POST WORLD WAR II - RECOVERY FROM WAR

Europe After the War:

1. Widespread Destruction: cities, rural areas, communications, and transportation systems.

2. Refugees displaced from their homes.

3. Immediate Need: to prevent famine and disease.

4. UNRRA: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

a. Established in November 1943 (44 nations participated).

b. Purpose: to provide emergency aid for war torn nations of Europe and Asia.

c. Nations which escaped invasion were asked to contribute 1% of their nations income of 1943.

d. Largest Contributions: came from the United States, Great Britain, and Canada.

e. 1945-48: aid went to 25 nations with a total population of about a billion.

Most Important Work:

In Greece, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Italy.

5. Distrust: United States and the Soviet Union

a. United to defeat Nazi Germany -- antagonisms began to revive after the war.

b. Cold War: conflict between communist and western nations waged by political and economic means rather than with weapons.

c. Russia sought to dominate Eastern Europe.

"Soviet Army of Liberation became an Army of Occupation."

d. Winston Churchill: 1946

"From Settin on the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

The Victors

1. The Yalta Conference - 1945: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin.

a. Germany and Austria were to be divided into four zones of occupation (United States, Britain, France, and Russia).

b. Capitals: Berlin and Vienna were also to be divided into four zones.

c. Allied Control Council:

1. Supervision of the occupied regions.

2. Composed of military leaders of the occupying armies.

3. Decisions had to be unanimous.

2. Potsdam Conference - 1945: Stalin, Atlee, and Truman.

Peace Treaties should be written by a Council of Foreign Ministers of Russia, Britain, the United States, France, and China.

Problems of Peace Making:

1. East - West hostility made it very difficult for the Councils to reach unanimous decisions.

2. Changes:

a. Plebiscite - June 1946, Italy: the monarchy was abolished and a republic was established.

b. France:

1. August 1944: a provisional government was set up under General Charles de Gaulle.

2. 1946: Fourth French Republic was proclaimed.

c. Germany’s Eastern European allies were occupied and ruled by Russia.

d. National government had to be restored to Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Post War Treaties:

1. Italy: 1947 (Council of Foreign Ministers reached agreement).

a. Italy had to renounce all claims to nations they had invaded during the war.

b. Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean went to Greece.

c. France received a small amount of territory along Italy’s western border.

d. Created the Free Territory of Trieste:

1. Opposed by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia.

2. October 1954: divided the Territory of Trieste.

Italy: received the city itself and pledged to maintain a free port.

Yugoslavia: received the adjacent territory.

2. Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland

a. Return of territory taken during the war.

b. Prewar boundaries were changed.

c. Payment of war reparations to nations they had invaded.

3. Austria: May 1955

a. Four way occupation continued until 1955.

b. Austria became a free independent nation after 17 years of occupations.

c. Political or economic union with Germany was prohibited.

d. Boundaries as they existed on January 1, 1938.

German Settlements:

1. By the early 1970’s no formal agreement had been reached with Germany.

2. At the Potsdam Conference:

a. Poland’s western border was fixed temporarily at the Oder and Neisse Rivers.

b. Included part of prewar Germany (Danzig and East Prussia).

c. Stalin wanted to make the boundary permanent: Britain and America opposed this move. (This territory had produced 1/4 of Germany’s food supply.)

3. German Population:

a. Czechoslovakia ordered the Sudeten Germans to leave the country.

b. Russia expelled Germans in East Prussia and the Baltic States.

c. Poland expelled Germans from prewar areas of Poland and territory taken from Germany at the end of the war.

4. German Industry:

a. Allied Control Council: disbanded all German land, air, and sea forces.

b. The German General Staff with its military schools and institutions was abolished.

c. German Industry was prohibited from arms manufacturing.

d. Russia:

1. Dismantled industrial plants and moved them east.

2. Changed this policy when they realized they would have to support millions of unemployed workers.

e. Western Zone:

1. Allowed Germany to industrialize fully or be forced to feed and support Germany.

2. Britain and the US took a lenient attitude toward Germany and its industry.

3. This position was violently opposed by France.

War Trials and Denazification

1. German Concentration Camps:

a. More than 6 million of the estimated 10 million Jews in Europe had been killed.

b. Deaths: disease, starvation, shot, hanged, or suffocated in gas chambers.

c. Another 6 million non Jewish Europeans were also killed in German Concentration Camps.

