Hello, my name is Mr. Williams and I'm going to be your history teacher for today.

Today's lesson is part of a unit about the end of the Cold War, which focuses on the years 1970 to 1991.

I'm really looking forward to teaching you today, so let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain Gorbachev's new thinking and its impact on US-Soviet relations.

There are five keywords essential to understanding today's lesson.

They are standard of living, the level of wealth, comfort, and access to goods and services available to a person or community.

Martial law, when the military takes over the normal functions of government in an emergency.

Reform, to make changes in order to improve something.

Market competition, when businesses compete to win customers by providing better products, services, or prices than others, and disarmament, the process of reducing or eliminating military forces and weapons to promote peace and security.

There are three parts to today's lesson, and in the first part of the lesson we'll be learning about the problems facing the Soviet Union when Mikhail Gorbachev became leader in March, 1985.

By the mid 1980s, the Soviet Union was facing a range of serious problems. Under the leadership of Brezhnev, huge amounts of money had been spent attempting to keep pace with American military spending, and ensure that the Soviet Union did not fall behind in the arms race.

Consequently, investment in other areas of the Soviets economy had been neglected, and by 1985 there was little industrial growth in the Soviet Union or any of its satellite states.

Standards of living in the communist east were well below those enjoyed by people in the USA and other western nations.

In communist countries, people faced shortages of basic goods and struggled with inadequate housing in both urban and rural areas.

The average Soviet citizen faced long queues for essential items, and the black market, an illegal trading system became a crucial means of obtaining goods that were otherwise unavailable.

The low standards of living combined with strict government control and a lack of personal freedoms made daily life challenging and demoralising.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

By the mid 1980s, the standard of living in the Soviet Union was much higher than in the USA.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, the correct answer is false, but we need to be able to justify that.

So pause the video now, think about how you justify that answer and then press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, so the reason that statement was false is because the standard of living in the Soviet Union was much lower than the standard of living in the USA.

Well done, if you got that correct.

At the beginning of the 1980s, low standards of living and a lack of freedom had led to unrest in some satellite states.

In Poland, the trade union Solidarity was founded in 1980 at the Gdansk shipyard under the leadership of Lech Walesa.

It quickly grew into a major social movement advocating for workers' rights and political reform, gaining support from millions of Poles.

Solidarity challenged the communist government's authority and was considered such a threat that the government declared martial law in 1981.

The government imposed curfews, censored the media, and restricted travel.

Solidarity leaders, including Walesa, were arrested and the union was banned.

The authorities also used propaganda to discredit Solidarity and deployed the police and military to break up protests and strikes.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union carried out military exercises on their border with Poland ready to invade and restore control if necessary.

In other eastern European countries, communist control was only maintained through the secret police, for example, the Stasi in East Germany and state security and Czechoslovakia.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding, and this one I want you to discuss with a partner.

Why did the Polish government declare martial law in 1981? Pause the video now, talk to your partner, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope those conversations were useful.

You were asked to discuss with a partner why the Polish government declared martial law in 1981, and your answer may have included, in Poland martial law had to be declared in 1981 because the government was so concerned about protests led by Solidarity, the trade union movement, and wanted to restore order.

Well done if you covered those points in your conversation with your partner.

Let's do another quick check.

What action did the Soviet Union take in response to the unrest in Poland? Was it A, they carried out military exercises on the border with Poland, B, they invaded Poland to restore order, or C, they took no action.

Pause the video now, press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, the correct answer is A.

In response to unrest in Poland, the Soviet Union carried out military exercises on their border with Poland.

Well done if you got that correct.

The problems in the Soviet Union and the rest of Eastern Europe were made worse by poor leadership.

After Brezhnev died in 1982, the Soviet Union saw a succession of elderly leaders in poor health.

Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko each served only briefly before their deaths.

This instability made long-term planning difficult, which contributed to the decline of the Soviet Union during this period.

Let's do a quick check of your understanding.

Again, I want you to discuss this question with a partner.

