Term | Description |
detente | 1970's- easing of tensions between the US and the Soviet Union (the two superpowers) |
Helsinki Agreements | 1975- signed by US, Canada, and all Europen nations, border agreement |
Jimmy Carter | U.S. president (1977-1981). cancelled Olympic Games in 1980, put embargo on exports to the Soviet Union |
Ronald Reagan | U.S. president- elected in 1980, began new arms race, helped Afghani's fight against Sov. Union |
Strategic Defense Initiative | nicknamed SDI, "Star Wars", part of arms race- tried to create a shield against missiles |
Mikhail Gorbachev | came to power in Sov. Union in 1985, helped end Cold War, created INF Treaty w/ the United States (1987) |
reunification of Germany | October 3, 1990 |
Leonid Brezhnev | Soviet Union leader, emphasized heavy industry, allowed some westernization, created a bureaucracy through gov.'s central planning |
dissidents | people who spoke out against the Soviet government, punished harshly |
KGB | secret police in the Soviet Union during the 1970's |
perestroika | reforms based on "restructuring," created market economy with limited free enterprise, allowed small companies |
Watergate Scandal | 1970's- political scandal, led to Nixon's impeachment, Republican party (including Nixon) involved in finding out about Democrats |
glasnot | Gorbachev's policy- "openness"- idea of free speech in the newspapers (ex. Pravda newspaper) |
two-candidate elections | introduced June 1987, still not completely fair because candidates were from the same party |
Ukraine independence | December 1, 1991 |
Boris Yeltsin | Soviet leader, elected in June 1991, tried to introduce free-market economy, used forse against the Chechens |
Brezhnev doctrine | allowed Soviet Union Communists to protect Communists in other states if they were threatened |
Francois Mitterand | French Socialist leader, makes reforms ex. upping workers' wages, nationalizes, industrializes, very liberal |
Chirac | French conservative leader, elected in 1995 |
Willy Brandt | policy of "opening to the east" - Ostpolitik, brought down by spies in the government |
Helmut Schmidt | German leader, successor to Willy Brandt |
Helmut Kohl | German leader elected in the 1980's |
Gerhard Schroeder | head of the coalition between Socialists + Greens |
Gasterbeiters | German name for "guest workers"- immigrants |
the "Troubles" | 1972- Great Britain vs. Ireland- fight for territory in Northern Ireland |
IRA | Irish terrorist group that started campaign to get British out of Ireland |
Margaret Thatcher | first woman to be a British prime minister, called the "Iron Lady", policy of Thatcherism--took away some benefits of the welfare state, friendly with Reagan |
Lech Walesa | Polish worker who organized a national trade union known as Solidarity, became Polish president in 1990 |
Pope John Paul II | first Polish pope |
Gustav Husak | Czech Communists leader, repressed people, under him there were mass demonstrations |
December 1989 | Communist government collapsed in Czechoslovakia |
Nicolae Ceausescu (and wife Elena) | set up dictorial regime in Romania (in 1965)- economic policies made standard of living drop, created food shortages, rapid urbanization plans |
Securitate | Romanian secret police under Ceausescu |
Bucharest | Romanian city where mass demonstrations occurred |
Ion Iliescu | took over in Romania in 1989 after Ceausescu and his wife were captured |
Erich Honecker | became head of Communist party in Germany in 1971 |
November 9th, 1989 | Berlin Wall opened |
March 18, 1990 | East Germany's first free elections--Christian Democrats win the vote |
October 3, 1990 | East Germany's political union with West Germany (which the Christian Democrats supported) |
Marshall Joseph (Broz) Tito | Yugoslavian dictatorial leader, tried to keep different republics and provinces of Yugoslavia together |
collective state presidency | the Yugoslavian gov. after Tito's death, was under the Communist Party |
June 1991 | Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence after negotions between the dif. countries failed |