Timeline:
1944 - World bank formed
IMF formed
1945 - WW2 end
Yalta conference
Potsdam conference → Germany is divided
1947 - Cold war starts (under Stalin)
Truman doctrine → policy of containment
Molotov plan → economic aid
1948 - Marshall plan
Western Germany unites → German Federal Republic & German Democratic Republic
1948-49 - Berlin blockade
1949 - NATO formed
1952-60 - uprisings in Poland
1953 - Stalin died & Kruschev (coexistence)
Berlin riots
1955 - Warsaw pact
1956 - protests in Poland
1960 - OPEC formed
1961 - Berlin wall erected
Bay of pigs
1962 - Cuban missile crisis
1970 - Protests in Poland
1973 - Oil crisis
1975 - Angola & Mozambique set up communist regimes
1979 - Pope visited Poland
1980 - Solidarity formed → Gdańsk
1980s - Reagan’s SDI
1981 - Ronald Reagan becomes US president
Martial law implemented in Poland
1982 - Solidarity banned
1983 - Martial law lifted in Poland, Lech awarded Nobel Peace prize
1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes secretary general of communist party
Perestroika introduced
1986 - Glasnost introduced, Brezhnev doctrine
1989 - Berlin wall torn down
Polish round table talks: Solidarity & govt talks → politicised, held partial free elections
1990 - Reunification of Germany
First gulf war
First Polish leader to be elected by popular vote → Lech Wałęsa
1991 - Fall of USSR & end of CW
1992 - Polish economy began to grow, thrive
1995 - World trade org formed
2001 - 9/11
1
, 2003 - USA invaded Iraq
2006 - BRICS formed
2008 - Global financial crisis
2012 - New Delhi conference
2013 - Durban summit
2014 - Oil price collapse
Context:
Stalin started the cold war → followed by Kruschev → string of old leaders who didn’t last long
- Very unstable political conditions in the USSR
Political & economic weaknesses
- Many old men as leaders (in their 70s)
- Mikhail Gorbachev → 54 y/o
- new style of leadership, a lot younger than predecessors, pragmatic realist
- sensitive to foreign opinion → often compared to De Klerk
- changed foreign policy regarding the West
- aimed to make communism work through reforms → make it more appealing
- Economy on the brink of collapse
- drained by ongoing war in Afghanistan
- drained by weapon production CW during arms race
- only traded with satellite states → economy become saturated (couldn’t trade anymore)
- industrial & agricultural production declined
- Corruption, mismanagement & nepotism in govt
- Ppl demoralised
- shortage of essential consumer goods
- inadequate housing
- poor public healthcare
- dilapidated infrastructure
Aims:
- Restructure economy within the communist system
- allow competition & incentive to produce goods
- Reduce party control of the economy
- Encourage Western companies to invest in Russia
- good for economy to have foreign currency in circulation
- Take public opinion into account
- Allow ppl to buy & sell for a profit
- Allow elections to take place while keeping power in communist party
- Reduce spending on military
- abandon the Brezhnev doctrine
- Adopt less confrontational way of dealing w USA
- after SDI realised they couldn’t compete
2
1944 - World bank formed
IMF formed
1945 - WW2 end
Yalta conference
Potsdam conference → Germany is divided
1947 - Cold war starts (under Stalin)
Truman doctrine → policy of containment
Molotov plan → economic aid
1948 - Marshall plan
Western Germany unites → German Federal Republic & German Democratic Republic
1948-49 - Berlin blockade
1949 - NATO formed
1952-60 - uprisings in Poland
1953 - Stalin died & Kruschev (coexistence)
Berlin riots
1955 - Warsaw pact
1956 - protests in Poland
1960 - OPEC formed
1961 - Berlin wall erected
Bay of pigs
1962 - Cuban missile crisis
1970 - Protests in Poland
1973 - Oil crisis
1975 - Angola & Mozambique set up communist regimes
1979 - Pope visited Poland
1980 - Solidarity formed → Gdańsk
1980s - Reagan’s SDI
1981 - Ronald Reagan becomes US president
Martial law implemented in Poland
1982 - Solidarity banned
1983 - Martial law lifted in Poland, Lech awarded Nobel Peace prize
1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes secretary general of communist party
Perestroika introduced
1986 - Glasnost introduced, Brezhnev doctrine
1989 - Berlin wall torn down
Polish round table talks: Solidarity & govt talks → politicised, held partial free elections
1990 - Reunification of Germany
First gulf war
First Polish leader to be elected by popular vote → Lech Wałęsa
1991 - Fall of USSR & end of CW
1992 - Polish economy began to grow, thrive
1995 - World trade org formed
2001 - 9/11
1
, 2003 - USA invaded Iraq
2006 - BRICS formed
2008 - Global financial crisis
2012 - New Delhi conference
2013 - Durban summit
2014 - Oil price collapse
Context:
Stalin started the cold war → followed by Kruschev → string of old leaders who didn’t last long
- Very unstable political conditions in the USSR
Political & economic weaknesses
- Many old men as leaders (in their 70s)
- Mikhail Gorbachev → 54 y/o
- new style of leadership, a lot younger than predecessors, pragmatic realist
- sensitive to foreign opinion → often compared to De Klerk
- changed foreign policy regarding the West
- aimed to make communism work through reforms → make it more appealing
- Economy on the brink of collapse
- drained by ongoing war in Afghanistan
- drained by weapon production CW during arms race
- only traded with satellite states → economy become saturated (couldn’t trade anymore)
- industrial & agricultural production declined
- Corruption, mismanagement & nepotism in govt
- Ppl demoralised
- shortage of essential consumer goods
- inadequate housing
- poor public healthcare
- dilapidated infrastructure
Aims:
- Restructure economy within the communist system
- allow competition & incentive to produce goods
- Reduce party control of the economy
- Encourage Western companies to invest in Russia
- good for economy to have foreign currency in circulation
- Take public opinion into account
- Allow ppl to buy & sell for a profit
- Allow elections to take place while keeping power in communist party
- Reduce spending on military
- abandon the Brezhnev doctrine
- Adopt less confrontational way of dealing w USA
- after SDI realised they couldn’t compete
2
