Year 10 - Fall of Communism in Eastern Bloc

What does Perestroika mean?

• Restructuring' - changing the Soviet econony to factor in more successful aspects of capitalism.
• Openness' - more transparency in government, and the ability to criticise government policy without fear of reprisal.
• Disaster' - this was the Soviet nickname for the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion in 1986, which hugely undermined the Soviet regime.
• Pre-striking' - the Soviet term referring to the use of ABMs to destroy incoming missiles.

What does Glasnost mean?

• Openness' - more transparency in government (like glass!), and the ability to criticise government policy without fear of reprisal.
• Restructuring' - changing the Soviet econony to factor in more successful aspects of capitalism.
• Embarassment - the Soviet term to describe the disaster at Chernobyl in April 1986.
• No borders - the removal of 'hard' borders all around the edges of the Iron Curtain.

What was the Brezhnev Doctrine (abandoned by Gorbachev)?

• No country is allowed to reject Communism - if they do, all Warsaw Pact countries must step in to bring them back in line.
• The US will not tolerate any threat to their interests in the Persian Gulf, and will respond using any means at their disposal.
• The US would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from Communism.
• Cuba is part of the US sphere of influence.

Why was Gorbachev's attitude towards the satellite states joking referred to as the 'Sinatra' doctrine?

• Frank Sinatra had a famous song called 'My Way' - Gorbachev allowed satellite states to do things 'their way', i.e. have the freedom to choose whether to remain communist.
• Frank Sinatra was famously affiliated with the New York Mafia - Gorbachev played the role of the 'Mafia', protecting satellite state governments by force.
• Frank Sinatra famously had blue eyes, and Gorbachev only allowed blue-eyed leaders to govern satellite states.
• Frank Sinatra was known for having violent altercations with employees who crossed him - just like the USSR were with renegade satellite states.

What was the name of the anti-communist trade union that won a landslide victory in Polish elections on June 4th 1989?

• Solidarity
• Sincerity
• Simplicity
• Sychronicity

Hungary took down its border with which non-communist country in 1989?

• Austria
• France
• Switzerland
• West Germany

The Velvet Revolution on 17th November 1989 saw the Communist government of Czechoslovakia overthrown. What is the name of the new, anti-commmunist Czech president?

• Havel
• Kadar
• Nagy
• Dubcek

What happens to the communist leader of Bulgaria, Mladenov, on 11th December 1989?

• He resigned on live TV.
• He was overthrown and executed.
• He lost a free, democratic election.
• He died of old age.

What happens to the communist leader of Romania, Ceausescu, on 21st December 1989?

• He was overthrown and executed.
• He resigned on live TV.
• He lost a free, democratic election.
• He died of old age.

How does communist control of Yugoslavia end on 23rd December 1989?

• Slovenians voted for independence in a free referendum, causing the country to break up into smaller states (e.g. Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina etc)
• There was a free, democratic election, and Yugoslavia became a capitalist country.
• The communist party leader publicly criticised the USSR and announced he would no longer take orders from the Kremlin.
• They brought back the monarchy and were ruled by a king once more.