2. November 1945: International Court at Nuremberg

a. Some Nazi leaders had escaped to Spain and Latin America.

b. Many were captured: 22 were tried at Nuremberg for "conspiring to wage aggressive war, crimes against the peace, and crimes against humanity".

c. Twelve were sentenced to death, seven to life imprisonment, and three were acquitted.

3. Criticism of the Court:

a. There was no legal precedent for punishing leaders of a defeated nation.

b. Possible war criminals of other nations were not being tried - a question of fairness.

c. Trials: an act of vengeance on the part of the victorious powers.

4. Defenders of the Court:

a. Laws did exist: Hague conventions, League of Nations agreements, and International Treaties.

b. Belief: the court would help to preserve peace and forward the development of international law.

c. 1948: The United Nations adopted a convention against genocide.

5. Trials of other war criminals continued in Germany for many years.

6. Denazification Courts:

a. Allied Policy: to remove former Nazis from positions of authority in government, industry, and education.

b. Recovery of Germany - needed technically skilled leaders many of whom had been Nazis.

c. What degree of connection with the Nazi Party justified removal.

d. By 1948: Denazification courts had almost ceased to exist.

COLD WAR: fear that Communists intended to take over all of Europe.

Soviet Satellites:

1. Soviet Army: Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary -- communist governments were established.

2. Albania and Yugoslavia: governments were set up by local communists.

3. Free Elections: promised by the Allies to choose their governments.

* Communists eliminated opposition.

* 1947 - all of these nations had become communist dictatorships.

4. Satellites: dependent on the Soviet Union for both domestic and foreign policy.

5. Cominform: Communist Information Bureau -- to stir up dissension and revolution wherever possible.

United States: Leadership

1. The Truman Doctrine

a. Britain had been giving Greece large scale financial and military aid to suppress a communist rebellion.

b. Britain announced it could no longer defend the Eastern Mediterranean.

c. Western Fear: Greece, Turkey, and Western Asia might be taken over by the Communists.

d. March 1947: Truman delivered a speech before Congress.

1. Continued spread of Communism was considered a threat to democracy.

2. US would not try to stamp out Communism where it existed or where it was freely chosen.

3. US. would use all its resources to help countries threatened by Communism if they asked for help.

4. "CONTAINMENT": to contain or restrict the spread of Communism.

e. Truman: $400 million to defend Turkey and Greece from Communism.

1. UN Investigating Committee reported Communist countries were helping Greek rebels.

2. Congress granted Truman’s request and the Greek government suppressed the rebellion.

2. The Marshall Plan: European Recovery Program

Terms:

a. Confer and determine their needs on a continental system.

b. Show what resources they could put into a common pool for economic rebuilding.

c. End inflation and stablize their currencies.

d. Try to remove trade barriers so that goods could flow more freely throughout the continent.

3. Congress: $17 Billion - first Four Years.

a. 16 nations worked out plans for the program.

b. Aid was offered to the Soviet Union and its satellites - but it was rejected.

4. Investment:

a. To prevent the spread of Communism.

b. Humanitarian: to relieve suffering in war torn nations.

c. American farmers and manufacturers - market for surplus goods.

d. European Countries were helped to become self supporting and customers for American goods.

Cold War: Central Europe

1. Czechoslovakia: democratic government which included many Communists.

2. It was not occupied by a Soviet Army - common borders with Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Germany which were occupied.

3. Czech Government: attempted to maintain friendly relations with both Western democracies and the Communists.

4. February 1948: National Elections

a. Showed a decline in Communist strength.

b. Few weeks later - Communists held another election.

1. Communist approved a list of candidates.

2. Communists wrote a new constitution which the President refused to sign..

3. The president resigned in June and was replaced by a Communist.

4. The revised Constitution was approved.

c. Only war could prevent a Communist Take-Over.

1. The US had quickly demobilized after the war.

2. British Forces were spread throughout the World.

3. Russians still had many divisions under arms.

4. Unwilling to risk War: Western Democracies

5. Spring 1948: Yugoslavia

a. Tito objected to Soviet domination and announced Yugoslavia would follow an independent course.

b. June 1948: Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform.

c. Aid was given to Yugoslavia cautiously -- as long as they opposed the Soviet Union (from the West).

