FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION• Soviet/Afghan War• Afghanistan rebels, known as the

Mujahideen, wanted to overthrow the communist and Soviet backed leader of Afghanistan

• The Mujahideen were very religious and wanted to establish an Islamic government

• The Soviet Union wanted to ensure that it’s neighboring country remained communist

FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION• Soviet/Afghan War• Mujahideen were fighting for their

religion and their country, were able to use the mountains and environment to their advantage

• U.S. supplied Afghan rebels with weapons to fight the Soviet Union

FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION• Soviet/Afghan War• Soviet Union fought in Afghanistan

for over ten years, war continued to hurt their economy, eventually withdrew their troops after 10 years without victory

• War destroyed Afghan infrastructure and economy, millions were killed

FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION• Soviet/Afghan War• Impact of the war• Soviet Union looks weak, hurts their economy,

other Warsaw Pact countries look to separate from S.U.

• U.S. supplies rebels with weapons and training, things they would use 15 years later against the U.S.

• Afghanistan in shambles, unstable government, leads to the creation of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden

FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION• Mikhail Gorbachev policies• Glasnost- openness in government,

free press and non communist parties started

• Perestroika- government opens up businesses to private citizens, allows workers more freedom

• Removed troops from Afghanistan, didn’t intervene in satellite nations uprisings against communism

FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION• Results• Change from communism to a more

capitalist system hurt the economy, scarce resources and poverty led to people being angry at the government

• Many revolutions in Eastern Europe, satellite nations broke away from the S.U.

• By 1991 the S.U. was completely disassembled into 15 separate nations

DISCUSSION• With a partner create a

compare/contrast chart. One side should be the Vietnam War and the other side should be the Soviet/Afghan War. On your paper write down at least three ways in which the wars are similar and three ways in which they are different