End of the Cold War Soviet Union • Glasnost • Perestroika Eastern Europe • Command economy stagnates. (Can’t keep up with U.S. spending) • Arms race strains economy. (Can’t keep up with U.S. spending) • Afghanistan provokes crisis in morale. (Soviet people just want the war to stop) • • Baltic States regain independence. • Hungary reforms. • Poland embraces Solidarity. (Political Movement) • East Germans flee to the West. • Ceausescu is overthrown & executed in Romania. Rest of the World Gorbachev’s policies feed unrest. (Soviets loosen control to see to their own problems) • China pursues economic reform. (Start to adopt capitalist methods) • Vietnam establishes diplomatic relations with the United States. • Cuban economy declines.