New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

Gorbachev's 'new thinking'

I can explain Gorbachev's 'new thinking' and its impact on US-Soviet relations.

New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

Gorbachev's 'new thinking'

I can explain Gorbachev's 'new thinking' and its impact on US-Soviet relations.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. By the mid-1980s, the USSR was facing a range of serious problems.
  2. Gorbachev became Soviet leader in March 1985, determined to reform communism in the USSR.
  3. Through his policy of perestroika, Gorbachev reorganised and restructured the Soviet state.
  4. Through Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, the USSR adopted a more open approach to government and foreign relations.
  5. Reagan worked with Gorbachev to reduce Cold War tensions and important steps were taken to limit nuclear weapons.

Common misconception

Gorbachev succeeded Brezhnev as leader of the Soviet Union in March 1985.

Brezhnev died in November 1982. Following his death, the Soviet Union was ruled by two leaders who were in poor health and ruled only briefly: Yuri Andropov (November 1982 - February 1984) and Konstantin Chernenko (February 1984 - March 1985).

Keywords

  • 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

  • Disarmament - the process of reducing or eliminating military forces and weapons to promote peace and security

After introducing Gorbachev's new thinking, ask students to predict how it would be received by different audiences. You could ask students to make predictions about the response of the USA, Soviet satellite states and Soviet citizens.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
What was the name of the Soviet leader who signed SALT I with President Nixon in 1972?
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: Brezhnev, Breznev
Q2.
What did USSR stand for?
Union of Socialist Soviet Republics
Correct answer: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
United Soviet Socialist Revolution
United Soviet Socialist Republics
Q3.
Which country had the USSR invaded in December 1979, leading to increasing tensions between the superpowers?
Correct answer: Afghanistan
Cuba
Grenada
Hungary
Iran
Q4.
Part of the reason for Reagan's SDI strategy was the hope that even more investment into military technology would cause what to collapse?
Correct answer: the Soviet economy
the Soviet diplomatic relationship with China
the Soviet Space programme
the Warsaw Pact
Q5.
By the 1980s, living in the USSR and its satellite states were well below those of the USA and its allies.
Correct Answer: standards, conitions
Q6.
Put these leaders of the Soviet Union in chronological order of their premierships.
1 - Joseph Stalin
2 - Nikita Khrushchev
3 - Leonid Brezhnev
4 - Yuri Andropov
5 - Konstantin Chernenko
Q1 Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

6 Questions

Q1.
Who took over the leadership of the USSR after Brezhnev's death in 1982?
Correct answer: Yuri Andropov
Konstantin Chernenko
Mikhail Gorbachev
Nikita Khrushchev
Q2.
What was the name of the Polish trade union led by Lech Wałęsa?
Correct Answer: Solidarity, Solidarność
Q3.
What does 'perestroika' mean in Russian?
continuity; keeping things the same
democracy
living standards
Correct answer: reconstruction
three year planning
Q4.
What is the Russian word for 'openness': the name of the policy that aimed to promote greater transparency and freedom of expression in Soviet society?
Correct Answer: glasnost, 'glasnost'
Q5.
President Reagan of the USA recognised that Gorbachev was genuinely open to reform and as a result discussions began to reduce tensions between the superpowers. What did those discussions focus on?
independence for European satellite states
human rights (including trade union rights)
Correct answer: nuclear disarmament
trade deals
space research
Q6.
Put these summits involving Reagan and Gorbachev in chronological order.
1 - Geneva Summit
2 - Reykjavik Summit
3 - Washington Summit
4 - Moscow Summit

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