The Testing of Superpower Domination and the End of the Cold War

Protesters like Jan Palach left a lasting legacy that continued to motivate those seeking political change, particularly in the Soviet bloc. As order was restored, some disillusioned reformers in the West turned to open terrorism, and like every other political occurrence in these days, television broadcast the events. New forces also emerged from beyond Europe and the United States to challenge superpower dominance. Internal corruption, competition from the oil-producing states, and the pursuit of warfare beyond their borders all threw the superpowers and their allies off balance, allowing reform-minded heads of state to come to the fore. The two most famous innovators were Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR, both of whom introduced drastic new policies in the 1980s to keep their economies moving forward. In the Soviet bloc, however, refining the old system actually contributed to its collapse and thus to the end of the cold war in 1989.