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[ Helicopter]

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NARRATION:
After six months in office as President,

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George Bush at last decided
it was time for a summit

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with Mikhail Gorbachev.

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GEORGE BUSH:
I said, "I want to meet Gorbachev

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and I want to do it soon".

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I felt it was important.

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But we had different
feelings inside our administration -

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still some wariness about
the reality of the change

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00:00:29,796 --> 00:00:32,140
and what Gorbachev's
heartbeat really <i>was,</i>

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what his pulse really was.

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[speaking Russian ]

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The George Bush administration
spent a long time deciding

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what their policy
should be.

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Whether to continue that
of President Reagan-

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when George Bush was
Vice-President -

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or to make a change.

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NARRATION: Bush and Gorbachev would
meet to try to end the Cold War.

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But for Gorbachev,
beset by problems at home,

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the question <i>was,</i> would the
Soviet Union itself survive?

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NARRATION:
it took time to fix a venue for the summit.

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But finally, Gorbachev
and Bush agreed to meet

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in the Mediterranean
on board ship.

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GEORGE BUSH:
We finally hit upon Malta

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because it was a nice
peaceful harbor,

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a place that they never
had bad weather,

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and nobody would
get seasick.

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NARRATION:
But they did get seasick.

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JOHN F SIGLER: We had a weather
satellite tracking station on board

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the ship, so we were able
to keep track of weather

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across the Mediterranean
and around the world.

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And we saw a little storm
developing toward Gibraltar

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and it really stayed
right over Malta.

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The world changed
dramatically between President Bush's

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first overture to
Gorbachev in, I believe, August,

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and December when
we actually met.

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The Wall had come
down in Berlin.

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Poland was no longer
a communist country.

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Hungary was no longer
a communist country.

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Everything had changed.

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GEORGE BUSH: We surprised people
by coming forward with an agenda.

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"Here's what we are
going to do with you".

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And before we even got
through the first pleasantries,

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we unleashed this on him.

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[speaking Russian ]

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They came well prepared;

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the discussion
was interesting.

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We met one to one - only our
assistants were present.

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He laid out his vision and
proposals, and I agreed.

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We had the same views.

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Our discussions moved
onto a new level.

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NARRATION:
Outside, the storm rose higher.

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The Americans left the Russian
ship, and couldn't get back.

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The talks didn't restart
till the next day.

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CONDOLEEZZA RICE: President Bush said
something about America's allies

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wanting the United States to
stay in Europe and Gorbachev

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said, "We want the United States
to stay in Europe too.

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The United States is
a European power."

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And given the history where
we had always believed and

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where all of us who had been
taught about the Cold War

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believed that it was the
principal goal of Soviet power

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to get America out of Europe,

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this was an
extraordinary statement,

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and it stuck with everybody.

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[speaking Russian ]

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Malta was the place,
where for the first time,

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we said we no longer
considered each other enemies.

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Sentence was passed
on the Cold War.

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NARRATION: Leaving Malta,
Gorbachev now had to face grave

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difficulties Within the USSR.

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Beyond its borders,
he could accept change.

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Prague, Czechoslovakia.

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The Communist Party was
still in power.

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On November the 19th, Civic Forum,

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an opposition
group was formed,

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among them the
playwright Vaclav Havel.

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They met in the Magic Lantern
Theatre underground.

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[Speaking Czech ]

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Society was already
pregnant with problems.

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It was clear that sooner or
later the regime would collapse,

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but nobody knew
exactly when or how.

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In this sort of situation, a
snowball can start an avalanche.

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[ Shouts ]

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NARRATION: Protesters in Prague
were persistent and good humored.

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They jangled keys to make their
point to the government-

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your time is up!

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[Speaking Czech ]

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There was an atmosphere of
non-violence, of tolerance.

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People of very different views,
under a common threat,

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worked well together.

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NARRATION:
It worked.

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[Speaking Czech ]

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[cheers & applause]

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NARRATION: Present that day was
Alexander Dubcek, the Communist leader

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deposed by Soviet tanks in
the Prague Spring of 1968.

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[cheers & applause]

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[Speaking Czech ]

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It was a clear sign that the
regime was starting to give up.

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It didn't give up easily, but it
was an important breakthrough.

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NARRATION:
As people found their voices,

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Czechoslovakia was
finding democracy again.

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Before the year's end, Vaclav
Havel was elected President.

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It came to be called
the Velvet Revolution.

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No blood was spilt here.

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Timisoara, Romania.

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In mid December, during
riots against the Communist

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regime of Nicolae Ceausescu,

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security forces shot dead
seventy-three men and women.

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The tyrant Ceausescu
was ruthless in

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suppressing opposition.

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[crowd demonstration ]

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NARRATION:
In Bucharest, on December the 21st,

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the Romanian government
staged a pro-Ceausescu rally.

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These workers were
sent here to cheer him.

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[speaking Romanian ]

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[ Interrupted by crowd ]

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NARRATION:
The crowd began to jeer.

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State television took
the pictures off the air.

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It was too late.

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There was fighting
throughout the night.

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Next day, crowds stormed the
Central Committee building,

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and charged upstairs.

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Ceausescu and his wife
escaped by helicopter-

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an aide held a gun
to the pilot's head.

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[crowd chanting ]

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[speaking Romanian ]

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It was important to call on the
whole population of Romania

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to get out on the streets,

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so that they could
paralyze the country.

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And that was what happened.

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It was important to
say that Ceausescu

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had fled in his helicopter

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because people couldn't
believe what was happening.

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NARRATION:
That same day, Ceausescu was captured.

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He and his wife had got just
45 miles from Bucharest.

