Dissolution Of The Soviet Union Essay

1727 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: To what extent were gorbachev policies responsible for the collapse of the soviet union essay

As with many important historical events throughout history the dissolution of the Soviet Union had many contributing forces. However, most historians agree that the main contributor was Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the many radical reforms he implemented during the six years he was the leader of the USSR. Even though the official dissolution took place in December 1991, the Soviet Union’s demise began to take form in the 1980s. In order to understand why the Soviet Union dissolved it is important to have a clear picture of its history and political climate.
The Soviet State was established in 1917 when revolutionary Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Czar establishing a socialist state in territories that once belonged to the Russian Empire. In 1922 Russia joined these outer republics and formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) lead by Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. The USSR was made up of 120 different ethnic groups and divided into 15 Republics that were sometimes referred to as States. Lenin believed that communism would overcome nationalism and that a strong, united Soviet people would emerge. He was wrong. Because of its multicultural society there would be constant conflict in the USSR as the individual republics demanded their independence. Within the USSR the Baltic States were among the richest, and their citizens enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. In sharp contrast, the Russians were among the poorest in the USSR and started to complain. The Baltic States became paranoid that the problems of the rest of the union would adversely affect them. It was only a matter of time before something drastic would occur.
After World War II and the defeat of Adolf Hitler the Soviet Union maintained its statu...

... middle of paper ...

...center of global development besides the United States. China began to accumulate power by acting on policies that were the complete opposite of Gorbachev’s. For example when Gorbachev proposed democracy without a market economy, China enacted a market economy while preserving communism. Developing countries, mostly in Africa, were affected adversely when the Soviet Union fell. They lost valuable aid from Moscow and for some reason also the United States. This led to series economic problems in most third world countries in the 1990s.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union radically changed the world’s economic, political and social environment. Twenty three years later its effects are still being felt. Some people blame the collapse solely on Mikhail Gorbachev. Some argue that the Soviet Union died before it had the chance to enjoy the system Gorbachev tried to fix.

Show More
Related

  • The Cold War

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe became the East nations, and the United States, centered on NATO formed the West nations, dividing the world in two. Belonging to neither the East nor the West, developing countries were called Third World nations and became a stand-in for wars between the East and West (Gaddis, The Strategies of Containment 70-78). The end of WWII and the beginning of the C... ... middle of paper ... ... a, from containment to rollback in Korea; welcoming European integration because it portended the creation of an economic unit that encouraged technological innovation; building a configuration of power in the international system, nurturing free markets while safeguarding American interests, a constant in Washington for more than 35 years; and, free political economy at home were just a few of the strategic methods used to change, influence, and shape American domestic policy (Leffler, The Specter of Communism,100-129).

    Read More

  • The Long-Term Causes of the Fall of the Soviet Union

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    The overall collapse of the Communist regime came rather quickly, but there were underlying causes of the collapse that were apparent during the preceding decades. On the surface, the 1970s looked good for the Soviet Union. A lot of certain aspects were still going the Soviet Unions way. However, in 1975, the Soviet Union’s power peaked. In 1975, the Soviet Union’s power began to dwindle and there were six underlying causes of the collapse that can be dated back to that year. In this essay I will discuss these six causes and how they helped bring about the actual collapse of the Soviet regime.

    Read More

  • The Similarities Between Communism And Communism

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Gorbachev’s Failed Attempts to Reform the USSR

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    He had to admit that the USSR was finished and he was with it. In a television speech on 25 December 1991, Gorbachev announced the end of the Soviet Union. There are four reasons why Mikhail Gorbachev’s attempts to reform the U.S. USSR failed: first, there was opposition from within the communist. party (the radicals vs. the conservatives). Second, the economic

    Read More

  • The Cold War: The End Of The Cold War

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    The end of the Cold War was one of the most unexpected and important events in geopolitics in the 20th century. The end of the Cold War can be defined as the end of the bipolar power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, which had existed since the end of the World War II. The conclusion of the Cold War can be attributed to Gorbachev’s series of liberalizations in the 1980s, which exposed the underlying economic problems in the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc states that had developed in the 1960s and 70s and prevented the USSR from being able to compete with the US as a superpower. Nevertheless, Reagan’s policies of a renewed offensive against communism, Gorbachev’s rejection of the Brezhnev doctrine and the many nationalities

    Read More

  • Good Bye Lenin Essay

    442 Words  | 1 Pages

    The movie “Good Bye Lenin” portrays the differences that had existed between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. The movie depicts, through the reason that the father fled to the east, that in the GDR one either had to accept, or at least pretend to accept, the values of the Communist Party or else they will be harassed by the government. This contrasts with the west, where although party affiliation was important, it was not a necessity, and there were at least three options, the CDU, the FDP, and the SPD. The movie also depicts the economic differences between the two Germanys.

