
• August 24, 1989 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the prime minister of Poland forming the first non-communist government in the Communist bloc.
• October 23, 1989 – End of Communism in Hungary.
• November 9, 1989 – Fall of the Berlin Wall.
• November 24, 1989 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia leaders stepped down during the Velvet Revolution, ending one-party rule in that country.
• December 2–3, 1989 – Malta Summit between Bush and Gorbachev, who said, "I assured the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war against the USA".
• December 10, 1989 – Czechoslovak President Gustáv Husák's resignation meant the end of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, leaving Ceaușescu's Romania as the only remaining hard-line Communist regime in the Warsaw Pact.
• December 25, 1989 – Execution of Nicolae Ceauşescu during the Romanian Revolution against Communist Party rule.
• December 29, 1989 – Václav Havel became the presidency of Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution.
• December 30, 1989 – The Securitate, the secret police of Romania, was dissolved.

1990

• January 13, 1990 – The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, was dissolved.
• January 22, 1990 – the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the ruling party of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was dissolved during its congress, ending the one party system in the country.
• February 1, 1990 – StB, the secret police of Czechoslovakia was dissolved.
• March 15, 1990 – Inauguration of Gorbachev as the first president of the Soviet Union.
• April 12, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Slovenia within Yugoslavia held its first multi-party elections.
• April 22–23 and May 6–7, 1990 – the Socialist Republic of Croatia within Yugoslavia held its first multi-party elections.
• April 25, 1990 – Violeta Chamorro was sworn in as president of Nicaragua, ending the Sandinista rule and the Contras insurgency.
• May 22, 1990 – South and North Yemens joined together.
• June 8, 1990 – the Message from Turnberry, described as the "first official recognition of the end of the Cold War", was issued.
• July 5–6, 1990 – NATO held its 11th summit in London.
• July 13, 1990 – The 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union said it would end its monopoly of power.
• August 2, 1990 – Beginning of Gulf War.
• September 9, 1990 – Helsinki Summit between Bush and Gorbachev.
• September 12, 1990 – The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed in Moscow.
• October 3, 1990 – Official reunification of Germany.
• November 6, 1990 – Hungary became the first Soviet Bloc country to join the Council of Europe.
• November 11, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia held its first multi-party elections.
• November 18, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Yugoslavia held its first multiparty elections.
• November 19, 1990 – NATO and Warsaw Pact signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
• November 28, 1990 – Margaret Thatcher left power as UK Prime Minister; John Major took office.
• December 9, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Montenegro within Yugoslavia held its first multi-party elections.
• December 9–23, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Serbia within Yugoslavia held its first multi-party elections.
• December 22, 1990 – Lech Wałęsa became president of Poland; Polish government-in-exile ended.
• December 23, 1990 – Slovenia held an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Slovenians voting in favour of Slovenia seeking independence from Yugoslavia.

1991

• January 1991 – Money transfers from the Czech Republic budget to the Slovak Republic stopped, beginning the process that would lead to Velvet Divorce.
• February 28, 1991 – End of Gulf War.
• March 3, 1991 – Estonia and Latvia held an independence referendum with a majority voting to restore independence.
• March 31, 1991 – Georgia held an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Georgians voting in favour of Georgia becoming independent from the Soviet Union.
• May 1, 1991 – The Republic of China abolished the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion which was in place during the Chinese Civil War.
• May 19, 1991 – Croatia held an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Croatians voting in favour of Croatia seeking independence from Yugoslavia.
• May 24, 1991 – End of Eritrean War of Independence in Ethiopia.
• June 27, 1991 – Beginning of the Yugoslav Wars in Slovenia.
• June 28, 1991 – Comecon was dissolved.
• July 1, 1991 – The Warsaw Pact was dissolved.
• July 10, 1991 – Boris Yeltsin became president of Russia.
• July 31, 1991 – Ratification of START I treaty between United States and the Soviet Union.
• August 19, 1991 – Start of the Soviet Union coup d'état attempt.
• August 21, 1991 – The Soviet Union coup d'état was dissolved.
• August 24, 1991 – Gorbachev resigned from the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• September 6, 1991 – The Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic States.
• September 8, 1991 – The Republic of Macedonia held an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Macedonians voting in favour of Macedonia seeking independence from Yugoslavia.
• September 21, 1991 – Armenia held an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Armenians voting in favour of Armenia becoming independent from the Soviet Union.
• October 26, 1991 – Turkmenistan held an independence referendum resulting in a majority of voting in favour of Turkmenistan becoming independent of the Soviet Union.
• November 6, 1991 – The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet KGB were dissolved.
• November 7–8, 1991 – NATO held its 12th summit in Rome.
• December 8, 1991 – The Belavezha Accords were signed by the leaders of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, sealing the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of the CIS.
• December 25, 1991 – Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union and the post was abolished; the red Soviet flag was lowered from the Moscow Kremlin, and in its place the flag of the Russian Federation was raised.
• December 26, 1991 – The Supreme Soviet dissolved the Soviet Union.