Welcome to the Museum of Cold War History (1976-1991)

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Room Four

Room Two

Room Five

Museum Entrance

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Curators Offices

Sara Daigle Curators Office

My Cold War expertise is between 19751991. Most major events are covered in my museum exhibits. Hope you enjoy them!

snscollins5@gmail.com

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Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Dr. Christy Keeler. View the Educational Virtual Museums website for more information on this instructional technique.

1976-1980s Exhibit

Room 1

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1980-1985s Exhibit

Room 2

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1985-1990s Exhibit

Room 3

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The 1990s Exhibit

Room 4

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The 1990s Exhibit Continued

Room 5

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Iran Hostage Crisis

1979-1981 November 4, 1979, 500 Muslim students seized the United States Embassy in Iran. Of these 90 people in the embassy, 66 hostages were taken. President Carter imposed a trade restriction against Iranian oil and put a freeze on Iranian possessions in the U.S. In return for the release of the American hostages, the United States was required to return Shah Pahlavis wealth to Iran, unfreeze Iranian assets, cancel all public and private claims against Iran, and pledge to not interfere in Iranian affairs

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/70s/IranHostage Crisis.asp Return to Exhibit

United States and China Establish Diplomatic Relations

January 1979 The United States announced that it would sever its diplomatic relations with Taiwan, withdraw U.S. military forces from Taiwan, and terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty http://www.chinaembassy.org/eng/zmgx/ocusr/t946195.htm

"Soviet and Cuban Forces Help Install Communist Government in Angola Google Search." Soviet and Cuban Forces Help Install Communist Government in Angola - Google Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014

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The Soviet Red Army Invades Afghanistan

December 1979 The Soviet Union intervened in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anticommunist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War (197892) and remained in Afghanistan until midFebruary 1989. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, the United States and 61 other countries decided to boycott the Olympics (France, Italy, and Sweden did not join the boycott).

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Polish Shipyard Workers Revolt; Solidarity Union Formed

August 1980 In 1989, the Solidarity Union formed the first post-war, non-communist government in Poland Officially Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity Many strikes broke out in 1980 protesting rising food prices 17,000 workers at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk staged a strike and barricaded themselves in the plant Strike was lead by Lech Walesa, an electrician August 1980- An Interfactory Strike Committee was established in Gdansk to coordinate rapidly spreading strikes there and elsewhere Solidarity was formally founded on Sept. 22, 1980, when delegates of 36 regional trade unions met in Gdansk and united under the name Solidarno Walesa was elected chairman of Solidarity.

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The United States Invades Grenada

December 1983 The official name for the invasion is Operation Urgent Fury Maurice Bishop, a socialist with ties to Cuba, intended on making Grenada wholly socialist Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, a Communist hard-liner backed by the Grenadian Army, had overthrown Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and established military rule. When Bishop was murdered 6 days after being taken out of authority, and the Communist Coard took power

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/g eneral-article/reagan-grenada/

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President Ronald Reagan Proposes SDI

1983 SDI stands for Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as star wars" The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union The US and its NATO allies decided in 1979 to deploy new weapons as a deterrent to the Soviets SS20's and as an incentive to the Soviet Union to meet the U.S. in serious arms control negotiations. The SDI program was never officially used http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/f eatures/primary-resources/reagan-security/

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/SDI-StarWars.asp/

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Mikhail Gorbachev Becomes Leader of the Soviet Union

March 1986 Declared Glasnost and Perestroika in 1987 His efforts to democratize his countrys political system and decentralize its economy led to the downfall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. He ended the Soviet Unions postwar domination of eastern Europe He brought about massive economic, social, and political changes and helped bring an end to both the Soviet Union and the Cold War

The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica. "Mikhail Gorbachev (president of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014

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Glasnost and Perestroika

1986 Declared by Mikhail Gorbachev Glasnost is the policy or practice of more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information; openness Its goals were to include more people in the political process through freedom of expression Perestroika refers to the reconstruction of the political and economic system established by the Communist Party The goal was to create a semi-free market system, reflecting successful capitalist practices in the economies of Germany, Japan, and the United States. http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/GlasnostandPerestr oika.asp

