1. AFTER THE FALL:
THE WESTERN WORLD IN A GLOBAL AGE
(SINCE 1985)

2. The Revolutionary Era in the
Soviet Union
COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
Russia
CIS Member States
Associate States
Former Socialist Republics uninvolved in CIS

3. The Gorbachev Era (1985-1991)
When Mikhail Gorbachev
became leader of the Soviet
Union in 1985 he began to
institute a series of reform
programs that were
designed to save an empire
that was declining.
He felt that if the USSR was
to compete with the US and
the West, it had to change
and be more realistic about
its shortcomings.
Growth of nationalist
movements within USSR.

4. The End of the Soviet Union (1991)
Gorbachev struggled to please
conservatives and liberals.
Failed right-wing coup in
August 1991.
The USSR dissolved in
December 1991 after Ukraine
voted for independence, and
leaders of the republics
announced it “ceased to exist”
Replaced by a less powerful,
voluntary Commonwealth of
Independent States
Gorbachev resigned and Boris
Yeltsin became President

5. The New Russia (1991-1999)
Marred by a poor
economy, social disorder,
organized crime.
Yeltsin fought against
communists and
nationalists over the role
of president and the
structure of government
Financially burdening
war in Chechnya, a
Muslim region seeking
independence.

6. The Putin Era (1999-present)
Yeltsin resigned in 1999
and was replaced by
Vladimir Putin (ex-KGB).
Strengthened powers of
the central government.
Escalated the war in
Chechnya.
Growth of the economy
overall, but vast income
disparities
Silencing of media
dissent

7. Question 1
The ruling policies of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet
Union
a) included the forcible d) grew out of Russian
exportation of Russian misperceptions of United
Communism to Central and States strengths and failed
South America. to appreciate that American
b) evoked a "New Thinking" military spending and tax
about world affairs and the reductions under Ronald
balance of power leading to Reagan had greatly
new arms limitation treaties increased American budget
and greater autonomy for deficits.
Communist regimes in e) led to a reform of Soviet
Eastern Europe. Communism and the
c) increased political permanent strengthening of
repression in Russia and in the Soviet regime.
Eastern Europe.

8. Question 2
Mikhail Gorbachev's radical reforms included all of the
following except
a) the creation of a new d) to initiate policies of
Soviet Parliament. perestroika and
b) the creation of a market glasnost.
economy with limited e) the termination of the
free enterprise and office of president of
private property.
the Soviet Union.
c) to open discussion of
Soviet weaknesses in
public.

9. Question 3
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the leader of
Russia became
a) Boris Yeltsin.
b) Andrei Sakharov.
c) Leonid Brezhnev.
d) Josif Venediktov.
e) Vladimir Putin.

10. Question 4
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia struggled with all
of the following except:
a) a renewed d) economic hardships.
Communist Party e) a president who was
majority which took often ill.
over the government.
b) organized crime.
c) an uprising in largely
Muslim Chechnya.

11. Question 5
Under Vladimir Putin's presidency, all of the following
have occurred except:
a) power was centralized d) the economy grew
in the federal significantly and the
government. government had a
b) Russia ended its budget surplus.
involvement in e) the economy
Chechnya. significantly
c) as many as 40 percent depended upon
of the population lived
exports of oil and
natural gas.
in poverty.

12. Question 6
The first and most successful independence movements among the
Soviet republics during Gorbachev's rule occurred in the Baltic area of
a) Afghanistan.
b) Azerbaijan.
c) Lithuania.
d) Georgia.
e) Chechnya.

13. Question 7
Boris Yeltsin was succeeded as president of Russia by
a) Lech Walesa.
b) Mikhail Gorbachev.
c) Vladimir Putin.
d) Yuri Andropov.
e) Andrei Sakharov.

14. Eastern Europe: The Revolutions
of 1989 and the Collapse of
Communist Order
EASTERN EUROPE: AFTER THE FALL
Former Soviet Union
Formerly Under Soviet Influence
Former Czechoslovakia
Former Yugoslavia
Other Nations

15. The Fall
Under Gorbachev, the USSR
was no longer going to interfere
in the internal affairs of the
Eastern bloc nations. This
signaled the end of communist
regimes.
Each former satellite had a
slightly different transition to a
world without Russian control .
Poland, Czechoslovakia and
Hungary’s transformation was
relatively peaceful.
Romania’s army no longer
obeyed Ceausescu’s orders and
in fact, turned on him.
Cutting holes in flags was common

16. After the Fall
Once the initial euphoria of a
post-Soviet world set in many
East European nations faced
daunting problems including a
lack of democratic tradition
and weak economies. Ethnic
squabbling emerged
particularly in Czechoslovakia.
Many nations applied for
inclusion into the European
Union or NATO.
Some worried about West
Europe’s dominance.

