HST 296 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Brezhnev Doctrine, Unification Of Germany, Mikhail Gorbachev
Document Summary
The policies of gorbachev just worsened the divisions that were starting in the soviet. Only communist nation that seemed like it could do well was the chinese. Russia was doing so poorly because of inefficiency of the command economy. Gorbachev wanted to be a reformer, he was a different generation of leader than his predecessor. =-gorbachev and reagan were able to communicate even if they couldn"t agree. New relations between the usa and russia helped greatly. Americans started to see the russians as human beings. Gorbachev allowed for pseudo-free elections, which gave people a desire for freedom from communism. Soviet satellite states began o revolt as it became obvious that gorbachev wouldn"t use force to stop them. Poland, hungary, east germany, czechoslovakia, bulgaria and romania were the main culprits. Economic openness to the west was a critical part of the soviet collapse, if they had been closed they may have staggered on.
