Collapse of the Soviet Union

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

• Boris Yeltsin

• Vladimir Putin

• Leonid Brezhnev

• Mikhail Gorbachev

President of the Russian Republic in 1991. Helped end the USSR and force Gorbachev to resign.

• Boris Yeltsin

• Vladimir Putin

• Leonid Brezhnev

• Mikhail Gorbachev

Current president of Russia; moved Russia closer to an authoritarian rule

• Mikhail Gorbachev

• Boris Yeltsin

• Vladimir Putin

• Leonid Brezhnev

Soviet leader from 1962 to 1984 who is most known internationally for actions such as his hard-line stance against the pro-democracy Prague Spring protesters in 1968 and well as overseeing Russia's long, costly, and futile war in Afghanistan.

• Mikhail Gorbachev

• Boris Yeltsin

• Vladimir Putin

• Leonid Brezhnev

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

• Perestroika

• Glasnost

• Lithuania

• Cold War

A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society

• Glasnost

• Perestroika

• Lithuania

• Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.

• Glasnost

• Perestroika

• Lithuania

• Cold War

Reagan and Gorbachev signed this treaty, which provided for the dismantling of all intermediate range nuclear weapons in Russia and all of Europe.

• Iron Curtain

• INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty)

• Geneva Accords

• Treaty of Versailles

in Afghanistan, holy warriors who banded together to fight the Soviet-supported government in the late 1970s

• Mujahideen

• Jihad

• Democratization

• Ronald Reagan

1979-1989. Soviet war to preserve communist rule in Afghanistan, opposed by US-funded mujahideen. The "Vietnam of the USSR"

• Iran-Iraq War

• WW2

• Afghanistan War

• Cold War