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• There had been many major sources of Cold War tension by the 1980s, including the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. For more on how the Cold War started, read this guide.
• By the beginning of the 1980s, the Soviet Union was facing several challenges. Its economy was struggling and it was engaged in a difficult war in Afghanistan.
• The policies of Ronald Reagan put pressure on the Soviet Union, and their new leader Mikhail Gorbachev realised that he needed to make reforms.
• As the decade went on, more issues emerged as the Soviet Union began to lose its control over the Eastern bloc.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 symbolised the end of the division between East and West Germany and kick-started the fall of the communist Soviet Union.

Why was Vietnam split in two?

Vietnam had been a French colony before it was occupied by the Japanese during World War Two. After World War Two it was returned to French control but many Vietnamese people wanted independence, and a war broke out in the 1950s between the French colonisers and the Viet Minh.

In 1954, the French were defeated by the Viet Minh and an agreement was reached that would temporarily separate Vietnam into two zones until elections could be held. The country was split at the 17th parallel, into a northern zone to be governed by a communist government led by Ho Chi Minh, and a southern zone to be governed by an anti-communist government led by Ngo Dinh Diem.

Why did America get involved in the Vietnam War?

At this time, America was operating a policy of containment, which meant they were trying to stop the spread of communism. America believed in the ‘Domino Theory’ – this was the idea that if one country became communist, then others in the area would follow.

By 1960, conflict had broken out in Vietnam between the communist North and the anti-communist South. From 1964, America sent soldiers to Vietnam to fight, supporting South Vietnam. The aim was to ‘contain’ communism and stop it from spreading.

Vietnamese communists, known as the Vietcong, fought against both South Vietnamese forces and their American supporters. They mainly used guerrilla tactics to do this. America used weapons such as Napalm and Agent Orange, which often caused horrific injuries to civilians and devastated the landscape. Footage of the war was broadcast on American television news, which led to widespread protests against the war.

How did the Vietnam War end?

In 1973, American forces left Vietnam. By 1975, South Vietnam was under communist control and Vietnam became a united communist country. The war had been an expensive disaster for the US. Millions of people were killed and injured, and the US had failed to stop countries in the area (including Laos and Cambodia) becoming communist.

After the Vietnam War, the policy of containment was replaced by a period of détente, which meant an easing in the tensions of the Cold War and gradually relations between the USA and the Soviet Union and China improved.

Why did the Soviets invade Afghanistan?

Afghanistan bordered some of the southern Soviet republics of the USSR. In 1978, control of Afghanistan had been seized by a new communist government led by Nur Muhammad Taraki. This government was supported and financed by the Soviet Union.

This new government was unpopular with the Muslim population and an anti-communist resistance movement known as the Mujahideen was formed. In September 1979, the communist Prime Minister Taraki was overthrown by another communist, Hafizullah Amin. However, Amin wished to improve relations with the USA and entered into discussions with the Americans, which concerned the Soviets.

The Soviet Union didn’t want American influence on their Southern border. On 24 December 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Hafizullah Amin was assassinated and a pro-communist, Babrak Karmal, was installed in his place.

The Mujahideen rose up and fought against the Soviet invasion. They knew the terrain and landscape of Afghanistan and fought a guerrilla war for nine years. America sent support to Afghanistan in the form of money and weapons.

What were the consequences of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan?

In 1980, the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics in protest at the invasion of Afghanistan. The war dragged on until 1988 when the Soviet leader, who by then was Mikhail Gorbachev, signed a deal to end it. The last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989.

The war was damaging to the Soviets. The Soviet army was ill-prepared for the desert and mountain landscapes of Afghanistan. It was also an expensive war at a time when their economy was struggling from the effects of the arms race. The economic damage made it more difficult for the Soviet Union to maintain their control over the Eastern bloc.

Over the course of the 1980s, changes in the Eastern bloc contributed to the end of the Cold War.

