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George H.W. Bush

The end of the Cold War

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A Changing Soviet Union

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A Changing

Soviet Union

  • In December 1988, Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev stood before the UN and proclaimed a “new world order”.

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  • Gorbachev stressed that people throughout the world wanted “independence, democracy, and social justice”.

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  • Gorbachev wanted to end the arms race so he could focus on fixing the Soviet economy.

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START

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

  • In 1991, Gorbachev and Bush signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

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A Changing

Soviet Union

  • In February 1990 Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost allowed people to express their dissatisfaction openly in the USSR.

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  • Thousands marched through Moscow demanding an end to Communist rule.

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  • Calls for Democracy spread throughout the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact.

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Poland and

Solidarity

  • In Poland, shipyard workers formed a labor union called Solidarity.�
  • Lech Walesa, the leader of the union, emerged as a symbol to resistance to Communist rule.�
  • The government was forced to hold open elections leading to the beginning of the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe.

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Berlin Wall

Comes Down

  • Freedom came to East Germany, the focus of Cold War tension.�
  • With protests raging and thousands of citizens fleeing to West Germany, the Communist government opened the Berlin Wall.

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Collapse of the Soviet Union

  • As the Soviet Union began to collapse, hardline Communists in the military and secret police resisted change and feared the collapse of the Soviet empire.
  • In Aug, 1991, they struck back with a coup to take over the government.
  • 50,000 Russians led by Boris Yeltsin stood on a tank and declared ‘Democracy will win!”
  • The Coup collapsed. On Dec. 25, 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and returned to Russia. Eastern Europe was now free.

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China

Tiananmen Square

  • During the 1980s, the Communist government of China began to make economic free market reforms but refused to make political reforms.�
  • In June of 1989 students and workers demonstrated in Tiananmen Square.�
  • Soldiers and tanks removed the protesters and although world leaders called for sanctions, President Bush refused and allowed trade with China to grow.

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Persian Gulf War

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Bush @ Home

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Bush @ Home