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Collapse of the Soviet Union
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Collapse of the Soviet Union
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The region known as one of the world superpowers lost dominance after seventy years of corruption and destruction. The Soviet union was the largest Communist bloc. It ended in 1991 because the economy that was government run could no longer sustain. What important things about the Soviet union should be placed in textbooks? Textbooks should emphasize the USSR’s size, The Great Terror, and their military strength, because they have shaped who this region is today. The size of the USSR affected political boundaries today, and was a big reason they could no longer sustain as one. The USSR was made up of fifth-teen Soviet Republics from Latvia to Tajik.Document A states: “In 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved into fifth-teen independent
The United States and The Soviet Union were originally joined together by the want to defeat The Nazi army, in 1941-1945. The alliance remained, and strengthened, among the two until the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, a rupture between the two occurred. The differences began earlier, but there was a straw that broke the camels back. The reason The United States and The Soviet Union’s alliance did not work out is because The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The Soviet Union proved to be faulty, and they were never truly allies.
Around the early 1920’s, Stalin took power and became leader of Russia. As a result Russians either became fond of Stalin’s policies or absolutely despised them. Stalin’s five-year plans lured many into focusing on the thriving economy rather than the fact that the five year plan hurt the military. The experience of many lives lost, forced labor camps, little supply of food, influenced the Russians negative opinion about Stalin. Having different classes in society, many Russians had different points of views. For the Peasants, times were rough mainly because of the famine, so they were not in favor of Stalin and his policies; where as the upper classes had a more optimistic view of everything that was occurring. Stalin’s policies affected the Russian people and the Soviet Union positively and also had a negative affect causing famine for the Russian people.
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries. The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raised the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism. Also, the Arms Race and forming alliances between the two main powers were important weapons for competition and rivalry in Cold War.
The Web. 16 Feb. 2014 "Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). " International Military and Defense Encyclopedia. Ed. Trevor N. Dupuy, a.k.a.
Russia in the 1930s By 1928, Stalin had ousted Trotsky and the rest of the Left opposition. In four years, Stalin had single handedly taken major steps away from Lenin’s collective leadership and free inter-party debate and replaced them with his autocratic dictatorship. Stalin began to secure predominant power over the communist party and the state by destroying passive opposition from the peasantry and former Lenin supporters. He won growing support from the working class, who were impressed with the initial five-year plan. It promised increased industrialization, which would lead to socialism in one country within their lifetime.
... rule came to an end in a number of Eastern European countries, including Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia (Kennedy 1034). In addition, East Germany began to allow its people to pass freely to West Berlin through the Berlin Wall, and the East Germans soon began to tear the wall down. Germany was reunified in 1990, when East Germany united with West Germany (Walker 388). In 1991, the Soviet Communist Party lost control of the Soviet government. Later that year, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and the republics that made up the nation became independent states. Russia was by far the largest of these states. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U.S. President George Bush formally declared that their countries did not regard each other as potential enemies (Walker). These events marked the end of the Cold War and of communist threat as we know it.
One of the most significant events in the twentieth century was the dissolution of the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1991. The reason why this event was so significant was because it ended the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, the Cold War, and the reign of one of the greatest world powers at the time. There were many reasons for the collapse, and it has been postulated that the Perestroika reforms had the most significant effect. The reforms, implemented by Mikael Gorbachev, were meant to address the dire financial and economic situation the country was facing as a result of the incompetent Stalin regime. Though these reforms were created with the best intentions, unfortunately they failed, eventually leading to great dissatisfaction with Gorbachev’s leadership. The Communist Party was so displeased with the performance of their leader that they staged a coup d’état to remove him from power (History.com). Thus, by the end of 1991, the Perestroika reforms directly lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union due to the collapse of the economy, lack of infrastructure of modernization, and failure to move the communist party towards democracy. One of the largest goals of the reforms was to address the broken economy.
The cold war was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. The soviet unions president Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstructering) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev’s basics for glasnost were the promotion of principles of freedom to criticize; the loosening of controls on media and publishing; and the freedom of worship. His essentials of perestroika were, a new legislature; creation of an executive presidency; ending of the ‘leading role’ of the communist party; allowing state enterprises to sell part of their product on the open market; lastly, allowing foreign companies to own Soviet enterprises (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev believed his reforms would benefit his country, but the Soviet Union was ultimately held together by the soviet tradition he was trying to change. The Soviet Union was none the less held together by “…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force.
Trying to determine whether life was better for the Russians after the Russian revolution is an impossible task that involves complex moral questions. As under Stalin’s control production increased and education was spread more widely, but people’s personal freedoms and rights were highly limited and they had to deal with a totalitarian ruler whose focus was on the good of Russia as a whole then of the individual people whose lives he held power over. Czar Nicholas was incompetent and did not understand how to rule over Russia, but Stalin actively killed millions of people using the secret police and concentration camps that worked and tortured people to death. While as a whole Russia improved by leaps and bounds after the Russian revolution
Powaski, Ronald E. "The Cold war: The United States and the Soviet Union." In The Cold war: The United States and the Soviet Union, by Ronald E. Powaski, 303-304. Oxford University Press, 1997.
In the early times of the 20th century, Russia experienced many changes in their political system, which has progressed from the single-party Communist state into a current semi-presidential republic. After the October Revolution of in 1916, the Council of People’s Commissars was formed in the Russian Republic. Serving as an executive organ of the Central Executive Committee, the members of the Council were elected for two years, and helped structure the country to form the Soviet Union. Over time, this eventually became the highest government authority of executive power under the Soviet System. Following the creation of the USSR in 1922, the Unions became modeled after the first Sovnarkom, but to deal with domestic matters, the Soviet republics maintained their own governments. By 1946, the Council of People’s Commissars transformed into the Council of Ministers, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics changed the People’s Commissariats into Ministries. As head of the executive branch, the council was responsible for issuing declarations, and they had obligatory jurisdictional power over the territories within the Union.
Tomkinson, John L. (2008) The Cold War: Themes in Twentieth Century World History for the International Baccalaureate. 3rd edition. Athens: Anagnosis.
The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century, saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had eventually emerged into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union crumbled during this period, both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government.
...E. The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991. New York: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.
The arms race the Soviet Union had been involved in with NATO had bankrupted their economy. This in turn affected the people, when the economy started to collapse, the people started to lose their jobs, were not able to get the basic necessities from the local stores. In most cases when one form of government can not provide the basic needs for their people, then the people will look for a form of government that can provide for them. Then there is one aspect of human nature that the Communist Party in the Soviet Union was not able to control and the desire of the people of Eastern Europe to be free of Soviet control. Before World War II, the countries that made up Eastern Europe had been independent countries able to decide their own fate.