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Relations of US&Russia after post war
Communism and its effects
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The fall of the Soviet Union
Before one can understand the fall of the Soviet Union, he has to know how the nation came into being and the leaders, and the location of the country and the time period of its reign. How did the Soviet Union come into existence? Through the 1900’s the Soviet Union was entangled in a vast number of conflicts all because they wanted to spread communism. Subsequently, the rampant spread of communism and Soviet ideals had an impact in the First World War, Second World and Cold War. Under the authoritarian control of Russian leaders the budget for the military and various sectors clarifies that the Soviet Union in its existence failed.
The Russian Empire began to disintegrate in 1917 starting with The Bolshevik Revolution. After the czars of Russia were forced to step down, the government of Aleksander Kerensky came into power. However, in November 1917 led by V.I Lenin, the government of Kerensky was overthrown. Thus, the rise of the Soviet Union had begun and the spread of communism started in Europe. The United States had been allies with the Soviet Union and the alliance did not intensify till the 1920’s. In 1930, the Soviet Union was America’s largest purchaser of agrarian equipment. Prior to that, the Soviet government owed $600 million in debts; as a result, President Roosevelt had a convention with the leaders of the Soviet Union to discuss debt issues.
Up until the Second World War, Russia was not posing threats to United States because they had been defeated in the early 1900’s. Britain and the United States tried as much as possible to limit the Soviet’s power because they knew the capability of the nation. The Soviet Union at the Yalta conference exposed its plans which were to sprea...
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...cut and the things that had to be repaired were focused on. After the Cold War and fall of the Soviet Union, the United States became economically prosperous but the National debt had increased because of the war. The national debt the country had incurred from years earlier increased from an astonishing $994 billion to a value beyond $2.9 trillion. The good cultural aspect of Americans changed; the sale and distribution of illegal drugs went up, crime rate went up and the social class gap opened. On the side of the Soviet Union, Russia had become a country once more and they did not threaten the security of Americans for a while. Currently, Ukraine and Russia are on the verge of war because of a portion of Ukraine Russia wants. The imperialistic motives of the core of the Soviet Union are still evident because of the things that are going on around individuals.
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.
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
During the Cold War, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities, the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild.
The major factor that led to the true end of the Cold War was the ongoing personal and diplomatic relationship between Presidents George H. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. This resulted in the reduction of the Russian military and favorable arms agreements. Key indicators of the substance behind this relationship were the Soviet troop withdrawals from Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, and Hungary (lifting the Hungarian/Austrian “Iron Curtain” along the border). Subsequently the opening of the Berl...
“In the wake of the Cold War, Americans felt it was their patriotic duty to buy consumer goods to help the economy grow. In turn, the U.S. became the world’s dominant economic power” ("Cold War Influences on American Culture, Politics, and Economics").
the downfall of communism, as it were, took so long was the veto power of
The Soviet Union’s most important goal was national security. National security is defined as the protection of a nation from those who want to do it harm, by its government. During the twentieth century when the cold war was at its most tense point, the Soviet Union’s most important goal was national security. It was more important then peace with the United States because if peace with the U.S. meant a decrease in the Soviet Union’s national security than they were open for attack from any other country that wanted to attack them. By keeping the Soviet Union’s national security strong they kept other countries in fear of them, thus creating a fear inspired peace. By focusing on national security tension was created but it also scared both sides into avoiding war at all costs. If the U.S. were to see weakness in the Soviet Union’s national security than the U.S. would have probably been tempted to test the waters and ...
...began spending more on the military than the Soviet Union. This was the first time that this thing happened. The Soviet Union could not keep up with American defense spending, nor could they keep up with the technology. The Soviet Union tried to keep up with the spending, but it may be a reason for the eventual collapse of the system. Eventually the Soviet Union and Gorbachev were forced to sign new arms treaties.
It also marked the end of cold war between the Soviet Union and United States leading to reformed political, economic and military alliances worldwide. Upon its formation, outcome of Bolshevick Revolution of 1917, Soviet Union adopted Socialism later transforming to Communism. The main objective for Socialism and eventual Communism was to create a unified state based on centralized economic and political system. This ideology later transformed into totalitarian state. The underestimation of resistance from non-Russian ethnic groups (which was more than 50% of total population), and failure of the communism system to meet economic needs of the people were some of the reasons which to led to the decline of the USSR economy and arms competition with United States. Despite the Government’s effort to instill the ideology of communism to its people, it never took firm roots and Government ended up losing the grip of the people. With the political and economic stagnations caused by the communism, there was no choice but to change the way of doing things leading to dissolution of USSR in December 1991. The fifteen newly formed countries had overwhelming tasks of developing the economy, reorganizing the political systems, and settling the territorial disputes created earlier. There has been wars in the boundaries of the former
Lafeber, W. (2002), America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2000. 9th edn. New-York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
When World War II ended in 1945, the world was wrought with distrust and paranoia. During the war, United States had successfully detonated two atomic bombs in Japan. The introduction of nuclear power into warfare, proved to be the most lethal weapon in the history of combat. In addition to a claim on such technology, a country had the power and the means to spread its political and social ideals. After the detonation of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union was eager to catch up with the Americans. This “need” would lead to the concept of brinkmanship, a nuclear arms race, and the expansion of Soviet ideals. The Soviets were successful during World War II, which resulted in the growth of the economy, nationalism, communist movement, as well as the need for nuclear power. Although the Soviet Union culminated great economic prosperity and power during World War II, the Soviet Union collapsed after the Cold War erupted in 1947. The struggles of nuclear power and revolts against communism led to this dissolution.
to assume the role of dictator. This was a phenomenon which was to become a
Also, the Soviet Union’s quest to remain a world superpower cost it dearly, as they were hard pressed to keep up with US defense spending under Ronald Reagan. The “Soviet Union was spending a large percentage of its GNP on the military because of the expansion of US spending” (p.3.fsmitha.com). Th...
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.