Why were Andropov and Chernenko unable to provide the Soviet Union with strong leadership at the start of the 1980s? Pause the video, discuss the question with a partner, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope that was a useful conversation.

You were asked to discuss why Andropov and Chernenko were unable to provide the Soviet Union with strong leadership at the start of the 1980s and in your conversation you could have covered the following points.

Andropov and Chernenko were in poor health and each only ruled for a short period of time.

This made long-term planning difficult and resulted in instability.

You are now ready for the first practise task of today's lesson.

For this first practise task, I want you to complete the table on the screen by adding supporting detail about the main problems the Soviet Union faced by the mid 1980s.

The first row has been done for you.

Pause the video now, have a go at adding supporting detail for the other two problems, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that first practise task.

You were asked to complete the table by adding supporting detail about the main problems the Soviet Union faced by the mid 1980s.

The first one was done for you as an example, so for poor leadership it said, a succession of short-lived leaders in poor health, Andropov and Chernenko, led to instability and a lack of long-term planning.

For the problem low standard of living, you could have added the supporting detail that it was poor compared to the West.

There were shortages of basic goods.

People struggled with inadequate housing in both urban and rural areas.

There were long queues for essential items, and some goods were only available on the black market.

For the problem discontent in satellite states, you could have written as supporting detail that there was unrest due to a poor standard of living and lack of freedom.

That martial law had to be imposed in Poland and that communist control was maintained by secret police forces, for example, the Stasi in East Germany.

Well done for all of your hard work on that first practise task and well done if you added similar supporting detail to your version of this table.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of today's lesson.

In the first part of the lesson, we learned about the problems facing the Soviet Union when Gorbachev became leader in March, 1985, and in the second part of the lesson we're going to be learning about Gorbachev's new thinking.

When Mikhail Gorbachev became leader in March, 1985, he is reported to have told his wife, "We can't go on living like this." Gorbachev was determined to reform communism in the Soviet Union, and he recognised the need for new thinking to solve the problems facing the country, as well as needing a solution to the worsening economic problems and unrest in the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

Gorbachev saw that the Cold War rivalry with the West was unsustainable and posed a grave threat to global security.

Gorbachev's new thinking resulted in a series of policies that had a dramatic impact on the Soviet Union and its relations with other countries.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

Gorbachev believed new approaches were necessary to solve the Soviet Union's problems. Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, that statement is true, but you need to be able to say why.

So pause the video now, have a go justifying why that statement is true, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, that statement is true because Gorbachev believed new thinking was needed to improve living standards and reduce US-Soviet tensions.

He therefore believed it was necessary to reform communism in the Soviet Union.

Well done if you got that correct.

Gorbachev's new thinking was focused on two key policies, perestroika and Glasnost.

Perestroika, which is Russian for reconstruction, focused on reorganising and restructuring the Soviets economy and political system.

Before perestroika, the Soviet government tightly controlled and planned every aspect of the economy, including what goods were produced, how much they cost, and where people worked.

The aim of perestroika was to make the Soviet's economy more flexible and efficient by allowing some elements of capitalism like private ownership and market competition, which had proven successful in Western countries.

These changes were meant to boost productivity, encourage innovation, and improve the standard of living for Soviet citizens.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

The paragraph on the screen contain some errors and is incorrect.

I want you to identify and correct the mistakes, so pause the video now, have a go at identifying and correcting the mistakes and press play when you're ready to go through a corrected paragraph.

Okay, you were asked to identify and correct the mistakes in the paragraph, and the corrected paragraph should read as follows.

Perestroika means reconstruction in Russian.

As part of perestroika, Gorbachev reduced the role of the Soviet government in economic planning.

Gorbachev introduced elements of capitalism that had been successful in Western countries such as private ownership and market competition.

Gorbachev hoped that this would encourage innovation, increase productivity, and lead to an improvement in the standard of living.

Well done if you managed to find and correct all of those mistakes.

Alongside perestroika, the second key policy was glasnost.

Glasnost meaning openness in Russian, aimed to promote greater transparency and freedom of expression in Soviet society.

