Starter quiz
- Which one of the following did Gorbachev succeed as Soviet leader in 1985?
- Yuri Andropov
- Leonid Brezhnev
- Konstantin Chernenko ✓
- Boris Yeltsin
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- In which Eastern European country did Lech Wałęsa lead a trade union called Solidarity?
- 'Poland' ✓
- Which of these Russian words means 'reconstruction'?
- peredishka
- pereloska
- perepryazhka
- perestroika ✓
- pereshivka
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- What does 'glasnost' mean in Russian?
- change
- foolishness
- independence
- openness ✓
- reform
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- Discussions between Reagan and Gorbachev focused on nuclear...
- 'disarmament' ✓
- Which of the following was the first summit between Reagan and Gorbachev?
- Geneva Summit ✓
- Moscow Summit
- Reykjavik Summit
- Washington Summit
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Exit quiz
- In December 1988, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union was rejecting the Brezhnev...
- 'Doctrine' ✓
- In which of these Eastern European countries did the end of communist rule not happen peacefully?
- Czechoslovakia
- Hungary
- East Germany
- Poland
- Romania ✓
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- The phrase ‘Die Mauer muss weg!’ (‘The Wall must go!’) became a rallying cry among demonstrators in which Eastern European city?
- Berlin ✓
- Bucharest
- Budapest
- Prague
- Warsaw
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- In 1989, which Eastern European country decided to remove the border fence between it and Austria, which then meant East Germans began to cross this border into West Europe?
- Austria
- Czechoslovakia
- East Germany
- Hungary ✓
- USSR
-
- In the evening of which of these days did guards open the gates in the Berlin Wall, allowing people from East and West to cross freely?
- 7th December 1988
- 27th June 1989
- 6th October 1989
- 9th November 1989 ✓
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- Put these events in chronological order.
- 1⇔The end of the Brezhnev Doctrine
- 2⇔Solidarity win elections in Poland
- 3⇔Fall of the Berlin Wall
- 4⇔End of Ceaușescu's regime in Romania
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Under Gorbachev, the USSR gave its satellite states in Eastern Europe the freedom to choose how they were governed.
- Between 1989 and 1991, the USSR lost control of its Eastern European satellite states.
- In East Germany, there were widespread popular protests demanding democracy and the destruction of the Berlin Wall.
- On the 9th November 1989, the East German government were forced to open the border with West Germany.
- On 9th November 1989, people from East Berlin and West Berlin crossed the border and began to destroy the Berlin Wall.
Common misconception
Gorbachev's reforms were intended to bring an end to communism and end Soviet control over Eastern Europe.
Gorbachev intended his reforms to strengthen communism both within the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe, however, once reform started in Eastern Europe, Gorbachev was unable to contain it.
Keywords
Doctrine - a set of beliefs or principles
Satellite state - a country that is dominated by another country
Reform - a change introduced to improve something, often a system or law
Reunification - bringing things or people back together after they have been separated
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