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[gunfire]

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In the muddle and
confusion that followed,

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different factions fought
it out in the streets.

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Nearly a thousand
were killed.

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The Ceausescus were tried
by court martial.

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[speaking Romanian ]

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[speaking Romanian ]

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NARRATION:
Sentence was carried out.

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[gunfire]

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Television faked
the actual execution,

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but the corpses
were real enough.

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[speaking Romanian ]

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It reassured me to know
Ceausescu was dead,

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even though we are humanists
and I am a poet.

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If he hadn't died,
then we would have died

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and that's the truth.

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The executioners took care their
victim could be recognized.

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It was in the
Soviet Union itself,

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that Gorbachev faced
insuperable problems.

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He could allow freedom
to the satellites,

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but would he allow it
to the Soviet republics?

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There were fifteen
separate republics -

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most wanted independence.

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The Soviet Communist Party
was losing control.

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Goods in the shops
were scarce.

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[speaking Russian ]

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We rightly chose freedom,
democracy,

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glasnost and pluralism,
but we got one thing wrong.

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People judged the state of the
country by what they could

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or couldn't buy in
the markets and shops.

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NARRATION: Many older people found
the pace of change upsetting.

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ALEXANDER YAKOVLEV:
[speaking Russian ]

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We promised that things
would get better,

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but things were getting
worse and worse.

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We should have allowed
freedom of trade,

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but Gorbachev didn't dare.

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NARRATION: Making the transition
to a market economy was hard,

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but they did allow the opening
of Moscow's first McDonalds.

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The young wanted pop music,
fashion,

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the chance to make money,
the right to travel.

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[speaking Russian ]

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Society moved on and the
Party stayed where it was.

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People started running like
rats from a sinking ship.

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NARRATION: Gorbachev gave Soviet
citizens for the first time,

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the freedom to demonstrate.

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Now demonstrations called for
an end to the Communist Party's

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monopoly of power.

184
00:14:14,353 --> 00:14:16,629
[ Russian propaganda speech ]

185
00:14:16,689 --> 00:14:18,691
NARRATION: But Communist
hard-liners opposed reform.

186
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Despite them, Gorbachev,
himself a Communist,

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chose pluralism.

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The Communist Party,
which had ruled

189
00:14:31,971 --> 00:14:35,077
since the October Revolution
of 1917,

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would have to share
power with others.

191
00:14:40,913 --> 00:14:47,831
It was a complete break with the
practice of Lenin and Stalin.

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Of the fifteen republics
of the Soviet Union-

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the Russian Federation
was the largest -

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most were responding to
Gorbachev's loosening control

195
00:14:56,495 --> 00:14:58,168
with demands for
national freedom.

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In the Baltic states of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania,

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annexed by Stalin in 1940,
the demand was;

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total independence.

199
00:15:21,553 --> 00:15:25,330
In January 1990,
Gorbachev had gone to Vilnius,

200
00:15:25,391 --> 00:15:28,565
the capital of Lithuania,
to argue that the Soviet Union

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00:15:28,627 --> 00:15:31,267
must not be broken up.

202
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[speaking Russian ]

203
00:15:46,378 --> 00:15:49,154
NARRATION: Despite Gorbachev,
the other Baltic States,

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Estonia and Latvia,
followed Lithuania's lead

205
00:15:52,818 --> 00:15:56,027
and also demanded
independence.

206
00:15:56,088 --> 00:15:59,558
[cheers & applause]

207
00:16:00,893 --> 00:16:02,873
[speaking Russian ]

208
00:16:02,928 --> 00:16:08,105
He was trying to dam a river
that was in full flood.

209
00:16:08,167 --> 00:16:11,011
But the current
was too strong.

210
00:16:11,070 --> 00:16:16,452
It broke the dam and flooded
everything in its path.

211
00:16:19,478 --> 00:16:23,824
NARRATION: Boris Yeltsin had been
Communist Party chief in Moscow.

212
00:16:23,882 --> 00:16:27,591
Popular, ambitious,
he now used economic discontent

213
00:16:27,653 --> 00:16:29,997
to weaken Gorbachev
and the Soviet Union.

214
00:16:33,025 --> 00:16:36,302
In May 1990, he was chosen
Parliamentary leader

215
00:16:36,362 --> 00:16:37,705
of the Russian Republic.

216
00:16:40,332 --> 00:16:44,439
Yeltsin is very good man
for Russian people.

217
00:16:44,503 --> 00:16:47,575
Gorbachev, Bush -
goodbye, goodbye,

218
00:16:47,639 --> 00:16:49,846
goodbye, goodbye.

219
00:16:49,908 --> 00:16:52,115
[speaking Russian ]

220
00:16:52,177 --> 00:16:54,179
People began to question
Gorbachev's reforms.

221
00:16:56,181 --> 00:16:58,787
They started to listen to
demagogues who promised

222
00:16:58,851 --> 00:17:01,923
that everything would
be better tomorrow.

223
00:17:08,627 --> 00:17:12,666
NARRATION: Yeltsin's struggle with
Gorbachev was out in the open.

224
00:17:12,731 --> 00:17:14,768
Russia,
richest of the Republics,

225
00:17:14,833 --> 00:17:17,780
would be Yeltsin's
road to power.

226
00:17:17,836 --> 00:17:20,510
[speaking Russian ]

227
00:17:21,073 --> 00:17:23,246
Gorbachev would never
really acknowledge that

228
00:17:23,308 --> 00:17:25,652
the Soviet Union
would break up.

