Which former Soviet country was one of the first to open its borders, allowing people to travel freely into Austria
Hungary
Why was 1983 a particularly tense year between the US & Soviets?
Arms race; US spied on Soviet launches; Soviets shot down airliner; NATO exercise "Able Archer" seen as actually preparation for attack by Soviets; Evil Empire speech
What leader decided to focus on domestic policies in the USSR in mid-1980s?
Mikhail Gorbachev
What leader sought a closer relationship with the Soviet Union to offset the threat of a US invasion?
Fidel Castro
What symbolic event marked the beginning of the end of communism in Europe in 1989/1990? In what year did the Soviet Union officially cease to exist?
Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) & reunification of Germany (1990); End of USSR = 1991
What country "fell" to communism by 1949 and immediately developed a "friendship" with the Soviet Union? What was the official name of this country? Who led this country during this period? To where did the opposition flee?
China - People's Republic of China - Mao Zedong; Taiwan
Czechoslovakia
What resistance movement began in the early 1980s in Poland? Who led it? What happened to it?
Solidarity; Lech Walesea; grew in #s, outlawed in early 80s then allowed again when the economy further deteriorated in the late 1980s; won majority of seats in democratic elections