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The fall of the Soviet Union
The fall of the Soviet Union
The fall of the Soviet Union
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In 1989 the Soviet Union fell. Along with his collapse came new issues that the world had never had to deal with before. Some of the ways these issues were dealt with affect the world even today. Many tensions were created during the fall of the Soviet Union that still exist today. Many problems have been created although many problems have been solved since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989.
The Soviet Union began to dismantle with the taking over of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. When Mikhail Gorbachev took over his was left with an economy in shambles and a country in need of reform. To hope to allow for the economy to become prosperous he introduced two policies: Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost or “openness” allowed for freedom of the press, elections to parties other than the communist party, release of political prisoners, freedom of all Soviet peoples, dismantling of the secret police force, and the end of Stalinist repression. Perestroika or economic restructuring was designed to allow Soviet people to own businesses, unionize for better wages and work conditions, open up for Western countries to invest, and allow for new trade amongst western countries.(Fall of the Soviet Union) Soon after these two policies many countries that were part of the Soviet Union became distressed at the weakening of the power of the mighty Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev began to stop the arms race and remove troops from Afghanistan. First, beginning with Poland in 1989 a series of revolutions began in which all the former Soviet republics fell one by one. By November of 1989 the Berlin wall was taken down symbolizing to the rest of the world that communism was beginning to crumble in Europe. By 1991 the last country of the Soviet Union, Ge...
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...ocide in the Congo and Rwanda. The fall of the Soviet Union has led to many new problems.
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...elopment of the Cold War. Tensions between the East and West became worse as a result of these events and it would be years before relations between the United States and the Soviet Union improved. The Berlin Blockade/Airlift, China becoming Communist and the Korean War tested both Soviet and American policies and drove the two superpowers to further tension.
the downfall of communism, as it were, took so long was the veto power of
... 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.
In conclusion, there were six long-term causes that were apparent during the preceding decades of the 1991 collapse. On the surface in the 1970s the Soviet Union seemed to be doing ok, but the underlying factors eventually played a large factor in the eventual demise of the Communist regime and the fall of the Soviet Union. In the year 1975 the Soviet Union’s power peaked and after that it was only downhill for the Soviet Union until it collapsed in 1991.
...ould change Russia’s relationship with the rest of the world. The first policy was “Glasnost” which meant political openness and the second was “Perestroika” which meant economic reform. It was not long that the hold that the USSR had over Eastern Europe was starting to fade. Each country replaced its government with a noncommunist one. In 1989 the Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the cold war, was destroyed. The wall physically came down after Ronald Reagan challenged Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. In 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolve and the cold war was over.
In the fall of 1989, people all around the world were watching unbelievable scenes on their televisions. Thousands of people in eastern Europe were meeting in the streets and squares and demanding the end of the communist rule. For the first time in history, opposition to communism was publicly voiced. Barbed wire border fences in Hungary are being torn down. East Germans fleeing to the West.
Before the Stalin, the Soviet Union was backward, medieval type country full of unmade roads and people who lived without electricity in wooden homes. The Five Year Plans changed thi...
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
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
to assume the role of dictator. This was a phenomenon which was to become a
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.
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 collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain, which had split Europe, had ascended and the once divided Germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
The NATO and Warsaw Pact were formed. This war inevitably led to destructive conflicts like the Vietnam War and Korean War. The Soviet Union collapsed due to its economic weakness. Berlin was destroyed and the two German nations were unified. The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics gained independence.