It allowed more open discussion of political and social issues, including criticism of the ruling Communist party, and it enabled greater freedom for the media.

Internationally, glasnost had a significant impact on Soviet relations with other countries, particularly with the West.

Gorbachev's rejection of secrecy and suspicion in favour of greater openness and willingness to engage in dialogue contributed to improved relations with the USA and other western nations.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

Is this true or false? The policy of glasnost led to an improvement in relations between the USA and the Soviet Union.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that that statement was true, but you need to be able to say why.

So pause the video now, have a go at justifying why the statement is true and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, the statement is true because there was an improvement in relations because glasnost meant that the Soviet Union was more willing to engage in open dialogue with the USA.

Well done if you wrote something similar.

We're now ready for the second practise task of today's lesson.

For this second practise task, I want you to complete the table to show the impact of glasnost and perestroika on life in the Soviet Union.

Part of the table has been completed for you, so for glasnost it says that before glasnost, there was a lack of freedom.

High levels of censorship and rule by fear meant that secret police could arrest people for criticising the government.

To complete the row, you need to say what life in the Soviet Union was like after glasnost, and then you need to do the same for perestroika.

Pause the video now, have a go at completing the table and press play when you're ready to see a completed example.

Well done for all of your hard work on that second practise task where you were asked to complete a table showing the impact of glasnost and perestroika on life in the Soviet Union.

Your completed table should look similar to the one on the screen.

Let's go through it row by row.

So for glasnost before it was introduced, there was a lack of freedom, high levels of censorship, and rule by fear meant that secret police could arrest people for criticising the government, whereas after the policy of glasnost had been introduced, there was greater freedom, more open discussion of political and social issues were allowed including criticism of the government.

Well done if you had something similar in your table.

For perestroika, let's look at life in the Soviet Union before it was introduced.

You could have written that the economy was tightly controlled and planned by the government, and that the government controlled what was produced and how much it cost.

After perestroika, the economy was more flexible and efficient, and elements of capitalism, for example, private ownership and market competition were introduced.

Well done if your completed table looks similar to the one on the screen.

In the second part of this lesson, we looked at Gorbachev's new thinking and the key policies of perestroika and glasnost.

In this third and final part of the lesson, we're going to be learning about the impact of Gorbachev's new thinking on US-Soviet relations.

Gorbachev's new thinking was received positively by President Reagan and the USA.

When Reagan first became president in 1981, his determination to take a tough approach to communism led to an increase in military spending and a sharp deterioration in the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union.

After an improvement in the 1970s, relations became so tense that the period at the beginning of the 1980s has been referred to as the Second Cold War.

This relationship began to improve when Gorbachev became Soviet leader.

Reagan recognised that Gorbachev wanted to reform the Soviet Union and work with the USA to reduce Cold War tensions.

Gorbachev's new thinking and Reagan's positive response paved the way for agreements over nuclear disarmament that helped to ease Cold War tensions and fostered a climate of cooperation rather than confrontation.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

Gorbachev's new thinking had no impact on Reagan's approach to dealing with the Soviet Union.

Is this true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, the statement is false.

Well done if you got that correct, but you need to be able to explain why.

So pause the video now, have a go at justifying why that statement is false, and then press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all your thinking there.

The statement is false because Reagan recognised that Gorbachev was committed to reform and to reducing Cold War tensions, so he was more willing to work with him to reach agreement on issues like disarmament.

Well done if you wrote something similar.

Between 1985 and 1989, a series of summit meetings took place between the USA and the Soviet Union to try and bring about further limitations on nuclear weapons.

Gorbachev and Reagan met for the first time at the Geneva Summit in November, 1985.

Although no formal agreements were made, the two leaders began to establish a positive working relationship and shared their mutual desire to improve US-Soviet relations.

At the Reykjavik Summit in October, 1986, Gorbachev indicated that he would be willing to phase out nuclear weapons if the USA gave up their plans for the Strategic Defence Initiative, SDI, a missile defence system that had been announced by Reagan in 1983.

Both leaders knew that the USA would not give up SDI, and once again, the summit ended with no formal agreements.