Poland

In 1980, shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland, were unhappy with their working conditions and formed a union called Solidarność (translated as: ‘Solidarity’). They protested against high food prices, pay and demanded the right for workers to strike. They elected Lech Wałęsa, as their leader. Solidarity’s protests and strikes were peaceful, but their popularity was a concern to the Polish government.

Solidarity’s membership grew to 10 million members by September 1981. Pope John-Paul II, who was Polish, backed the Solidarity movement. This was important as it brought wider support for the Solidarity movement and raised awareness of their demands. This added to the pressure on Soviet control of the Eastern bloc.

Martial law was introduced in Poland in December 1981. Solidarity was outlawed and Wałęsa was arrested and jailed for 11 months. Solidarity continued to exist as an underground movement.

In 1989, Gorbachev, the new leader of the Soviet Union allowed countries in the Eastern bloc to hold free and fair elections. In Poland, Wałęsa was elected as president.

Hungary

Janos Kadar was the leader of Hungary, a communist country in the Eastern bloc. In 1985, the Hungarian economy was struggling and there was high inflation. Kadar relaxed the strict travel restrictions in Hungary and in 1989 they opened the border between Hungary and Austria. This was significant as it meant people could leave East Germany and travel into West Germany by going through Hungary.

East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall

In 1987, the new US President, Ronald Reagan, made a speech near to the Berlin Wall in West Berlin. In it, he challenged the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to ‘tear down this wall’. By 1989, the Berlin Wall was largely ineffective because thousands of people were leaving East Germany for the West through the newly opened Hungary-Austria border.

Protests began in East Germany, as people demanded free movement into the West. On 9 November 1989, the East German government announced free travel would be allowed between East and West Berlin. People in Berlin celebrated and started to travel from East to West Berlin. Border guards were told to take no action.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan became US President in 1981. He introduced a range of aggressive policies towards the Soviet Union.

Reagan launched a policy called the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI). The aim of the SDI was to have a range of satellites that would detect the launch of a nuclear missile and be able to shoot it down before it hit its target. This had the potential to completely change the nature of the nuclear arms race, giving the US protection against a Soviet strike.

Reagan had plans for a neutron bomb, which raised fears in the Soviet Union that Reagan was planning to initiate a war.

In 1983, Reagan made a speech in which he referred to the Soviet Union as an ‘evil empire.’

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, becoming the fourth leader in five years. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously declared that Gorbachev was ‘a man with whom we can do business’. Gorbachev had two key policies: Glasnost and Perestroika.

• Glasnost means ‘openness’. Gorbachev wanted to encourage more freedom of speech and allow some criticism of communism.
• Perestroika means ‘restructuring’. Gorbachev believed if the Soviet Union was to survive, then the economy needed to change. This meant allowing some competition and private ownership of businesses.

In addition to the policies within the Soviet Union, Gorbachev sought to improve relations with the rest of the world. Gorbachev and Reagan worked to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world, signing an agreement to ban intermediate-range nuclear weapons in 1987. In 1989, due to the economic cost and lack of progress in Afghanistan, Gorbachev completed the withdrawal of Soviet troops. In October 1989, he announced that he would not interfere in Eastern bloc countries affairs, allowing them to move away from communism if they wished.

In 1991, there was an attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev by more extreme communists. They were angry because they felt that Gorbachev was not working hard enough to keep the communist bloc strong and united in Eastern Europe. The coup was a failure.

In December 1991, Gorbachev realised that the Soviet Union could no longer be kept together, and he resigned. The Soviet Union was dissolved and divided into 15 separate independent countries.

Boris Yeltsin became the first president of Russia after the end of the Soviet Union. Under his leadership, Russia moved away from communism and pursued capitalism.

• In 1991, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the United Nations voted in favour of taking action. This was significant as America and Russia both supported the decision to take action to force Iraq to leave. There was a hope the two superpowers might co-operate more in a post-Cold War world.
• On Christmas Day 1991, Gorbachev resigned and Boris Yeltsin became the first non-communist leader of Russia since 1917. He brought in further reforms which allowed more economic freedom and a greater role for private businesses.
• Tensions still exist between the US and Russia.