Glasnost and Perestroika - Google Search." Glasnost and Perestroika - Google Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014

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Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

April 26, 1986 The worst nuclear disaster in world history At about 1 a.m., one of the reactors power dropped suddenly and the situation became alarming. Due to the absence of the safety systems, the reactor went out of control and exploded at 1:23 a.m. and the repercussions would last for decades. The Soviets tried to hide the explosion from the world The explosion was discovered when various plants recorded unusually high levels of radiation in the area. 100 times more powerful than that of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/ChernobylN uclearDisasterApril261986.asp

"Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster - Google Search." Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster - Google Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

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Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev Resolve to Remove All Missiles From Europe
October 1986- October 1987 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev agree to remove all intermediate, medium and short-range nuclear missiles from Europe The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (being signed in the picture to the right) The treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between 500-5,500 km (3003,400 miles).

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Tiananmen Square Massacre

June 4th, 1989 Nearly a million Chinese, mostly young students, crowded into central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and call for the resignations of Chinese Communist Party leaders deemed too repressive Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters
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East Germany Allows Unrestricted Migration to West Germany

November 1989 East Germany adopted all of West Germany's legal, tax and social insurance programs, and trade barriers were lifted. On October 3, 1990 the five states of the East German command economy were reunited with the states of West Germany in union. With this final unification all barriers to labor movement were removed.
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The Berlin Wall is Demolished

December 1989 On July 1, 1990, an economic, monetary and social union between East and West Germany was formed, and all restrictions concerning travels were dropped. The wall vanished almost completely until 1991 On February 1997, a red line was painted on the pavement at the former Checkpoint Charlie to mark the course of the former Berlin Wall. This line reached a length of 20 km and shall be replaced by two rows of paving stones

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/fall_berlin_wall.asp

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Boris Yeltsin Becomes President of Russia

On June 12, 1991 Boris Yeltsin was elected by popular vote to the newly created post of President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR), at that time one of the 15 constituent republics of the Soviet Union. He vowed to transform Russia's socialist command economy into a free market economy and implemented economic shock therapy, price liberalization and privatization program

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Germany is Reunited
October 1990 Less than one year after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany come together on what is known as "Unity Day." With the gradual waning of Soviet power in the late 1980s, the Communist Party in East Germany began to lose its grip on power. Tens of thousands of East Germans began to flee the nation, and by late 1989 the Berlin Wall started to come down. Shortly thereafter, talks between East and West German officials, joined by officials from the United States, Great Britain, France, and the USSR, began to explore the possibility of reunification Two months following reunification, all-German elections took place and Helmut Kohl became the first chancellor of the reunified Germany

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Communists Stage a Coup Against Mikhail Gorbachev

August 1990 The coup against Gorbachev began on August 18, led by hard-line communist elements of the Soviet government and military. they did manage to put Gorbachev under house arrest and demand that he resign from leadership of the Soviet Union Just three days after it began, the coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev collapses. The leaders of the coup, seeing that most of the Soviet military did not support their action, called off the attempt and it collapsed on August 21.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/coup-attemptagainst-gorbachev-collapses

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The Soviet Union is Abolished

December 1991 The Soviet Union split into fifteen separate countries the breakup of the Soviet Union transformed the entire world political situation, leading to a complete reformulation of political, economic and military alliances all over the globe Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism http://www.coldwar.org/articles/90s/fall_of_the_ soviet_union.asp

"The Cold War Museum." Cold War Museum. N.p.,n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

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The Cold War Era Ends

1991 The USSR began to crumble as liberal reforms proved difficult to handle and capitalist changes to the centralized economy were badly transitioned and caused major problems. By mid-1990, many of the Soviet republics had declared their independence. Turmoil in the Soviet Union continued, as there were several attempts at overthrowing Gorbachev. On December 8, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Republic, formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.). After 45 years, the Cold War was over.

http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page22.sh tml

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