There is an assumption that the East European revolutions of 1989-90 led to the breakup of the Warsaw Pact which was a direct cause for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, due to economic, social, and political reasons. In the 1970s, the economy began to slow down as the rest of the world turned to globalization and new technologies. The Soviets focused on an industry of coal, iron, and steel production. Soviets made consumer goods that were rare, expensive, and very poorly made. Soviet agriculture was always inefficient, and these inefficiencies meant that the Soviets had to import grain from the United States and Canada. Between the 1970s and 80s the Soviets faced social problems. There was a rise of Samizdat literature and nonconformist activity. Many writers began to "self-publish", using new, cheap, office photocopiers and mimeographs. As these writers were circulated, there was an idea that there were alternatives to the Soviet way, which lead to many problems. Then Soviet Union refused exit visa to thousands of …show more content…
It was formed as a response to NATO, which was formed by most West European countries supporting Capitalism, which also had major military backing from the United States. They believed that Capitalism would become aggressive, which would lead to war against East Europe, but NATO believed that Communism would become aggressive which would lead to war against West Europe. The Warsaw considered of counties in East Europe that were not part of the Soviet Union. The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between Communist countries in East Europe to counter the threat of Capitalism in Europe. It had a great effect as a military obstacle, on any of the European nations seeking war against other nations, to better further the spread of the ideas it
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 United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would complement the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under Soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as?buffers? nations, preventing invasion from the West.
World War II left the Soviet Union feeling uneasy; Stalin had lived to see his country invaded a total of three times. Stalin was determined to prevent further damage to his country, so he began creating a buffer zone by essentially forcing the countries of Central Europe to agree to a communistic government that was closely aligned with the USSR. Stalin created the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which bound Central Europe together. However, after Stalin died his iron grip was no longer available to keep the countries of Central Europe in line. Stalin’s successor Khrushchev was an advocate for loosening of the iron grip. Khrushchev believed in the idea that there was “more than one road to socialism.” It was Khrushchev’s policies in regards to socialism
On the other hand, it was not only war that helped the communists to take power in East-Central Europe after 1944. Stalin and the communist parties took advantage of political, economic, and social factors to spread their influence across. Stalin believed that he must impose his own social system in each territory he would occupy, and this required a full-scale Soviet military presence throughout East-Central Europe. He did not succeed in his objective overnight, but set out to make certain that he, alone, would determine the political agenda in the region. Stalin also knew that it was the size of the Soviet Union that aided in the defeat of Germany and was the same factor that would protect the region from further attacks.
" This policy meant that America was prepared to send money, equipment and ad... ... middle of paper ... ... the Warsaw Pact. This was also a military treaty in which the Communist countries of Eastern Europe (and later China) all agreed to help each other - and the Soviet Union - in the event of armed attack from the West.
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.
of the beginning of the fall of Communism in Poland. The Communist government saw that the
Both outside states played a role in the conflict. The Cold War and the ideological battle between the US and USSR played a large role in facilitated the Congo Crisis, which hindered other African states’ move to decolonization. African leaders knew that isolating Africa from international politics would harm security and economic stability, but opening their states to aid from the US and the USSR allowed for foreign ideological influence. The West planned to stop the spread of foreign communism with “containment” policies, using the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as military force, while the USSR responded with the Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955. These military organizations were examples of the actions the West and East took to make themselves appear intimidating to other states, but neither resulted in major military action.
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.
happened ? What did the Soviet Union do wrong to cause a breakdown of their
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 North Atlantic Treaty Organization was made right after World War II ended. All the while many numbers of Soviet troops remained in Eastern Europe. Governments set up by these forces were pro-communist, are called the Warsaw Pact countries. Besides the USSR, these countries include Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. The member nations agreed that an attack on any one of them would be considered an attack against all of them. NATO was another event that triggered Stalin’s power and it was seen as a defensive tactic against USSR which caused tensions to rise.
middle of paper ... ... Finally, another thing that the creation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact accomplished was to install a desire for territory and advantage on both sides. Both wanted, in short, more people to follow and accept their thinking of either capitalism or communism. This policy manifested itself, especially in the Korean War.
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.