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Extended Writing How to (100% achieved) (Grade 12 IEB)
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Extended Writing on Globalisation.
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By: kkrishna96 • 3 year ago
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History Extended Writing (Part 2):A) 1989 was a year filled with many events that have changed the course of history today.
Furthermore, 1989 is seen as the year for the fall of the Cold War.
Firstly, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe served as a major turning point in
1989. The serious economic problems in the Sovit Union meant that the military was no longer
able to intervene and uphold Soviet control over the satellite states. In March, 1989 Gorbachev
told the leaders of the Eastern European communsit governments that they could no longer
depend on the Red Army to keep them in power. This was seen as the ultimate downfall of the
Brezhnev Doctrine.
Additionally, Eastern satellite countries were allowed access to their own freedom. During 1989,
people all over Eastern Europe took part in massive demonstrations and demanded change.
Their actions were effective in bringing an end to communist rule. The changes of the Eastern
Satellites started in Hungary and Poland.
Furthermore, the collapse of the Berlin Wall was a major turning point of November 1989. After
reforms in Hungary, the border between Austria and Hungary was opened to allow freedom of
travel. Many East Germans used this opportunity to travel through Hungary, through Austria to
escape into West Germany. Over 50 000 people within three weeks made their way out of East
Germany and the government responded by closing the border which led to enormous
demonstrations in East Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. In November, 1989 thousands of people in
East Berlin marched to the Berlin Wall. The East German guards refused to open fire on the
crowd and the people started chipping away at the wall by hand. Afterwards, bulldozers were
brought in to dismantle the wall completely. The wall which had become a symbol of the cold
war, no longer existed.
1989 also saw the end of the South African Border War (Namibian War of Independence). This
was followed by Namibia's independence granted in March, 1990. Moreover, the Tiananmen
Massacre of 1989 when after several weeks of mass demonstration, Chinese troops entered
Tiananmen square and opened fire on civilians on June 4th. Several hundreds to thousands
were killed in this massacre. Additionally, the Hillsborough tragedy at Hillsborough Stadium in
, Sheffield, England for the FA Cup Semi-Final football match between Liverpool and Nottingham
in April 1989. More than 3,000 fans were funneled into a standing-room-area with a safe
capacity of 1, 600. The crush in the stands promoted organizers to stop the game after six
minutes.
The changing situation and pressure from mass protests in South Africa led to tensions within
the National Party. This led to a change in leadership in August 1989. The collapse of
communism in Eastern Europe was a critical factor that led to change in South Africa. A speech
made by De Klerk in 1990 announced a fundamental change in policy which was made less
than two months after the fall of the berlin wall in November 1989.
Lastly, the creation of the World Wide Web, global information medium in Marsh 1989 by British
Scientist Tim Berners-Lee.
B) Mikhail Giorbvechev became leader in 1985 when the Soviet Union was facing a crisis. The
soviet economy was failing as agricultural production was poor, people were openly talking
about economic collapse. There was a shortage of essential consumer goods,inadequate
housing, poor public health care, alcoholism (which impacted the work ethic of many) and a
sense that the government could not find solutions. Another drain on the economy was an
ongoing war in Afghanistan. In 1979 the USSR sent troops into Afghanistan to back a newly
elected pro-soviet government in the country. This new govenmnt was being challanged by
Mujahideen, anti-communist Islamic fighters (who were being supplied with weapons by thr
USA).
Gorbachev recognised problems and implemented major changes. Firstly, Gorbachev wanted
to end existing culture of silence and censorship and secondly, to restore the economy by
means of two new policies: glasnost and perestroika. Glasnost means ‘openness’ and allowed
people to speak more freely and able to criticize the government,nt. Up until this point the
Communist party controlled all art, literature, theatre and media.This was seen when information
was released about the true events of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in April 1986.
Furthermore, perestroika meaning ‘restructuring’ was aimed at rebuilding the Soviet economy.
By this Gorbachev tried to reform the current communist system rather than merely replacing it
with capitalism. The main focus was to move from a complete state-controlled economy to one
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