229
00:17:31,784 --> 00:17:36,494
Yeltsin recognized that
it was inevitable

230
00:17:38,991 --> 00:17:42,664
and he was one of the first
to take the initiative -

231
00:17:42,728 --> 00:17:44,739
saying that Russia should
declare its sovereignty

232
00:17:44,797 --> 00:17:47,778
and independence.

233
00:17:48,934 --> 00:17:51,710
Indeed, that's how he actually
urged the other republics

234
00:17:51,770 --> 00:17:54,114
to become independent.

235
00:18:00,679 --> 00:18:03,558
NARRATION: On the international
scene, Gorbachev was still the man

236
00:18:03,615 --> 00:18:05,617
the West could
do business with.

237
00:18:09,922 --> 00:18:12,926
At their meetings, Gorbachev
asked Bush for help in his

238
00:18:12,991 --> 00:18:14,766
economic difficulties.

239
00:18:21,433 --> 00:18:25,040
Bush warned Gorbachev not to use
violence if the Baltic states

240
00:18:25,104 --> 00:18:26,105
pushed for independence.

241
00:18:28,407 --> 00:18:32,480
It looked like the Soviet Union
was coming unstuck a little bit.

242
00:18:32,544 --> 00:18:34,490
At that point, I think
we started to believe we were in

243
00:18:34,546 --> 00:18:38,187
a race to try to finish
the business of ending

244
00:18:38,250 --> 00:18:41,094
the Cold War with
Gorbachev still in power.

245
00:18:47,326 --> 00:18:49,932
NARRATION: The Red Army was
pulling out of an Eastern Europe

246
00:18:49,995 --> 00:18:52,839
it had dominated for decades.

247
00:19:00,506 --> 00:19:02,349
In Germany,
the troops would leave

248
00:19:02,407 --> 00:19:05,388
a question mark behind them.

249
00:19:05,444 --> 00:19:07,219
Divided by the Cold War,

250
00:19:07,279 --> 00:19:10,488
Germany was moving
towards unification.

251
00:19:10,549 --> 00:19:13,689
Would the Soviet Union really
allow a united Germany to

252
00:19:13,752 --> 00:19:17,859
belong to the West's
military alliance, NATO?

253
00:19:20,526 --> 00:19:21,527
[speaking Russian ]

254
00:19:23,862 --> 00:19:28,709
Personally, for Gorbachev
and for me, it wasn't a problem.

255
00:19:28,767 --> 00:19:31,839
But it was a problem for Soviet
society, which had gone through

256
00:19:31,904 --> 00:19:35,374
the terrible war
with fascist Germany,

257
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:40,446
and suffered the death of
twenty or thirty million people.

258
00:19:40,512 --> 00:19:43,755
They really ended up not
having any other alternative.

259
00:19:43,815 --> 00:19:47,922
If they really meant what
they said about we will not use

260
00:19:47,986 --> 00:19:51,297
force to keep the
empire together,

261
00:19:51,356 --> 00:19:56,032
that meant that a country
should be free to choose

262
00:19:56,094 --> 00:19:58,165
its own alliances.

263
00:20:02,234 --> 00:20:04,612
NARRATION: The West German
Chancellor, Helmut Kohl,

264
00:20:04,670 --> 00:20:07,617
undertook to limit
Germany's military strength;

265
00:20:07,673 --> 00:20:10,347
to pay the Red Army's
resettlement cost;

266
00:20:10,409 --> 00:20:13,083
not to station nuclear weapons
in East Germany.

267
00:20:15,681 --> 00:20:17,683
Kohl was ecstatic.

268
00:20:17,749 --> 00:20:19,751
Gorbachev had accepted
that a united

269
00:20:19,818 --> 00:20:21,491
Germany could
belong to NATO.

270
00:20:25,190 --> 00:20:30,469
We called the agreement
between Gorbachev and Kohl

271
00:20:30,529 --> 00:20:33,669
'VE Day 2' because it
really was-

272
00:20:33,732 --> 00:20:35,939
that was the end
of the Cold War.

273
00:20:41,773 --> 00:20:44,845
NARRATION: The divided Germany,
at the heart of the Cold War,

274
00:20:44,910 --> 00:20:47,618
was reunited.

275
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:49,889
[ Fireworks ]

276
00:20:52,384 --> 00:20:54,660
NARRATION:
August the 2nd 1990.

277
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,394
Iraq invades Kuwait.
Iraq was a Soviet ally.

278
00:20:59,725 --> 00:21:03,502
In spite of Iraqi-Soviet ties,
Secretary of State, Baker

279
00:21:03,562 --> 00:21:06,839
succeeded in persuading
Shevardnadze to a joint

280
00:21:06,898 --> 00:21:09,742
condemnation
of the invasion.

281
00:21:09,801 --> 00:21:13,442
The Minister has
indicated that there was

282
00:21:13,505 --> 00:21:17,214
some difficulty on the
part of the Soviet Union

283
00:21:17,276 --> 00:21:20,348
in coming to this
agreement.

284
00:21:22,114 --> 00:21:24,993
NARRATION:
Shevardnadze had consulted Gorbachev,

285
00:21:25,050 --> 00:21:26,996
but he knew their
hard-line enemies

286
00:21:27,052 --> 00:21:28,963
would use it
against them.

287
00:21:36,862 --> 00:21:40,935
In Moscow, the daily lines
for food grew longer.

288
00:21:40,999 --> 00:21:43,570
Tempers rose.

289
00:21:49,675 --> 00:21:55,785
[fighting/woman pacifying ]

290
00:21:55,847 --> 00:21:57,758
[ Russian ]

291
00:21:57,716 --> 00:21:59,693
Can you imagine, we'd live
to see the day when we needed

292
00:21:59,751 --> 00:22:02,891
coupons to buy socks?

