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Cold War

Episode 24 - Conclusions: 1989-1991. Gorbachev and Bush meet at Malta in December 1989 to consider the recent dramatic events. Only the previous week the Communist government resigned in Czechoslovakia; and shortly Nicolae Ceau?escu would be deposed and executed in the bloody Romanian Revolution. Gorbachev permits German reunification and removes Soviet troops from Europe, but fails to secure financial support from the West. As the Soviet economy collapses, Gorbachev faces opposition from both reformers and hardliners. Sharing their abhorrence of Soviet disintegration, Gorbachev brings in hardliners to his government and cracks down on the Lithuanian independence movement. However they later turn on Gorbachev and stage a coup. Boris Yeltsin is instrumental in rallying the public and military to defeat the coup. Sidelining Gorbachev, Yeltsin sets the course for Russia to leave the Soviet Union by establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Soviet Union ends on 25 December 1991, and in his Christmas Day address Bush announces the Cold War is over. The cost of the Cold War is considered in retrospect. Interviewees include Mircea Dinescu, Alexander Rutskoy and Condoleezza Rice. (from wikipedia.org)

Episode 24 - Conclusions: 1989-1991


Go to Cold War Home or watch other episodes:

Episode 01 - Comrades: 1917-1945
Episode 02 - Iron Curtain: 1945-1947
Episode 03 - Marshall Plan: 1947-1952
Episode 04 - Berlin: 1948-1949
Episode 05 - Korea: 1949-1953
Episode 06 - Reds: 1947-1953
Episode 07 - After Stalin: 1953-1956
Episode 08 - Sputnik: 1949-1961
Episode 09 - The Wall: 1958-1963
Episode 10 - Cuba: 1959-1962
Episode 11 - Vietnam: 1954-1968
Episode 12 - MAD: 1960-1972
Episode 13 - Make Love, Not War: 1960s
Episode 14 - Red Spring: 1960s
Episode 15 - China: 1949-1972
Episode 16 - Detente: 1969-1975
Episode 17 - Good Guys, Bad Guys: 1967-1978
Episode 18 - Backyard: 1954-1990
Episode 19 - Freeze: 1977-1981
Episode 20 - Soldiers of God: 1975-1988
Episode 21 - Spies: 1945-1990
Episode 22 - Star Wars: 1980-1988
Episode 23 - The Wall Comes Down: 1989
Episode 24 - Conclusions: 1989-1991