17. The Reunification of Germany
Germany reunited in
1990. The former East
Germany was absorbed
by West Germany and
Berlin became the capital
once more.
The Christian Democrats
were the major party
engineering the re-
unification.

18. The Disintegration of Yugoslavia
The change sweeping through
East Europe affected
Yugoslavia and without
strongman Marshal Tito the
situation turned violent.
Croatia and Slovenia tried to
leave the federation and the
largely Serbian Yugoslav army
battled them. Eventually
Slovenia and Croatia gained
independence.
Bosnia was to be a different
story.
Oh, the horror

19. War in Bosnia
In Bosnia a four year war drug
on with the Serbs attempting to
drive non-Serbs from the areas
under their control in a policy
of ethnic cleansing.
The US and NATO began a
bombing campaign that forced
the Serbs to sign a peace treaty
called the Dayton Accords.
Bosnia was split into a loose
union and NATO peacekeepers
have been there since 1995.

20. War in Kosovo
Fighting then erupted in
the province of Kosovo
which was inhabited by
Albanians and Serbs.
The Serbs, under the
leadership of Slobodan
Milosevic, a Serb
nationalist, attempted to
do in Kosovo what they had
done in Bosnia.
Again, under NATO
pressure, the Serbs had to
back down.

21. The Aftermath
From 1991 to 2000
Yugoslavia was torn
apart by war and ethnic
strife. All six republics
that had formed
Yugoslavia after WWI
are once again separate
republics but it is an
uneasy peace.
Slobodan Milosevic was
put on trial for crimes
against humanity but he
died while in prison.

22. Question 8
The Solidarity movement in Poland
a) was temporarily d) lacked solidarity and
crushed by General
Lech Walesa in 1981. quickly disintegrated
b) failed to gain massive and disappeared in
support due to stiff 1980.
opposition from the
conservative Polish e) ended the
Catholic church. Communist
c) was formed by monopoly of power in
Wladyslaw Gomulka in
1956. 1988-1989.

23. Question 9
In 1988, the first free parliamentary elections to occur in
Eastern Europe for forty years took place in
a) Hungary.
b) Austria.
c) Poland.
d) Estonia.
e) Lithuania.

24. Question 10
The leader of Czechoslovakia in 1990 who replaced the Communist
government was the former dissident writer and philosopher
a) Kádár.
b) Husák.
c) Dubcek.
d) Havel.
e) Dubrovnik.

25. Question 11
The brutal dictatorial Communist government of Nicolae
Ceausecu came to an end 1989 in
a) Czechoslovakia.
b) Bulgaria.
c) East Germany.
d) Romania.
e) Yugoslavia.

26. Question 12
An Eastern European republic that, fueled by ethnic rivalries, came
into existence in 1993 with the breakup of a previously existing state is
a) Lithuania.
b) Estonia.
c) Albania.
d) Lichtenstein.
e) Slovakia.

27. Question 13
Probably the most symbolic events ending the Cold War
was
a) the death of Mao. d) the fall of the Berlin
b) the Helsinki Accords. Wall.
c) Russia's defeat in the e) the election of Boris
Afghan war. Yeltsin as president of
the Soviet Union.

28. Question 14
The politician who kept the fractious state of Yugoslavia
together for decades after World War II was
a) Marshall Tito.
b) General Filopovic.
c) President Milosevic.
d) Prime Minister
Kostunica.
e) Marshall Petain.

29. Question 15
Yugoslavia was divided into warring factions because of
a) demands for ethnic
separatism.
b) differences of
political goals.
c) support of the Serbs.
d) lack of cultural
diversity.
e) religious uniformity.

30. Question 16
The Dayton Accords of November 1995
a) recognized the d) did not require the
recreation of a unified
Yugoslavia. use of military force
b) brought an end to the by NATO for their
war in Bosnia with a achievement.
peace plan acceptable
to Bosnian Muslims, e) failed due to
Croatians, and Serbs. intervention by the
c) were achieved despite European
the opposition of the
United States. Community.