293
00:22:02,954 --> 00:22:05,093
There weren't even
any socks available.

294
00:22:05,157 --> 00:22:09,503
There was nothing on the shelves
except out of date tins of fish.

295
00:22:09,561 --> 00:22:12,974
That was the result
of perestroika.

296
00:22:13,031 --> 00:22:17,309
When Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin
suggested a new way forward,

297
00:22:17,369 --> 00:22:20,612
of course people
supported him.

298
00:22:20,672 --> 00:22:25,985
[church service]

299
00:22:28,580 --> 00:22:31,060
[speaking Russian ]

300
00:22:33,285 --> 00:22:36,391
Russia, where Yeltsin
and his radical democrats

301
00:22:36,455 --> 00:22:38,264
were taking over,

302
00:22:38,323 --> 00:22:40,360
had practically declared
independence from

303
00:22:40,425 --> 00:22:42,063
the Soviet Union.

304
00:22:43,929 --> 00:22:46,671
They adopted law after
law that replaced

305
00:22:46,732 --> 00:22:50,646
the laws of the Soviet Union.

306
00:22:53,472 --> 00:22:56,316
NARRATION: All that winter,
Gorbachev was harassed by pressures

307
00:22:56,375 --> 00:23:00,790
from each side -
for reform and against it.

308
00:23:03,715 --> 00:23:07,253
In December,
Eduard Shevardnadze, resigned.

309
00:23:07,319 --> 00:23:09,560
With Gorbachev
sitting stony-faced,

310
00:23:09,621 --> 00:23:12,431
he warned watching of
a hard-line coup.

311
00:23:12,491 --> 00:23:14,767
EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE:
[speaking Russian ]

312
00:23:23,435 --> 00:23:26,041
NARRATION:
Gorbachev had changed tack.

313
00:23:26,104 --> 00:23:28,812
He tightened security,
and brought hard-liners

314
00:23:28,874 --> 00:23:29,716
into government.

315
00:23:32,277 --> 00:23:35,850
He appointed Gennadi Yanayev
his Deputy.

316
00:23:35,914 --> 00:23:37,757
Yanayev declared:

317
00:23:37,816 --> 00:23:41,730
'I am a communist to
the depths of my soul.'

318
00:23:44,356 --> 00:23:46,199
NARRATION:
Vilnius, Lithuania.

319
00:23:46,258 --> 00:23:49,398
On the 11th and 12th
of January 1991,

320
00:23:49,461 --> 00:23:52,635
crack Soviet troops entered the
capital to take back public

321
00:23:52,697 --> 00:23:55,200
buildings for
the Soviet State.

322
00:23:55,267 --> 00:23:57,110
[ Chanting ]

323
00:24:01,273 --> 00:24:03,947
[gunfire]

324
00:24:04,009 --> 00:24:06,512
Lithuanians flocked to
defend their Parliament,

325
00:24:06,578 --> 00:24:10,958
and the radio
and television stations.

326
00:24:16,755 --> 00:24:20,430
In the early hours of January
the 13th, Soviet tanks attacked.

327
00:24:22,427 --> 00:24:25,101
If Lithuania were allowed to
break free, there would be

328
00:24:25,163 --> 00:24:28,701
nothing to stop the other
republics doing the same.

329
00:24:28,767 --> 00:24:29,609
[gunfire]

330
00:24:33,472 --> 00:24:36,544
LORETA TRUCHILIAUSKAITE:
[speaking Russian ]

331
00:24:36,608 --> 00:24:40,112
Some people tried to push the
tank back with their bare hands.

332
00:24:46,318 --> 00:24:49,356
My legs got tangled.

333
00:24:49,421 --> 00:24:51,765
I stumbled and
fell on my back.

334
00:24:56,127 --> 00:25:00,166
I felt the tank treads
pressing on my legs.

335
00:25:05,637 --> 00:25:07,981
I didn't feel great pain.

336
00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:11,384
But I was shouting very loudly,
with all my strength,

337
00:25:11,443 --> 00:25:13,684
'Mama'.

338
00:25:13,745 --> 00:25:15,418
NARRATION:
Loreta's leg was saved.

339
00:25:17,582 --> 00:25:19,960
In the fighting,
hundreds were injured;

340
00:25:20,018 --> 00:25:21,019
14 were killed.

341
00:25:23,488 --> 00:25:26,059
[ Shouting ]

342
00:25:28,627 --> 00:25:32,302
NARRATION: In Moscow, thousands marched
to protest against the crackdown.

343
00:25:39,871 --> 00:25:42,681
Gorbachev,
caught in the middle,

344
00:25:42,741 --> 00:25:45,244
defended his
government's actions.

345
00:25:45,310 --> 00:25:47,017
[speaking Russian ]

346
00:26:00,759 --> 00:26:02,102
NARRATION:
Army Day, 1991.

347
00:26:06,965 --> 00:26:10,003
The banners say
"Strong Army. Strong Union"

348
00:26:10,068 --> 00:26:15,677
and "No to Capitalism
in the Soviet Union"-

349
00:26:15,740 --> 00:26:19,153
back to the old ways.

350
00:26:34,225 --> 00:26:36,728
In summer,
Gorbachev went to London.

351
00:26:36,795 --> 00:26:42,143
As usual, he basked in the
welcome he received overseas.

352
00:26:44,402 --> 00:26:46,313
He had business to do.

353
00:26:46,371 --> 00:26:48,749
At the United States Embassy,
he met Bush

354
00:26:48,807 --> 00:26:53,654
and agreed the terms of another
new deal on arms limitation.