    Read More

  • Mikhail Gorbachev´s Glasnost and Perestroika Policies Contribution to the Collapse of the USSR

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of this investigation is to assess how significant Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost, and Perestroika polices contribute to the collapse of the USSR. In order to understand how significant of a factor Gorbachev policies were to the collapse of the USSR, we will investigate from how significant were the reforms emplaced by Gorbachev, to how the USSR was doing economically from the time Gorbachev came into power. The main sources for this investigation range from an Excerpt from The cold war: The United States and the Soviet union by Ronald Powaski who states facts about both the economic and political issues of the time. Excerpts from “New political thinking” from perestroika by Gorbachev which states how he believes new political ideas are for the good for the USSR. Finally in The Dissolution of the Soviet Union by Myra Immell who goes over many of the factors of the USSR’s collapse.

    Read More

  • Communism In The Soviet Union And Why It Failed

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    happened ? What did the Soviet Union do wrong to cause a breakdown of their

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin's Failures

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    The most powerful communist country in history, the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, also known as the Soviet Union. Although being the biggest country the world has come to know, the country’s domestic struggles led to its downfall. Others suggest the Union’s desperation to outperform the United States of America in military and space flight led to excessive spending and in the end, stagnation. Moreover after decades of repressive communist rule, domestic attitudes towards the governments went to their all-time lows and led to the population’s unrest. Economic and political issues failed to get prioritized and continued to get ignored. Mikhal Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR, introduced his plans, attempting to change the flaws of their government while keeping the same fundamentals of Communism. In the end, his plans backfired and the population used its new found freedom of speech, given to them by Gorbachev, against the communist government.

    Read More

  • The Collapse of the Soviet Union

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Good Bye Lenin Essay

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    Good Bye Lenin! was set in 1989 East Germany. It followed the story of a young man named Alex – although, at the beginning of the film, he was just a boy. His mother thrived under the socialistic regime of East Berlin at the time. She was a schoolteacher, led the children’s choir, and wrote unpleasant reviews to companies in the hopes of bringing justice to unsatisfied customers in her spare time. Alex had a sister named Ariane.

    Read More

  • who if any one won the cold war?

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Why Did The Soviet Union Collapse

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Described as one of the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century by the current Russian president Vladimir Putin, when the Soviet Union collapsed it caused major changes in political and economic affairs. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as USSR, has been formed in 1922, and had influence in the global scale, especially after the victory in WWII. Initially, USSR consisted of only six member states including Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, however it has enlarged gradually during the time until 1941, consisted of 15 states, expanding to Central Asia and parts of the Balkans. Nevertheless, due to many reasons, which I will discuss later on, the existence of USSR came to it`s end, officially in 1991.

    Read More

  • Essay On Why Did Central And Eastern Europe Collapse

    3428 Words  | 7 Pages

    The paper will also argue that the policies imposed by Mikhail Gorbachev finalized the destruction of the SU and led to its collapse (Coldwar.org, 2015). These reasons will be reflected using a comparative analysis of the fall of Communism in three different countries: Czechoslovakia, Poland and the German Democratic republic. These countries were chosen as there were different aspects contributing to the fall in each of them as well as they greatly differ with regards to how convulsed the fall of Communism occurred in each

    Read More

  • Soviet Uniom Achievements

    244 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Soviet Union was the land of friendship and labor. They promoted the arts and sciences. Children played with tinker toys and electric kits, learned about how things worked. The Union put emphasis on supporting the youth and community, rather than on oneself. The Soviet Uniom had a strong work ethic beyond anything that we have ever seen. During the late 40's alone, the Soviet industry experienced a 20% increase, while the Americans faced a 22% decrease. The regime was built on the foundations of Marx Works as a sanctuary for the workers of the world. The list of Soviet achievements is a long one. In the space race alone, the Soviets were the first to ever send a satellite into orbit(Sputnik), first life in space (Sputnik 2), the first to

    Read More

More about Dissolution Of The Soviet Union Essay

Open Document