AP European History AMSCO Guided Notes
9.7: The Fall of Communism
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP European History Guided Notes
AMSCO 9.7 - The Fall of Communism
Essential Questions
- What were the causes and effects of the end of the Cold War?
I. Soviet Decline
1. What economic problems weakened the Soviet Union under Brezhnev's leadership?
2. How did the arms race with the United States contribute to Soviet economic decline?
II. Gorbachev's Reforms
A. Perestroika and Glasnost
1. What was perestroika and what economic changes did Gorbachev hope to introduce?
2. What was glasnost and how did it change Soviet society and politics?
3. Why did Gorbachev believe he needed to introduce glasnost in addition to perestroika?
III. The Soviet Union's Collapse
1. How did glasnost affect ethnic tensions within the Soviet republics?
2. What role did Boris Yeltsin play in the failed coup of August 1991 and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union?
IV. Satellites Break Free
A. Poland
1. What was Solidarity and how did it challenge communist rule in Poland?
2. How did economic problems and worker demonstrations lead to political change in Poland by 1990?
B. Germany
1. What role did the Berlin Wall play as a symbol of Soviet control in Eastern Europe?
2. What events led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the reunification of Germany?
C. Czechoslovakia
1. How did disagreements between Czechs and Slovaks over economic reform lead to the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993?
Key Terms
Leonid Brezhnev
détente
Mikhail Gorbachev
Boris Yeltsin
Solidarity