The End of the Cold War 1980-1991

Reagan’s Cold War policy Reagan built up both convention armed forces and the U.S. nuclear arsenal

1983 – announced the Strategic Defense Initiative

Invasion of Grenada in 1983 to remove a revolutionary government

Direct military involvement in the Middle East

Aid to Latin Americans resisting communism

INF Treaty (1987) reduced numbers of missiles in Europe

The Iran-Contra Affair The Reagan administration secretly

supported Nicaraguan Contras using profits from arms sales to Iran.

These actions were in violation of an arms embargo and American laws about international intervention.

Foreign Policy under George H.W. Bush START I treaty (1991) called for dramatic reductions in U.S. and Soviet

stockpiles of long-range nuclear weapons

Failure to react to Tiananmen Square massacre brought criticism from human rights activists

Operation Just Cause (1989) – Invasion of Panama to remove Manuel Noriega

Operation Desert Storm (1990) – U.S.-led UN forces liberated Kuwait from Iraqi control

The Collapse of Soviet Control Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev encouraged policies of glasnost and

perestroika in Eastern bloc nations.

In Poland, free elections replaced Communist rule with Solidarity, a labor alliance.

November 9, 1989 – East Germany began allowing travel to and from West Germany, and the wall came down.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union A failed coup in August 1991 prompted the republics to seek independence.

Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991 – and on January 1, 1992 the USSR ceased to exist.