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VICModern HistoryQuick questions
Unit 2: Change and conflict (The changing world order, 1945 onwards)
Quick questions on The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War (VCE Modern History Unit 2)
15short 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 economic stagnation?Show answer
Soviet GDP growth fell from $5$% (1960s) to under $2$% (1980s). Centrally planned economy could not match market economies in innovation or consumer goods.
What is defence burden?Show answer
Up to $20$% of GDP. Reagan's military buildup (from 1981) and Strategic Defense Initiative (March 1983) added pressure.
What is afghanistan war?Show answer
Soviet "Vietnam". $15\,000$ Soviet dead, deep public unpopularity.
What is political legitimacy?Show answer
Brezhnev era stagnation; gerontocracy (Andropov 1982-1984, Chernenko 1984-1985 all died in office).
What is glasnost?Show answer
Released political prisoners (Sakharov in 1986). Press freedom expanded. Chernobyl disaster (April 1986) tested and accelerated openness.
What is perestroika?Show answer
Limited market reforms. Failed to deliver economic recovery; disrupted supply chains.
What is foreign policy?Show answer
INF Treaty (December 1987) eliminated intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan (1989). UN address (December 1988) announced Soviet troop reductions in Europe.
What is sinatra Doctrine?Show answer
Eastern European states could go "their way". Renunciation of the Brezhnev Doctrine.
What is poland?Show answer
Solidarity legalised; semi-free elections (June 1989) gave Solidarity overwhelming victory. Tadeusz Mazowiecki became first non-communist Prime Minister in the Eastern bloc (August 1989).
What is hungary?Show answer
Reformist communist government opened the border with Austria (May 1989), creating a hole in the Iron Curtain.
What is east Germany?Show answer
Mass exodus through Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Protests in Leipzig. Fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989).
What is czechoslovakia?Show answer
Velvet Revolution (November-December 1989). Vaclav Havel became President.
What is bulgaria, Romania?Show answer
Bulgarian reformist communists; Romania's violent overthrow of Ceausescu (December 1989).
What is baltic independence?Show answer
Lithuania (March 1990), Latvia and Estonia followed.
What is 1991 referendum?Show answer
Soviet citizens voted to preserve the union, but six republics (Baltic states, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia) boycotted.