By December 1980, Soviet pressure on the Polish leadership was intense. Warsaw Pact forces were massed around Poland's borders. The message was clear: Curb Solidarity or else. American concern grew as Brezhnev pressed Poland's leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, to plan countermeasures.

Meanwhile, the hard-line policies of the new U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, boosted morale in Poland, where Solidarity had 9 million supporters fighting for economic reform and political rights. Strikes gripped the country.

On December 2, 1981, in a warning to Solidarity, riot police crushed a firemen's strike. Ten days later, Solidarity met to plan a nationwide strike. But that night, the Polish government sent in the army, arrested Solidarity's leaders and banned the trade movement. Jaruzelski declared martial law, suspending civil rights. Moscow had reimposed its will. East-West relations were fractured once more.