355
00:26:58,116 --> 00:26:59,686
But for the Soviet economy,

356
00:26:59,751 --> 00:27:02,095
the urgent need was
for financial aid.

357
00:27:04,990 --> 00:27:07,266
Gorbachev asked the
leading capitalist countries

358
00:27:07,325 --> 00:27:09,965
for massive loans.

359
00:27:12,097 --> 00:27:16,341
In seeking to end the Cold War,
he was doing them all a favor.

360
00:27:16,401 --> 00:27:19,109
But, in spite of the smiles
and the handshakes,

361
00:27:19,170 --> 00:27:22,242
they turned him down flat.

362
00:27:27,178 --> 00:27:31,854
In Moscow, his enemies were
preparing to move against him.

363
00:27:31,916 --> 00:27:34,362
[speaking Russian ]

364
00:27:34,419 --> 00:27:38,196
I wrote a letter
to Gorbachev,

365
00:27:38,256 --> 00:27:40,258
warning him that
trouble was brewing.

366
00:27:43,128 --> 00:27:46,234
He replied, "Alexander, you
over-estimate their

367
00:27:46,297 --> 00:27:48,800
intelligence and courage".

368
00:27:51,636 --> 00:27:54,139
In July, I resigned.

369
00:27:54,205 --> 00:27:57,482
I said, "Somethings cooking,
I can sense it".

370
00:27:57,542 --> 00:28:01,149
He ignored me and
went on holiday.

371
00:28:04,749 --> 00:28:07,730
NARRATION:
Gorbachev had drafted a new Union Treaty,

372
00:28:07,786 --> 00:28:10,733
loosening the ties between
the Soviet center

373
00:28:10,789 --> 00:28:13,463
and the Republics.

374
00:28:13,525 --> 00:28:15,698
When it was due for
signature in August,

375
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,803
hard-line communists were appalled:

376
00:28:19,264 --> 00:28:20,800
Boris Pugo,

377
00:28:20,865 --> 00:28:22,811
Dimitri Yazov

378
00:28:22,867 --> 00:28:24,744
Gennadi Yanayev

379
00:28:24,803 --> 00:28:26,680
Vladimir Kruichkov

380
00:28:26,738 --> 00:28:29,275
[speaking Russian ]

381
00:28:29,340 --> 00:28:31,286
When I read the text
for the first time

382
00:28:31,342 --> 00:28:32,514
on the 15th of August,

383
00:28:32,577 --> 00:28:34,250
I was amazed by the fact

384
00:28:34,312 --> 00:28:38,852
that we only had four days left
to the end of the Soviet Union.

385
00:28:41,119 --> 00:28:45,090
NARRATION: On August the 18th, a
delegation arrived in the Crimea,

386
00:28:45,156 --> 00:28:48,137
where Gorbachev was on holiday.

387
00:28:48,193 --> 00:28:50,833
They demanded he declare
a state of emergency,

388
00:28:50,895 --> 00:28:52,238
and hand over power.

389
00:28:54,733 --> 00:28:57,407
He refused,
and was put under house arrest.

390
00:29:00,038 --> 00:29:02,541
[tanks ]

391
00:29:02,607 --> 00:29:03,585
NARRATION:
On August the 19th,

392
00:29:03,641 --> 00:29:05,643
Moscow awoke to
the sound of tanks,

393
00:29:05,710 --> 00:29:08,589
and the news that
Gorbachev was ill.

394
00:29:08,646 --> 00:29:13,186
An Emergency Committee
had taken over.

395
00:29:16,187 --> 00:29:19,100
ARCHIVE- CNN ANNOUNCER:
This is a CNN Special Report.

396
00:29:19,157 --> 00:29:21,137
CNN PRESENTER [ JOHN MANN]:
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is,

397
00:29:21,192 --> 00:29:23,832
according to the official Soviet
TASS news agency,

398
00:29:23,895 --> 00:29:25,374
out of office at this hour,

399
00:29:25,430 --> 00:29:27,808
replaced by his Vice-President
Gennadi Yanayev.

400
00:29:27,866 --> 00:29:31,177
The White House, we are told,
has now been informed.

401
00:29:31,236 --> 00:29:33,580
President Bush is apparently
checking with officials

402
00:29:33,638 --> 00:29:35,379
on the situation.

403
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,216
Well, let me make a few
comments about these momentous

404
00:29:38,276 --> 00:29:40,688
and stunning events.

405
00:29:41,646 --> 00:29:44,320
While we are still watching
the situation unfold

406
00:29:44,382 --> 00:29:48,626
and it still is unfolding,
all is not clear.

407
00:29:48,686 --> 00:29:51,724
It seems clearer all the time,
that contrary to official

408
00:29:51,790 --> 00:29:54,100
statements out of Moscow,

409
00:29:54,159 --> 00:29:57,629
that this move was
extra constitutional.

410
00:30:00,064 --> 00:30:02,874
NARRATION:
In Moscow, confused and concerned,

411
00:30:02,934 --> 00:30:05,778
people began to gather at the
Russian Parliament building,

412
00:30:05,837 --> 00:30:07,373
the White House.

413
00:30:07,438 --> 00:30:10,180
No one knew where
or how Gorbachev was,

414
00:30:10,241 --> 00:30:13,381
or what was
really happening.

415
00:30:15,513 --> 00:30:19,962
Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev's enemy
and rival, defended him,

416
00:30:20,018 --> 00:30:22,157
and the constitution.

417
00:30:22,220 --> 00:30:23,062
[ Applause ]

418
00:30:25,156 --> 00:30:26,601
[speaking Russian ]

419
00:30:37,702 --> 00:30:39,943
NARRATION:
Yeltsin entered the Parliament building,

420
00:30:40,004 --> 00:30:43,508
and prepared to resist.