The Division of Germany:

1. 1948: the difficulty of joint government of occupied Germany had become very evident.

a. Economic Crisis.

b. Refugees from the Soviet Zone.

2. Western Powers began negotiations to unite their three zones.

3. June 1948: Soviets stopped all land and water traffic into Berlin from the West.

a. US and Britain organized an airlift to supply West Berlin by air.

b. The Soviet Union lifted its blockade of the city in May 1949.

4. The Federal Republic of Germany:

a. With no treaty Western Powers allowed Germans in their zones to write a constitution and set up a democratic government.

b. A Constitutional Assembly was held at Bonn and set up a government - it was proclaimed on May 23, 1949.

c. Allies maintained control -- unified the three sections of Berlin into one Municipal government.

5. October 1949: German Democratic Government was set up in East Germany (Communist Satellite).

Neither the Western Powers or the Soviet Union recognized the other Germany.

Conflict Over Berlin:

1. West Berlin: astonishing economic recovery -- very slow in the Eastern Sector.

2. Claims: Berlin was being used as a center of espionage.

3. Means of Escape: for discontented citizens from East Germany and other satellite nations.

* As many as 3,000 daily.

4. 1961: The Berlin Wall was built to stop the flow of refugees to the West.

Post War Europe: Rapid Economic Recovery -- "The German Miracle"

European Economic Cooperation

1. ECSC: European coal and Steel Community - 1952

a. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

b. Purpose: to regulate the production and prices of coal, and members agreed not to impose tariffs on one another.

* Free of national control.

2. EEC: European Economic Community (The Common Market) - 1958

a. Three States: over 15 years - tariffs and import quotas would gradually be abolished.

b. By the Mid 1960’s: tariffs on industrial goods had been reduced by 30%.

3. EEC: first seven years (trade)

a. Increased 66% among member states.

b. Increased 50% with non member nations.

c. world Wide: increased 46%.

4. Industrial Production - Increased:

a. Common Market: 38%

b. The United Sates: 23%

c. Britain: 18%

5. Social Results:

a. Plan: social security and pensions would be uniform.

b. Workers would be free to get a job in any other nation.

THE COMMUNIST RESPONSE

1. COMECON - 1949: Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

2. Members: the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Mongolia.

3. Purpose: to coordinate industrial development and trade within the Soviet Bloc.

4. Trade: product for product of the same value - no money changed hands.

5. Objections: members supplying raw materials while others did the manufacturing.

EFFECTS ON THE UNITED STATES

1. Fear: of losing the European Market to the EEC.

2. American Corporations built factories or bought shares in Corporations located in the Common Market.

Purpose: to avoid proposed barriers.

3. US congress: "Trade Expansion Act" President had the power to cut American tariffs with other countries who cut tariffs on American goods.

COLD WAR RIVALRIES

1. Soviet Threat: resulted in unity of Western Europe ----- surprising due to long history of nationalistic rivalries.

2. NATO

a. Fear: the Soviet Union intended to overrun all of Western Europe.

b. Western Nations: need to develop ground forces to deter a Soviet drive into Western Europe.

c. April 1949: a mutual defense pact created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

d. Members: the United Sates, Britain, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, the Benelux Nations.

1952: Turkey

1955: West Germany

e. Members agreed that an attack on one would be considered an attack on all.

f. Two Events: strengthened the alliance.

1. Fall of 1949: Russia exploded their first Atomic Bomb.

2. 1950: Communist Invasion of South Korea.

3. The Warsaw Pact: May 1955

a. Meeting: the Soviet Government meeting with Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Albania.

Yugoslavia: the only European communist country that did not take part.

b. Twenty Year Agreement: nations pledged in the event of war to furnish troops in proportion to its population.

RELATIONS WITH THE SOVIET UNION

1. Diplomatic Changes: 10 years after World War II former allies the United States and Russia were now adversaries.

2. Joseph Stalin died in 1953 resulting in a power struggle within Russia.

* Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the head of the Communist Party.

3. Soviet Policy Shifted:

a. "Peaceful coexistence" - harmony between the East and West.

b. Late 1960’s to early 1970’s: interests could be served better by negotiation rather than confrontation.

De’tente: relaxation of international tensions.

4. Threats to US / Soviet Relations

a. U-2 Incident (Gary Powers): shot down over Russia shortly before a meeting between President Eisenhower and Nikita Khruschev in May of 1960.

b. 1962: Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba -- led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

c. 1964: Khruschev was deposed and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev who became the First Secretary of the Communist party.

