'''The 1970sSeventies''', or the '''Seventies''1970's, was similar to [[The Sixties|the worst of decades1960s]], the best is widely celebrated by leftists and liberals as a decade of decadesprogress and freedom. The period In reality, however, it saw [[Western]] freedom and civilization demoralized and under the threat from of World [[Communism]], but ended with the rebirth of [[conservativeConservative]] pride, with the emergence of [[Margaret Thatcher]] and [[Ronald Reagan]] as among the great world leadersof the [[20th Century]].
==The Threat==
In China, the death of [[Mao Zedong]] in 1976 heralded the end of the catastrophic [[cultural revolution]]. The new leadership began the process of economic reform which has led to modern China, while a dictatorship ruled by the Communist Party, nevertheless having achieved economic and material growth unthinkable under a socialist straitjacket. The Chinese people have economic freedom as a result of the changes begun in the 1970s; political and religious freedom will inevitably follow.
On Christmas in 1979 the [[geriatrics|geriatric ]] leadership of the [[Soviet Union]] launched an invasion of [[Afghanistan]]. Although they succeeded in occupying the country, this act of aggression was to embroil them in a war of resistance that bled their armed forces white and sparked the process that led to the collapse of the USSR itself and of world Communism.
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