Week 4

Strategic Defense Initiative:

Also known as Star Wars, this was a program created by Ronald Reagan in 1983, with a purpose of serving protection against potential missile attacks from the Soviet Union. It was an important part of the Cold War as it was a response to the increasing risks of missile attacks between USSR and USA. This statement showed that the USA didn't trust the Soviet Union, which therefore tightened their relationship.

Chernobyl:

Also known as the Chernobyl Disaster, this was an event in which there was a major nuclear accident in Ukraine under the authority of the USSR. Known as the worst nuclear disaster this proved to be how strong the nuclear weapons had become and it showed how lethal a simple accident could be. This most likely alarmed the US making them trust the USSR even less.

Perestroika:

Perestroika was a political movement to reform the politics of the Soviet Union and change communism. This change included a great alteration in economic and political systems to favor a system of socialism more than communism. This was greatly important in the Cold War as it restructured every part of the Soviet Union showing that the Soviet Union cared more about reforming rather than continuing to participate in the Cold War.

Democratization:
Democratization is basically the transition to a more democratic lifestyle within a government and a country. As the Cold War not only saw a high tension war between the US and the USSR it also changed the political systems of many countries. As communism in the USSR was failing, the USSR began to accept democratization to improve their horrible economy and political power. This began the end of the Cold War as nations had to worry about their internal problems more than external ones such as fighting each other.

Year of Miracles:
In the year of 1989 a lot of miracles occurred. A lot of countries such as Germany and Poland revolutionized their current political system and became independent without any blood shed which is why this year is seen as the "Year of Miracles". This meant that the influence of the two superpowers in the Cold War greatly decreased. It didn't alter the tension between the USSR and U.S. a lot except for stating that the Cold War would soon come to an end.

Fall of the Berlin Wall:

The Berlin wall divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989 and it fell due to a revolution inside Germany. As part of a chain of events that happened in the year of 1989 thousands of Germans went to break the wall down so that Germany wasn't divided anymore. This meant that Germany would become independent of Russian or American influence meaning that once more the influence of the superpowers diminished and that the Cold War was coming to an end.

Collapse of the Soviet Union:

The event which ultimately ended the Cold War was the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the Soviet Union split into 15 separate countries. This happened because the system of communism wasn't working well for their overall economy and military and therefore a number of revolutions occurred creating different parts of the Soviet Union that had different beliefs which dismantled the superpower altogether. This meant that the Cold War was over as there was no longer a Soviet Union.