5. Early 1970’s: President Richard Nixon and Secretary Brezhnev held meetings in both Moscow and the United States.

6. Satellite Rebellions (Within the Soviet Bloc)

a. Satellites had once been independent national states -- some with old antagonism toward Russia.

b. "Titoism": aroused envy among some people in Eastern Communist countries and a perceived goal to be reached.

c. 1953: Revolts by East German workers were put down by Soviet tanks and troops.

d. 1956: Poland - threatened to revolt and gained a small degree of independence.

e. 1956: Hungary Revolted

1. Rebels controlled all of Western Hungary for a short time -- Soviet troops withdrew.

2. Soviets returned and suppressed the revolt ----- no help from Western Powers was given.

f. 1968: Czechoslovakia

1. Program of reform under Alexander Dubcek.

2. Promise: civil liberties, democratic political reforms, and more independent political system.

3. Six Months: Warsaw Pact Troops, most from the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia.

4. Reform leaders were arrested and replaced with those who could be trusted.

g. Results:

1. Communist Parties in both France and Italy assumed greater independence from the Soviet Union.

2. Acceptance of Soviet Domination in Satellite Nations.

3. Determination of the Soviet Union to maintain control of satellite nations.

WEAKENING OF ALLIANCES

1. Belief: that Russians would no longer risk aggression in the West ------ NATO force was no longer a military necessity.

2. Development of long range Missiles: the United States might allow the occupation of Europe to avoid destruction of its own territory.

3. 1966: Charles de Gaulle withdrew French forces from NATO and ordered the United States to give up NATO bases in France.

4. Friction between the Soviet Union and Communist China for leadership of the Communist World.

COMMUNISM: CHINA AND NORTH KOREA

1. Fighting between Nationalist and Communist Chinese break out before the end of World War II.

2. 1949: Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan (Formosa).

3. The United States refused to recognize the new Communist government of mainland China.

4. The People’s Republic of China

a. A One Party Dictatorship.

b. Executive Power: committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party.

* a group of seven men headed by Mao Tse-Tung.

5. 1964: China detonated their first atomic device.

6. 1966-68: Great Cultural Revolution

a. Struggle for power in the Communist Party.

b. Peace was restored by the Army.

c. Mao Tse-Tung survived as China’s leader and Chou En-lai as second in power to the Chairman.

Foreign Relations

1. China-Soviet Union: began as allies, but disagreed over Marxism and Foreign Policy.

2. Russia:

a. World Communism could be achieved by scientific and economic successes.

b. War with Capitalist Nations was not inevitable --- peaceful coexistence was possible.

c. Each communist state should produce only what it could produce best.

d. All production should be integrated into one economic unit.

3. China:

a. Believed in World Revolution -- peaceful coexistence was impossible.

b. Russia had abandoned true Marxism.

c. Each communist state should develop its own economy - no individual state should dominate.

4. The United States: Primary Enemy

a. Military power of the United States in Indo China, Japan, and Taiwan.

b. Relations worsened with the Soviet Union.

1972: President Nixon visited China resulting in --

* exchange of news representatives, business and private citizens allowed to visit each country.

* diplomatic representatives were exchanged but not full diplomatic recognition.

c. 1971: China was admitted to the United Nations.

THE KOREAN CONFLICT (WAR)

1. Agreement at the end of World War II.

* North Korea occupied by the Soviet Union.

* South Korea occupied by the United States.

2. The 38th Parallel established as the dividing line: each occupying power organized governments in their zones.

3. United Nations Commission: sent to supervise elections for a government to rule the entire nation.

4. Elections were scheduled to be held in 1948. Russia would not allow the Commission in their zone.

5. Republic of Korea: South Korea

President: Syngman Rhee

6. People’s Democratic Republic: North Korea

President: Kim Il-sung

7. The United Nations recognized South Korea as the legal government. Communist nations only recognized North Korea.

8. June 1950: North Korean Army Invaded South Korea.

a. Security Council of the United Nations, in emergency session, declared North Korea an aggressor.

b. United Nations members were asked to furnish troops and supplies to resist the aggression (16 nations helped).

