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Brezhnev Doctrine
The Brezhnev Doctrine was the Soviet policy (articulated after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia) asserting Moscow's right to intervene militarily in any socialist state where socialism was deemed under threat. It effectively limited the sovereignty of all Warsaw Pact members until renounced by Gorbachev in 1988.
Brezhnev Doctrine
Soviet foreign policy doctrine (from 1968) asserting the right to intervene militarily in any socialist state where socialism was threatened. Used to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968) and later Afghanistan (1979).
Martial law
Temporary military control of government due to crisis.
Solidarity
An independent trade union founded in Poland in 1980 under Lech Walesa. It was the first free trade union in a Soviet-bloc country and became a mass social movement that challenged communist rule.
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
A proposed missile defense system announced by President Reagan on March 23, 1983, intended to protect the United States from nuclear ballistic missile attacks using ground-based and space-based systems. Critics nicknamed it "Star Wars." Although never fully developed, SDI increased pressure on the Soviet Union by threatening to undermine Mutually Assured Destruction and forcing the Soviets into an arms race they could not afford.