421
00:30:48,479 --> 00:30:52,950
The coup had not succeeded
in seizing power outright.

422
00:30:53,017 --> 00:30:55,691
Soldiers were refusing to
obey the Emergency Committee.

423
00:30:57,856 --> 00:30:59,858
Some commanders turned
their tanks around.

424
00:31:03,228 --> 00:31:05,003
[speaking Russian ]

425
00:31:15,406 --> 00:31:17,750
NARRATION:
Anxious crowds grew throughout the day.

426
00:31:20,411 --> 00:31:23,085
On the evening of the 19th,
nervously,

427
00:31:23,147 --> 00:31:26,856
the plotters held a
televised press conference.

428
00:31:26,918 --> 00:31:28,795
[speaking Russian ]

429
00:31:34,325 --> 00:31:36,362
ALEXANDER YAKOVLEV:
[speaking Russian ]

430
00:31:36,427 --> 00:31:37,531
INTERPRETER:
They were frightened.

431
00:31:37,595 --> 00:31:38,938
They had shaking hands.

432
00:31:41,065 --> 00:31:45,878
It was clear they
didn't know what to do.

433
00:31:45,937 --> 00:31:48,440
At the same time I felt
scared, because, God forbid they

434
00:31:48,506 --> 00:31:50,281
should really come to power-

435
00:31:50,341 --> 00:31:51,911
what would happen then?

436
00:31:56,748 --> 00:32:00,321
NARRATION: Gorbachev was unable
to contact the outside world.

437
00:32:00,385 --> 00:32:04,356
He recorded this statement
to a home video camera.

438
00:32:04,422 --> 00:32:06,265
No one saw it.

439
00:32:06,324 --> 00:32:08,031
[speaking Russian ]

440
00:32:25,810 --> 00:32:28,654
NARRATION: As night fell, fears
grew that the Emergency Committee,

441
00:32:28,713 --> 00:32:31,887
increasingly desperate,
might order an attack on

442
00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:35,056
the White House and
its defenders.

443
00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:37,497
[speaking Russian ]

444
00:32:37,555 --> 00:32:39,330
We were defending
a free Russia,

445
00:32:39,390 --> 00:32:43,805
and the symbol of free
Russia was Yeltsin.

446
00:32:43,861 --> 00:32:50,210
We joined hands and waited for
the tanks in dead silence.

447
00:32:52,937 --> 00:32:53,779
[tanks ]

448
00:32:56,407 --> 00:32:58,580
NARRATION: As the armored
vehicles moved among them,

449
00:32:58,643 --> 00:33:01,146
three young men
were killed.

450
00:33:01,212 --> 00:33:07,356
[ Screams/shouts ]

451
00:33:09,387 --> 00:33:12,061
NARRATION: At three in the
morning, Kruichkov called Yeltsin

452
00:33:12,123 --> 00:33:15,332
in the White House,
and admitted defeat.

453
00:33:15,393 --> 00:33:17,339
[speaking Russian ]

454
00:33:17,395 --> 00:33:19,841
We were not bloodthirsty.

455
00:33:19,897 --> 00:33:24,710
We were not ready to pay
any price to hold onto power.

456
00:33:28,673 --> 00:33:32,018
Yeltsin sent a plane to bring
Gorbachev back to Moscow.

457
00:33:34,045 --> 00:33:38,721
He arrived early on
August the 22nd.

458
00:33:38,783 --> 00:33:40,922
[speaking Russian ]

459
00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:07,584
[ Crowds ]

460
00:34:08,946 --> 00:34:11,620
NARRATION: Far more was changed
than Gorbachev realized.

461
00:34:13,785 --> 00:34:18,359
Yeltsin was the victor
and was now in command.

462
00:34:18,423 --> 00:34:20,198
[ Cheers ]

463
00:34:20,258 --> 00:34:21,794
[speaking Russian ]

464
00:34:26,330 --> 00:34:29,106
[ Cheers ]

465
00:34:32,670 --> 00:34:34,911
NARRATION:
The next day in the Russian Parliament,

466
00:34:34,972 --> 00:34:37,953
Yeltsin rammed home
his victory.

467
00:34:38,009 --> 00:34:39,750
[speaking Russian ]

468
00:34:50,588 --> 00:34:51,430
[ laughter and applause]

469
00:34:57,228 --> 00:34:58,935
NARRATION:
Humiliated by Yeltsin,

470
00:34:58,996 --> 00:35:01,374
and at last realizing
that the Communist Party

471
00:35:01,432 --> 00:35:04,413
of the Soviet Union's
role was finished,

472
00:35:04,469 --> 00:35:10,112
Gorbachev resigned
as General Secretary.

473
00:35:10,174 --> 00:35:13,314
As talks on the Union continued,
Gorbachev,

474
00:35:13,377 --> 00:35:18,156
still President of the USSR,
was isolated.

475
00:35:28,593 --> 00:35:30,197
[speaking Russian ]

476
00:35:39,036 --> 00:35:43,644
NARRATION: At Minsk on December the
8th, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine,

477
00:35:43,708 --> 00:35:48,179
the three Slav states, acted to
dissolve the Soviet Union and

478
00:35:48,246 --> 00:35:50,920
set up instead a Commonwealth
of Independent States.

479
00:35:53,017 --> 00:35:56,362
The Soviet Union was finished
and so was Mikhail Gorbachev.

480
00:35:58,956 --> 00:36:00,731
They told George Bush,

481
00:36:00,791 --> 00:36:03,863
before telling Gorbachev
what they'd done.

