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VICModern HistoryQuick questions
Unit 2: The changing world order (1945 to 2010)
Quick questions on End of the Cold War 1985-1991: VCE Modern History Unit 2
13short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the reunification of Germany (3 October 1990)?Show answer
The free Volkskammer elections in East Germany on 18 March 1990 produced a CDU government under Lothar de Maiziere committed to rapid reunification on Western terms. Currency union came on 1 July 1990.
What is glasnost?Show answer
Media censorship was relaxed. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster (26 April 1986) was initially concealed, but the international fallout forced the Politburo into greater openness. By 1988, Pravda was publishing criticism of Stalin and the historical novels of Anatoly Rybakov.
What is perestroika?Show answer
Economic reforms aimed at decentralisation and limited market mechanisms. The Law on State Enterprises (June 1987) gave factory managers more autonomy. The Law on Cooperatives (May 1988) legalised small private enterprise.
What is demokratizatsiya?Show answer
The 19th Party Conference (June to July 1988) proposed an elected Congress of People's Deputies. Elections in March 1989 produced the first partially competitive Soviet legislature; televised debates (Andrei Sakharov, Boris Yeltsin) transformed Soviet political discourse.
What is poland?Show answer
Round Table talks (6 February to 5 April 1989) between the communist government and the banned Solidarity trade union (under Lech Walesa) produced agreement on partially free elections. Solidarity won 99 of 100 Senate seats and all the contested Sejm seats on 4 June 1989. Tadeusz Mazowiecki became the first non-communist prime minister in the bloc on 24 August 1989.
What is hungary?Show answer
The communist government had begun its own reforms in 1988. On 2 May 1989 Hungary began dismantling the barbed-wire fence on its border with Austria. From August 1989, thousands of East Germans on summer holiday in Hungary used the open border to flee west.
What is east Germany?Show answer
The mass exodus through Hungary, large weekly Leipzig demonstrations ("We are the people"), and Gorbachev's visit to East Berlin on the 40th anniversary (7 October 1989) destabilised Erich Honecker. Honecker resigned on 18 October 1989; Egon Krenz replaced him. The new Politburo drafted travel regulations to release pressure.
What is czechoslovakia?Show answer
Riot police beat student protesters on 17 November 1989 (the trigger of the Velvet Revolution). General strikes followed. Vaclav Havel was elected President on 29 December 1989.
What is bulgaria?Show answer
A Politburo coup removed Todor Zhivkov on 10 November 1989. Multi-party elections in June 1990.
What is romania?Show answer
The most violent transition. Protests in Timisoara (16 December 1989) spread. Nicolae Ceausescu was booed at a Bucharest rally on 21 December and fled.
What is q1?Show answer
Evaluate the role of Gorbachev in the end of the Cold War (1985-1991). [10 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain the significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989). [4 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Analyse why the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. [6 marks]