9. Seesaw War

a. UN Army (mostly the US and South Korea) commanded by General Douglas MacArthur was driven back to the South.

b. Reinforced: UN Troops fought their way back to the 38th Parallel.

c. United Nations (reluctantly) agreed to allow UN Forces to cross into North Korea. Ordered to stop south of the Yalu River -- border between North Korea and Manchuria (China).

d. 1951: Communist China entered the war on the side of North Korea as UN Forces approached the Yalu River.

The United Nations declared China guilty of aggression.

e. UN Forces were driven south of the 38th Parallel.

A few months: they were able to advance northward again to the 38th Parallel.

f. Manchuria: Chinese bases there were used to launch bombing raids and to supply Chinese troops.

Question: should these bases be bombed.

g. MacArthur: insisted that these bases be bombed and the coast of China blockaded.

1. President Truman and the UN General Assembly opposed this action.

2. Fear that the Soviet Union would enter the war leading to World War III.

MacArthur continued his demands and was removed as UN commanderby President Truman.

h. General Matthew Ridgeway replaced MacArthur as UN Forces slowly moved northward.

July 1951: armistice negotiations began.

10. The Armistice

a. Two Years: the armistice was signed in July of 1953.

b. Borders fixed again at the 38th Parallel.

c. Peace Conference was to be held within three months ----- the conference was never held and no treaty was ever signed.

d. 1950’s and 1960’s: continued hostilities between the two Koreans.

e. 1972: North - south Coordinating Committee was established to work for independent and peaceful unification.

11. Governmental Changes in South Korea

a. 1960: anti government riots -- protesting election fraud, police terror, corruption, and autocratic rule.

b. Syngman Rhee ended his twelve year presidency by resigning.

c. 1961: General Chung Hee Park, head of a military junta, seized power.

1. elected president three times.

2. Improved economic conditions and maintained a pro-American Foreign Policy.

d. 1972: Reunification talks required reform in South Korea.

1. Imposed marital law, dissolved the National Assembly, prohibited political activities, imposed press censorship.

2. Referendum: it was able to make Park president for life.

3. Park who was criticized by the United States was eventually assassinated.

FRENCH INDO CHINA

1. French Collaborators (Vichy Government) welcomed the Japanese during World War II.

2. 1945: Japanese expelled the French and set up three "independent kingdoms": Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

3. These nations attempted to establish their own governments after World War II.

4. Resistance: the Viet Minh

a. The League for the Independence of Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh.

b. 1946: War broke out between the Viet Minh and France.

c. Democratic Republic of Vietnam: government set up by Ho Chi Minh in the North supported by the Communist Bloc.

d. French: set up a puppet regime in the South supported by the British and Americans.

e. Viet Minh: aided by Communist China.

French: received military aid from the United States.

f. May 1954: Viet Minh defeated the French at Dienbienphu -- the French agreed to negotiate.

THE GENEVA AGREEMENTS

1. May - July 1954: representatives of North and South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Communist China, France, Britain, the US met at Geneva.

2. Results: Indo China

a. Laos was to remain independent: all foreign troops were to withdraw.

Problem: Pathet Lao, a communist dominated group, was left in control of two northern provinces.

b. Cambodia was recognized as independent and avoided becoming involved in the East-West struggle.

* Neither Laos nor Cambodia could make foreign alliances.

c. Vietnam: Two Zones

1. Division of the zones at the 17th Parallel.

2. Ho Chi Minh was in control of the North.

3. 1956: elections scheduled to be held to choose a government to unite the country.

3. South Vietnam and the United States (only nations) that refused to sign the Geneva Agreements.

a. Vietnamese opposed any continued partition of Vietnam.

b. The United States: felt terms represented a surrender to Communism.

THE TWO VIETNAMS

1. North Vietnam

a. Geneva Agreements of 1954 ---- victory for Ho Chi Minh.

b. Most of the Industry and the minerals of the region.

c. enough good land to be almost self-sufficient in food.

d. Chinese and Soviet Aid: North Vietnam rebuilt and expanded industry.

2. South Vietnam.

a. Shattered economy, many refugees from the North, a disorganized army, and fighting among political and religious factions -- several had private armies.

b. Ngo Dinh Diem: led the new government.

1. Disarmed private armies and restored order.

2. With American Aid, he reorganized and strengthened the army.

3. Outlawed the Communist Party and tried to suppress all opposition to him.

4. Refused to hold elections called for in the Geneva Agreements.

3. Resumption of the War

a. 1959: war broke out -- waged by the Viet Cong.

