At 7:32 p.m. December 25, 1991, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin in Moscow for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag, which symbolized the disintegration of Soviet Union. Early in day, the last president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, resigned his post, and Boris Yeltsin became the president of the newly independent Russian state. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the campaign between Soviet Union and the United States ended. Nonetheless, although the end of cold war make people around the world enters a peaceful time, until now both people in the past and historians are amazed why previous powerful Soviet Union collapsed suddenly. Thereby, the cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union
In fact, around 1975, the Soviet Union began to enter a period of economic stagnation because of long-playing huge imbalance between light industry and heavy industry even if the crisis of oil in 1973 helped Soviet Union increase the proportion of light industry by imports. Additionally, by later 1980s, the price of petroleum declined and the demand of grains increased so that the Soviet Union had to borrow money from Western banks to purchase the grains to distribute to people for maintaining the economy. Besides, during the military race, although Soviet Union’s military budget was 1/3 of that of the United State, it still had achieved parity with the United States in military power as at least 50 percent of the industrial output of the Soviet Union was going to the military according to Western intelligence sources and the government cut down the the expense of investment in the rest of the economy. Meanwhile, owing to the Stalinist system, people in Soviet lack the incentives for productivity. Consequently, insurmountable crisis in agriculture and other light industry issues appeared, which caused a visible decline in the rate of growth and then its complete stagnation. Thus, Soviet Union had malformed economic system to curb the development of Soviet Union, which at last led to the collapse of the
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power with a vision of reform, perestroika and glasnost, which means to restructure the economy. Gorbachev would like to privatize farms, make industries more efficient, and trim down imports. In order to get people’s support of perestroika and glasnost, Gorbachev conceded some individual rights and freedoms. For instance, mass media like newspaper was allowed to criticize the missteps and wrongdoings of the Stalinist era. In addition, Yakovlev, Gorbachev’s confidante and Secretariat of the Soviet Communist Party, restored creative works such as such as books and movies and returned more than 400,000 religious buildings and places of worship to publics. Public affairs, press, politics, education, and free speech were glasnost. Without surprise, glasnost and perestroika gradually became people’s favor and overthrew the socialism. As a result, owing to loosening controls over the people and making reforms to the political and economic elites, liberated minority groups, under-represented and mistreated for ages, began requiring self-determination and the Soviet government emerged weak and vulnerable to the publics. Furthermore, one of the reform, the permission of private ownership, exacerbates the economy of the Soviet Union because the nation subsidized unprofitable private enterprises and the paucity of state oversight
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 fact the Soviet people never saw any of these rights. Constitutional rights could only be used to support the regime, not to criticize it. In conclusion, many Soviet citizens appear to believe that Stalin’s positive contributions to the U.S.S.R. far outweigh his monstrous acts. These crimes have been downplayed by many of Stalin’s successors as they stress his achievements as collectivizer, industrializer, and war leader. Among those citizens who harbor feelings of nostalgia, Stalin’s strength, authority and achievement contrast sharply with the pain and suffering of post-revolutionary Russia.
During the twentieth century, China developed the strongest economy throughout the world. The mass population of the Chinese people helped in the production in goods which in tailed helped China’s economy grow. Russia was not far behind China after the Industrial revolution, Russia needed a plan if they were going to catch up to China. China was relying on the exporting of goods and long term goals for profit. Russia focused on Five-Year Plans, “the form of economy worked for communism, consistently appealing to the intellectuals of developing countries in Asia” (Paul Craig Roberts 2). The Industrial Revolution had helped the growth of both China and Russia’s economy throughout the Twentieth
... 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.
Stalin believed that there needed to be a dictatorship that regulated every aspect of its citizens’ lives in order to industrialize the Soviet Union. “His plans were in 5 year intervals in which the government took control over all businesses
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.
The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate Gorbachev’s two main policies of reformation, glasnost and perestroika, in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and to assess if the policies were significant or vital to the internal collapse of the Soviet Union.
This investigation examines the extent to which the changes Stalin’s First Five-Year Plan had lead to the development of a greater industrial society. After the Russian Revolution and Civil War, Stalin had hoped to continue the Soviet Union’s development by expanding its economy. To assess the degree to which the people and economy of Russia had improved as an affect of the First Five-Year Plan, the results of the plan will be given, including the effects of the plan on the different industries in Russia. The details of why Stalin had chosen to introduce the First Five-Year Plan will also be observed.
Stalin, stating in his famous testament that ‘I am not sure whether he (Stalin) will always be capable of using authority with sufficient caution’. The wealth of information released since the dissolution of the communist regime, and also Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost In recent years, has lead to the revisionist school of thought coming about (and with it such historians as Sheila Fitzpatrick). Acting almost as mediator between the now opposing views of Soviet and right wing Western historians, revisionists identify both changes and lines of similarity. In order to assess the extent of continuity it was necessary to look first at the ideology and principles of Leninism, and secondly the way these were put in to practice.
Summary of a Review Christopher Ward’s review of Robert Strayer’s Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? Understanding Historical Change begins by expressing the vast amount of books produced on the subject of the Soviet Union. He then proceeds to explain how this book positively differentiates itself from the rest: by presenting the Soviet Union as “a unique political and social entity in world history.” This approach to the book is important, because it focuses little on comparisons to other events in history, and focuses on the event itself.
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.
A general economic problem for the Soviet Union was that there was a lack of profit incentives for productivity. The Soviet citizens would pretend to work because the government would pretend to pay them. One of the main reasons the Soviet Union failed was because seventy percent of the industrial output was going to the military, which is an unrealistic number to maintain while also supporting a country. In the Soviet Union they would create an incentive for an item, but they would get a surplus and then the items would go to waste. In the United States every individual determines their successes or failures. For example, a private owned business can only succeed if the owner and workers have the incentives to make a profit which requires marketing, networking, and putting in many hours. Americans have the incentive to make a larger profit so they can buy better food, bigger houses, and provide more for their family. These incentives lead to Americans figuring out a career path in high school, attending college, and pursuing competitive companies. The Soviet Union and the United States have contrasting economic systems in regards to their government involvement in the economy, economic efficiency, and supply/demand incentives. The Soviet Union’s government was too involved, their production was inefficient, and they lack incentives; all of which led to the collapse of the Soviet
Rethinking the Soviet Experience. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Gorbachev and Glasnost: viewpoints from the Soviet press. Isaac J. Tarasulo, Ph.D.
The term “Era of Stagnation” itself was born when Mikhail Gorbachev blamed Leonid Brezhnev for the economic issues that appeared in 1964. The main reasons of stagnation were increased expenditures. The spending increased firstly on military consumer goods and slowly went to economic issues such as work inefficiency. However, author of: ”Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System” David Michael Kotz argues that militarization could not cause significant changes within Soviet economy as military spending has historically been high. One of the most important events in the history of 20th century of course was expedition to the Moon and that also was something that required a serious amount of resources. ...
When Mikhail Gorbachev assumed control of the Soviet Union upon the death of Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, the nation was in a deep hole dug by Stalin’s past regime. Though Stalin had been dead for decades, his successors had done little to reverse the results of his tyrannical rule. The Soviet Union was left in a state which barely resembled communism at all, and could best be described as repressive totalitarian control. The whole of the Union was under a thick fog of censorship, oppression, and economic stagnation. Under previous regimes’ heavy-handed monitoring of Russians, freedom of expression was essentially a fairy tale; press was controlled by the government, books criticizing communism or Soviet leaders were censored, and outside