482
00:36:03,928 --> 00:36:05,464
[speaking Russian ]

483
00:36:05,530 --> 00:36:07,066
It's disgraceful.

484
00:36:09,367 --> 00:36:11,404
To tell the President
of the United States

485
00:36:11,469 --> 00:36:15,042
and not bother to inform the
President of your own country.

486
00:36:15,106 --> 00:36:18,178
It's shameful.
Absolutely contemptible.

487
00:36:20,211 --> 00:36:22,282
It's dirty.

488
00:36:34,892 --> 00:36:38,237
NARRATION: For 45 years, the world
feared a nuclear apocalypse.

489
00:36:41,599 --> 00:36:42,600
It never came.

490
00:36:46,170 --> 00:36:49,208
Statesmen on both sides,
who bad the power to

491
00:36:49,273 --> 00:36:53,119
push the nuclear button,
in crisis after crisis,

492
00:36:53,177 --> 00:36:56,386
put humanity's
interest first.

493
00:36:59,584 --> 00:37:04,465
Nuclear deterrence
kept the peace.

494
00:37:04,522 --> 00:37:10,404
GEORGE BUSH: The world is a far safer
place now that the Cold War is over.

495
00:37:10,461 --> 00:37:14,170
No leader of a small
country is worrying

496
00:37:14,232 --> 00:37:15,734
and saying to his cabinet,

497
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:17,939
"One of these two crazy
superpowers is going

498
00:37:18,002 --> 00:37:21,472
to get us caught up
in a nuclear war".

499
00:37:21,539 --> 00:37:23,951
That is not going to happen.

500
00:37:24,008 --> 00:37:25,885
[speaking Russian ]

501
00:37:25,943 --> 00:37:27,513
Those of us who
experienced what

502
00:37:27,578 --> 00:37:34,996
I would call
'the fever of the Cold War',

503
00:37:35,052 --> 00:37:37,692
the permanent state of alarm
about the prospect of a

504
00:37:37,755 --> 00:37:40,099
nuclear war,
we breathe more easily now.

505
00:37:44,996 --> 00:37:48,842
We no longer have to
carry this heavy burden.

506
00:37:53,638 --> 00:37:57,245
NARRATION:
The Cold War ended, peaceably.

507
00:37:57,308 --> 00:38:00,050
But need it have begun?

508
00:38:00,111 --> 00:38:01,488
Could it all
have been avoided

509
00:38:01,545 --> 00:38:04,549
when East and West were
comrades, back in 1945?

510
00:38:07,251 --> 00:38:09,959
[speaking Russian ]

511
00:38:10,021 --> 00:38:12,365
We missed our chance -

512
00:38:12,423 --> 00:38:15,768
because there were so many
suspicions, on both sides.

513
00:38:18,362 --> 00:38:22,777
The West exaggerated the
strength of the Soviet Union.

514
00:38:23,868 --> 00:38:27,441
We could not possibly
have moved into Europe.

515
00:38:29,073 --> 00:38:31,610
We were a
devastated country.

516
00:38:33,377 --> 00:38:36,290
We'd lost
millions of people.

517
00:38:37,448 --> 00:38:43,729
I can't imagine any
circumstances under which we

518
00:38:43,788 --> 00:38:48,237
could have gotten along
with Uncle Joe Stalin.

519
00:38:49,627 --> 00:38:54,440
I can imagine no circumstances
under which we could have worked

520
00:38:54,498 --> 00:38:59,675
out our problems with
Russia earlier than we did,

521
00:38:59,737 --> 00:39:01,910
or in a different way.

522
00:39:01,972 --> 00:39:05,647
I've come to the conclusion
we did it pretty goddamn well.

523
00:39:08,612 --> 00:39:11,752
NARRATION: Millions, who might
have died in nuclear conflict,

524
00:39:11,816 --> 00:39:12,817
lived and prospered.

525
00:39:15,519 --> 00:39:19,399
But there were costs,
human and material,

526
00:39:19,457 --> 00:39:21,767
and a price to pay.

527
00:39:24,195 --> 00:39:26,675
The manufacture and
testing of nuclear weapons

528
00:39:26,731 --> 00:39:28,074
left a continuing mark.

529
00:39:30,134 --> 00:39:31,977
[speaking Russian ]

530
00:39:32,036 --> 00:39:34,448
The legacy of the
Cold War really means that

531
00:39:34,505 --> 00:39:37,748
the Cold War is
still going on.

532
00:39:37,808 --> 00:39:41,483
It's going on because the air,
water and soil are polluted.

533
00:39:43,814 --> 00:39:45,122
It's very expensive

534
00:39:45,182 --> 00:39:48,857
and difficult to
overcome this legacy.

535
00:39:48,919 --> 00:39:53,095
It's really a delayed
action time bomb.

536
00:39:59,263 --> 00:40:02,938
NARRATION: During the Cold War, the
United States and the Soviet Union,

537
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,107
between them, spent trillions
of dollars on armaments.

538
00:40:08,305 --> 00:40:10,979
The United States, borrowing
heavily, could afford it.

539
00:40:13,844 --> 00:40:18,452
The Soviet Union,
in the end, could not.

540
00:40:21,986 --> 00:40:24,865
Part of that vast cost was
necessary to maintain the

541
00:40:24,922 --> 00:40:26,924
balance on which
world peace depended.

542
00:40:29,260 --> 00:40:34,369
Some of it was wasted.

543
00:40:34,432 --> 00:40:39,472
<i>[water splashes</i> ]

544
00:40:46,777 --> 00:40:49,758
NARRATION: There were shooting
wars within the Cold War-

545
00:40:49,814 --> 00:40:51,589
they took their toll.