1. Communist guerrillas, peasants in South Vietnam.

2. Trained in the North and returned to the South.

b. Political Warfare: Viet Cong offered land reform, neutralism, and peace.

Persuasion and Terror: won either active or passive support.

c. Diem

1. Internal opposition and the danger of the Viet Cong me with further repression.

2. 1963: coup d’ etat -- Diem was assassinated and replaced by a military group.

* Next three years - 9 different military groups ruled South Vietnam.

4. American Involvement: slow over stages.

a. Eisenhower: only military and economic aid.

b. Kennedy: continued this policy and also sent military advisors.

c. Johnson: 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1. North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked Americans destroyers in the Gulf.

2. Air Strikes ordered against North Vietnam’s naval bases.

3. 1965: after Communist attacks on American bases ---- continuous air strikes were ordered.

* American Forces were eventually increased to over 500,000.

d. United States’ attitude about the Domino Theory (explain).

e. Opposition grew in the United States to American participation in the war.

5. 1967: President Thieu and Vice President Ky were elected in South Vietnam bringing an end to the successive changes in government.

6. January 1968: large scale offensive by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong

(The Tet Offensive) which even entered Saigon.

7. March 31st: President Johnson announced a limited halt to the bombing and that he would not be a candidate for President.

8. Agreement: to begin peace negotiations to be held in Paris - talks became deadlocked.

9. Richard Nixon: elected President on a pledge to end the war.

a. Announced a limited withdrawal: remaining forces would be withdrawn on schedule, this was a secret time table.

b. Vietnamization: shifting the burden of the fighting to South Vietnamese forces.

c. 1970: announced the invasion of Cambodia and resumed bombing of North Vietnam.

10. 1971 and 1972: troops withdrawals left only 25,000 Americans.

a. Increased bombing of Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam.

b. Mining of North Vietnam’s coastal waters.

11. 1973: US and North Vietnam’s representatives reached an agreement for a cease fire and end of the war in South Vietnam.

a. American forces were withdrawn and prisoners of war were returned.

b. MIA’s remained a problem.

12. The United States’ Air forces withdrew only to Thailand and the fleet remained along the coast.

13. American bombing in Cambodia continued until Congress outlawed it.

* Sporadic fighting continued and the US continued to send aid.

14. 1975: South Vietnam fell to the Viet Cong and the war came to an end.

GERMANY: ONE NATION - TWO STATES

1. German Unification remained the chief post war problem and desire of the German People.

2. West Germany: Relations with the Soviet Union

a. October 1969: new government under Chancellor Willy Brandt - promised a more flexible attitude toward the Soviet Union.

b. Soviet Union: Conditions

1. Full recognition of East Germany.

2. Abandon West Berlin.

3. Accept existing boundary (Oder-Neisse Line) between East Germany and Poland.

c. Conditions were not all acceptable to West Germany.

* 1973: Brandt established formal relations with East Germany.

3. Collapse of East Germany:

a. East Germany’s Communist government fell in 1989.

b. West Germany and East Germany merged their financial systems in July 1990.

c. In October of 1990, German Democratic Republic (East Germany) dissolved and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany.

COMMUNISM IN CRISIS

1. Brezhnev died in November of 1982. He was succeeded by two men who died after short terms in office.

* Mikhail Gorbachev then became General Secretary of the Communist Party in March of 1985.

2. Glasnost and Perestroika

a. Gorbachev’s policy was Perestroika (Russian Restructuring) of the nations’ economy and Glasnost (Russian Openness) in political and cultural affairs.

b. June 1988: Gorbachev proposed a series of reforms that shifted power from the Communist Party to popularly elected legislatures.

c. March 1989: Soviet voters took part in their first nationwide competitive election since 1917.

3. The USSR did not intervene in Eastern Europe (between 1989 and 1991) when reform movements resulted in the overthrow of Communist governments in Poland, Hungary,and Czechoslovakia.

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact were also disbanded.

4. September 6th: the independence of the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia)was was recognized.

5. On December 21st: the USSR formally ceased to exist when the remaining republics agreed to form the Commonwealth of Independent States.

6. Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet Parliament acknowledged the dissolution of the USSR on December 26th.