Gorbachev's New Thinking and the Sinatra Doctrine

H1 History - syllabus 8838, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can judge which causes mattered most in ending the Cold War, and weigh historians' views.

    Syllabus 8838, Theme I, Learning Outcomes. evaluate the causes for the end of the Cold War

Make a guess

In 1989 people across Eastern Europe demanded an end to communist rule. What do you think Gorbachev did?

  1. Refused to send in Soviet troops to keep the regimes in power.
  2. Sent tanks to crush the protests, as earlier leaders had.
  3. Planned the fall of communism to end the Cold War on his terms.
Show the answer

Refused to send in Soviet troops to keep the regimes in power.

He had dropped the Brezhnev Doctrine. Unlike Hungary in 1956 or Czechoslovakia in 1968, no tanks came.

Gorbachev's New Thinking stressed common security and cut military commitments; abandoning force in Eastern Europe let its regimes fall.

Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader in March 1985. At home he launched perestroika (restructuring of the economy) and glasnost (openness). He believed these needed a calmer international environment.

His New Thinking held that security must be shared, that nuclear war could not be won and that the world was interdependent. In December 1988 he told the UN General Assembly that the USSR would cut its armed forces by 500,000 troops unilaterally.

He withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, completing the withdrawal in February 1989. He also abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine, under which the USSR had used force to keep communist governments in power.

In October 1989, a Soviet spokesman joked that the "Sinatra Doctrine" now applied: Eastern European states could do it their way. When people there demanded change in 1989, Moscow did not send tanks, unlike in Hungary in 1956 or Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Gorbachev
Soviet leader from March 1985.
UN speech
December 1988: unilateral cut of 500,000 troops.
Sinatra Doctrine
October 1989: Eastern Europe may go its own way.

Real examples to use

UN speech, 7 December 1988

Gorbachev announced that the USSR would cut its armed forces by 500,000 troops without waiting for the West to do the same.

Leaving Afghanistan, 15 February 1989

The last Soviet troops crossed back into the USSR, ending a ten-year war.

Sinatra Doctrine, 25 October 1989

Spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov said each Eastern European country could now "do it my way" and decide its own road.

Worked example: Why Moscow did not intervene in 1989

Explain the significance of the Sinatra Doctrine.

  1. Past: the USSR crushed reform in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
  2. Change: Gorbachev renounced force to keep allies in line.
  3. Effect: Eastern European regimes lost their ultimate guarantee.
  4. Significance: popular protest could now succeed without being crushed.

Watch out for this

Gorbachev intended to end communism and break up the USSR.

He aimed to reform and save socialism. The collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe and the breakup of the USSR were consequences he did not intend.

Check your understanding

What did the Sinatra Doctrine mean?

  1. The USA would withdraw its forces from Western Europe.
  2. Eastern European states could choose their own path without Soviet force.
  3. The USSR would send troops to protect communist governments in trouble.
Show the answer

Eastern European states could choose their own path without Soviet force.

Right. It replaced the Brezhnev Doctrine.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • Reagan describes an evil empire

    Paraphrase of President Reagan's remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals, Orlando, 8 March 1983.

  • Reagan proposes missile defence

    Paraphrase of President Reagan's televised address on defense and national security, 23 March 1983.

  • A Soviet premier meets the US Secretary of State

    Paraphrase of the US memorandum of conversation between Soviet Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikolai Ryzhkov and Secretary of State George Shultz, Moscow, 14 April 1987.

  • Gorbachev plans his UN speech

    Paraphrase of notes by Anatoly Chernyaev of Gorbachev's conference with his advisers, 31 October 1988, held in the archive of the Gorbachev Foundation.

  • Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate

    Paraphrase of President Reagan's remarks at the Brandenburg Gate, West Berlin, 12 June 1987.

  • A US government history of the collapse

    Paraphrase of "The Collapse of the Soviet Union", an account published by the Office of the Historian, US Department of State.

  • Reagan's strategy towards the USSR, January 1983

    Extract from National Security Decision Directive 75, "U.S. Relations with the USSR", signed by President Reagan, Washington, 17 January 1983. Secret when issued. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume III, document 260. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik, 12 October 1986

    Extract from the US memorandum of conversation of the final meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev, Reykjavik, 12 October 1986, written by the American notetaker Tom Simons. The summit ended without agreement. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume V, document 308. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Shevardnadze previews Gorbachev's UN speech, 7 December 1988

    Extract from the US memorandum of conversation of Secretary of State George Shultz's meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, New York, 7 December 1988, hours before Gorbachev addressed the UN General Assembly. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume VI, document 178. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the CIA Director on Eastern Europe, October 1988

    Extract from a memorandum to the file, Washington, 4 November 1988, reporting a meeting of President Reagan's National Security Planning Group on Eastern Europe on 25 October 1988, based on notes by State Department official Tom Simons. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, volume X, document 61. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Bush on the opening of the Berlin Wall, 9 November 1989

    Extract from President George Bush's remarks and question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office on the relaxation of East German border controls, Washington, 9 November 1989. A US government record in the public domain; text from the American Presidency Project.

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