Despite this, the relationship between the two countries remained more positive.

In December, 1987, there was a breakthrough at the Washington Summit.

By this point, Gorbachev had accepted that the Americans were not going to scrap plans for SDI, and so he turned his focus to securing an agreement over missile disarmament.

The summit concluded with Reagan and Gorbachev signing the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty, which stated that both countries would scrap all land-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

Gorbachev and Reagan met again at the Moscow Summit in 1988 to resolve some issues with the INF Treaty.

Later that year, Gorbachev travelled to the USA and made a speech at the United Nations in which he announced a reduction in Warsaw Pact troops and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, which they had invaded in 1979.

In 1989, Gorbachev met the new American president George Bush at the Malta Summit.

Although no new agreements were made at this summit, it was significant because both leaders viewed the meeting as marking the end of the Cold War.

Let's check your understanding.

At which summit was the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty signed? Was it A, the Geneva Summit, B, the Reykjavik Summit, C, the Washington Summit, or D, the Moscow Summit.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct answer is C.

The INF treaty was signed at the Washington Summit in December, 1987.

Let's do another quick check of your understanding.

I want you to discuss this with a partner.

What did the USA and Soviet Union agree to as part of the INF Treaty of 1987? Pause the video now, talk to your partner, and press play when you're ready to go through a model response.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope that was a useful conversation.

You were asked to discuss with a partner what the USA and Soviet Union agreed as part of the INF Treaty of 1987, and your answers should have included, the USA and Soviet Union agreed to abolish all land-based missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.

Well done if you got that correct.

We're now ready for the third and final practise task of today's lesson.

I want you to explain the importance of Gorbachev's new thinking for US-Soviet relations after 1985.

You should identify two reasons why Gorbachev's new thinking was important, and then you should explain each reason in a separate paragraph.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to go through a model response.

Okay, very well done for your hard work on that question.

You were asked to explain the importance of Gorbachev's new thinking for US-Soviet relations after 1985, and to answer this question, you needed to write two paragraphs.

For your first paragraph, you could have written, one reason why Gorbachev's new thinking was important for US-Soviet relations after 1985 was because it led to improved relations.

The period at the start of the 1980s had become known as the Second Cold War due to Reagan's more aggressive and confrontational approach to US-Soviet relations.

When Gorbachev became Soviet leader, Reagan recognised that through his new thinking, he was trying to reform the Soviet Union and reduce tensions.

In particular, glasnost meant the Soviet Union was more open and willing to engage in dialogue.

As a consequence, Reagan was more willing to work with the Soviet Union and relations improved.

Well done if you wrote something similar as part of your first paragraph.

For your second paragraph, you could have written something like this.

Another reason why Gorbachev's new thinking was important for US-Soviet relations after 1985 was because it led to some nuclear disarmament.

This is because Gorbachev's new thinking led to improved relations between the USA and the Soviet Union, and this meant that this series of summits took place between 1985 and 1989 in order to discuss further limitations on nuclear weapons.

As a consequence of these summit meetings, Gorbachev and Reagan signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty following the 1987 Washington Summit.

This led to both countries agreeing to scrap land-based missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.

Well done if you wrote something similar for your second paragraph and well done for all of your hard work on that third and final practise task.

We're at the end of our lesson now, which is a good opportunity for us to pause and recap our key learning points.

By the time Gorbachev became Soviet leader in March, 1985, the USSR was facing a range of serious problems, including a lack of industrial growth and discontent over poor standards of living.

Gorbachev was determined to reform communism in the Soviet Union.

Through his policy of perestroika, Gorbachev reorganised and restructured the Soviet economy and introduced some elements of capitalism such as market competition.

Gorbachev's policy of glasnost led the USSR to adopt a more open approach to government and foreign relations.

Reagan welcomed Gorbachev's new thinking and the two leaders worked to secure agreements of a nuclear disarmament.

Well done for all of your hard work in today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed the lesson.

It's been a pleasure to teach you, and I hope to teach you again soon.