Chapter 30: The End of the Cold War and New Global Challenges, 1970 to the Present

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• There was a relaxation in the tensions and cooperation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
  • U.S. and Soviet Union relationships were improved in 1970, lessening possibility of Nuclear War
• The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (1972) was responsible for limiting defensive missile systems
• There was increasing conflict in the Soviet Bloc in the mid-1980s
• Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as General Secretary in 1985
  • Tried to reform the Soviet Union system
  • Wanted to limit private enterprise, limit the open markets, and lessen the restrictions placed upon foreign trade
• The Nuclear Arms Race was too expensive for the Soviet Union to continue participating in
• By 1989, the Soviet Union held its first free election since 1917
  • 1990: Gorbachev elected as the Soviet Union’s first president
• On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was taken down
  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall allowed for German unification
• The Soviet Union was slowly falling apart from within
  • Started before Gorbachev came into power and continued on after
  • Economic and social decline
  • Weakening of the Communist Party’s control over the citizens of the Soviet Union
  • Growth of an urbanized and better educated population
  • Foreign influences from other nations
• Countless ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union wanted self-determination and political independence
• The Soviet Union Collapse
  • From 1989 to 1991, all 15 of the Soviet Republics declared their independence
  • Warsaw Pact ended (1991)
  • 11 of the former Soviet Republics formed the Commonwealth of Independent States
  • Gorbachev resigned
  • Boris Yeltsin became president of the Russian Federation
• European Union (EU)
  • Formed in 1997
  • Began with 12 member nations
  • Had 27 member nations by 2007
  • Had a plan for European unity
  • Had a central banking system, with Euros replacing national currency of the majority of the member nations
• The history of contemporary terrorism began after WWII in 1948
  • Started with conflict between Palestinians over the formation of Israel from a portion of Palestine
  • Palestinian Muslims refused to recognize Israel
• Terrorist activity in the U.S. increased after the U.S. took action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War in 1991
  • 1993: a bomb in the garage of the World Trade Center killed six people and wounded around a thousand
  • 1995/1996: two terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia killed 24 Americans
  • 1998: there were two assaults on two American embassies in Africa, killing 224 people
  • These attacks on the U.S. attributed to Osama bin Laden
• On September 11, 2001, 4 airplanes were hijacked and used as flying bombs
  • A plane crashed into the Pennsylvania, 1 flew into the Pentagon, 2 flew into the World Trade Center
  • 9/11 was connected to a international terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda, which was founded and led by Osama bin Laden
  • Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan in 2011
• Iraq War (2003-2011)
  • The Bush administration was focused on Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq
  • Hussein was suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization
  • Iraq’s government was overthrown and Hussein was captured
  • Iraq had issues forming a united country due to differences between the three major groups in Iraqi society
  • Bush increased the number of American troops in Iraq in 2007
  • Thousands of American and Iraqi troops were killed in the Iraq War
  • In December of 2011, U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq

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