546
00:40:51,649 --> 00:40:54,823
In Korea, millions died.

547
00:40:59,056 --> 00:41:04,165
And millions in Vietnam,
soldiers and civilians.

548
00:41:09,133 --> 00:41:13,275
Over a million died
in Afghanistan.

549
00:41:16,474 --> 00:41:19,819
Hundreds of thousands died in
Africa and in Central America.

550
00:41:22,646 --> 00:41:24,922
Some of these wars would
have happened anyway.

551
00:41:24,982 --> 00:41:28,395
The Cold War made
them more deadly.

552
00:41:28,452 --> 00:41:37,497
[gunfire]

553
00:41:47,671 --> 00:41:49,673
Thousands died in
a divided Europe

554
00:41:54,879 --> 00:41:56,881
two hundred
at the Berlin Wall.

555
00:42:01,352 --> 00:42:03,025
The living, mourn the dead.

556
00:42:05,089 --> 00:42:06,966
[speaking Russian ]

557
00:42:21,772 --> 00:42:23,183
ARCHIVE- MOTHER:
And look, he's right here,

558
00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:27,586
where my lips
can reach him.

559
00:42:27,645 --> 00:42:29,522
He isn't up high where
I can't reach him.

560
00:42:29,580 --> 00:42:32,186
Or down low where
I can't bend anymore.

561
00:42:32,249 --> 00:42:35,059
He's right here
in front of me.

562
00:42:56,473 --> 00:43:00,944
NARRATION:
The Cold War was a clash of ideologies,

563
00:43:01,011 --> 00:43:06,654
and the big Cold War
loser was Marxism Leninism.

564
00:43:10,621 --> 00:43:13,602
The Communist dream of a better
society that would outlast the

565
00:43:13,657 --> 00:43:15,000
West, came to nothing.

566
00:43:16,994 --> 00:43:19,998
But not for Fidel Castro.

567
00:43:20,064 --> 00:43:21,737
[ Speaking Spanish ]

568
00:43:21,799 --> 00:43:24,279
Why believe that the
ideals of socialism,

569
00:43:24,335 --> 00:43:27,339
which are so generous and
appeal so much to solidarity

570
00:43:27,404 --> 00:43:32,285
and fraternity,
will one day disappear?

571
00:43:32,343 --> 00:43:34,316
What would prevail -
selfishness, individualism,

572
00:43:38,182 --> 00:43:39,855
personal ambitions?

573
00:43:39,917 --> 00:43:41,919
That will not save the world;

574
00:43:45,623 --> 00:43:48,968
of that I am
absolutely convinced.

575
00:43:52,129 --> 00:43:54,075
[Speaking Czech ]

576
00:43:54,131 --> 00:43:57,669
Communism as a system
went against life,

577
00:43:57,735 --> 00:43:59,078
against man's
fundamental needs;

578
00:44:01,572 --> 00:44:05,782
against the need for freedom;
the need to be enterprising,

579
00:44:05,843 --> 00:44:09,689
to associate freely;
against the will of the nation.

580
00:44:10,914 --> 00:44:13,622
It suppressed
national identity.

581
00:44:15,019 --> 00:44:17,795
Something that
goes against life

582
00:44:17,855 --> 00:44:21,564
may last a long time -
but sooner or later,

583
00:44:21,625 --> 00:44:23,866
it will collapse.

584
00:44:24,762 --> 00:44:27,265
[bells]

585
00:44:28,032 --> 00:44:32,276
NARRATION: The superpowers had
confronted each other, relentlessly.

586
00:44:32,336 --> 00:44:37,684
Now, under intolerable pressure,
one side withdrew.

587
00:44:38,242 --> 00:44:40,882
[ Gorbachev
speaking on telephone]

588
00:44:40,944 --> 00:44:45,120
NARRATION: Gorbachev had done as
much as anyone to end the Cold War.

589
00:44:45,182 --> 00:44:49,892
He called Bush and told him
this was his last day in office.

590
00:44:49,953 --> 00:44:52,627
GEORGE BUSH:
There was a kind of sadness.

591
00:44:52,690 --> 00:44:56,137
The finality of it
hit me pretty hard

592
00:44:56,193 --> 00:44:58,104
and it was Christmas time,

593
00:44:58,162 --> 00:45:04,306
and holiday time, and I felt
that a friend was hurt -

594
00:45:04,368 --> 00:45:07,941
and I wasn't
happy about that.

595
00:45:08,005 --> 00:45:10,576
NARRATION: That night, the
red flag of the Soviet Union

596
00:45:10,641 --> 00:45:13,850
was lowered for
the last time.

597
00:45:21,885 --> 00:45:23,125
In Washington,

598
00:45:23,187 --> 00:45:25,667
Bush made his
Christmas broadcast.

599
00:45:25,723 --> 00:45:28,431
For over forty years the
United States led the West

600
00:45:28,492 --> 00:45:30,802
in the struggle against
communism

601
00:45:30,861 --> 00:45:34,365
and the threat it posed
to our most precious values.

602
00:45:34,431 --> 00:45:37,901
This struggle shaped
the lives of all Americans.

603
00:45:37,968 --> 00:45:40,915
It forced all nations to
live under the specter of

604
00:45:40,971 --> 00:45:43,383
nuclear destruction.

605
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:45,750
That confrontation
is now over.

606
00:45:49,928 --> 00:45:54,182
Subtitles ripped, converted and adapted by
Juan Claudio Epsteyn

607
00:45:54,964 --> 00:45:58,069
E-mail:
epsteyn@hotmail.com