31. Question 17
The tactic of "ethnic cleansing," murdering or forcibly removing ethnic
minorities from their lands in the former Yugoslavia, is a savage
strategy of modern political terror practiced most brutally by
a) Serbs.
b) Croatians.
c) Bosnians.
d) Herzgovenians.
e) Slovenes.

32. Question 18
The Yugoslavian president ousted from power in 2000 and who was
subsequently put on trial for war crimes against humanity was
a) Vojislav Kostunica.
b) Nicolae Ceausescu.
c) Wladyslaw Gomulka.
d) Todor Zhivkov.
e) Slobodan Milosevic.

33. Western Europe and the
Search for Unity
European Union Member

34. Germany Restored
Reuniting the two
Germanies proved
harder than first thought.
Integrating the East’s
command economy was
expensive and the
Christian Democrats
were punished in
subsequent elections.
The Social Democrats
were not any more
successful.

35. Post-Thatcher Britain
As Thatcher’s post-
Falkland War popularity
waned her conservative
economics caused her to
lose her post.
She was replaced by John
Major and then Labour
made a comeback with the
charismatic and Christian
Tony Blair.
The UK’s economy under
Blair was strong but his
foray into Iraq with George
Bush in 2003 cost him
politically.

36. France: A Move to the Right
France was attempting to
deal with high
unemployment
exacerbated by
immigration from her
former colonies in Africa.
As her politics shifted to
the right, riots broke out in
many of the Moslem
ghettoes surrounding the
urban centers.
Nicolas Sarkozy was
elected as a reformer.

37. Corruption in Italy
Since WWII Italy has
been plagued by
government instability
brought on by weak
coalition governments
Corruption and the
resulting public cynicism
have also troubled the
peninsula
Voters have turned to the
left in recent elections

38. The Unification of Europe
The European Union (EU) is a
huge economic and monetary
market but it is not a United
States of Europe especially in
regard to national politics and
foreign policy.
13 nations are using the Euro
as a common currency, travel
restrictions have been eased
Problems include the
inclusion of southeastern
Europe, immigration from
those poorer regions and
ethnic identity versus being a
“citizen of Europe.”

39. Question 19
The reunification of Germany was accomplished under
the leadership of
a) Willy Brandt.
b) Conrad Adenauer.
c) Helmut Schmidt.
d) Gunter Grass.
e) Helmut Kohl.

40. Question 20
The issue that fatally weakened Margaret Thatcher's government and
which eventually brought the Labour Party to power was
a) the Falklands War. d) a drastic increase in
b) race riots in London. air and water
c) the proposal for a pollution.
flat-rate poll tax. e) the nationalization of
Britain's railroads.

41. Question 21
The individual who succeeded Tony Blair as Britain's
prime minister in 2007 was
a) Gordon Brown.
b) John Major.
c) Clement Attlee.
d) Nicolas Sarkozy.
e) James Callaghan.

42. Question 22
The British prime minister who gave support to the United
States in the war on terror and in the Iraq War was
a) Margaret Thatcher.
b) James Callaghan.
c) John Major.
d) Tony Blair.
e) Ramsey McDonald.

43. Question 23
By 1995, a major issue in French society was
a) whether to support c) to leave the Common
America's "war on Market in protest to
terror." high subsidies to
b) to rejoin NATO, agriculture.
which France had left d) resentment against
in the 1960s. immigrants.
e) massive inflation.

44. Question 24
The new French president elected in 2007 was
a) Jacques Chirac.
b) Francois Mitterrand.
c) Jacques Le Pen.
d) Yves Montand.
e) Nicolas Sarkozy.

45. Question 25
The major issue that troubled Italian society in recent
decades has been
a) Islamic terrorism. d) a significant increase
b) Catholic in the birth rate.
fundamentalism e) economic collapse,
c) political corruption. with high
unemployment and
bankruptcies.

46. Question 26
The common currency that was initially adopted by eleven
member states of the European Union is the
a) continental.
b) euro.
c) maastricht.
d) francmark.
e) freipence.

47. Question 27
Challenges facing the Economic Union in the early
twenty-first century include
a) the lack of a common d) lack of economic
currency. assistance to Europe's
b) the lack of any military farming community.
force. e) the failure to create a
c) many Europeans truly single internal
remain committed to a market.
national identify and
do not see themselves
as "Europeans."

48. Question 28
By 2004, the population of the European Union was
a) 455 million.
b) 355 million.
c) 295 million.
d) 245 million.
e) 550 million.