How the Fall of the Soviet Union Has Affected The World

1866 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the fall of the Soviet Union

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...

... middle of paper ...

...ocide in the Congo and Rwanda. The fall of the Soviet Union has led to many new problems.

Works Cited

"A Globe Redrawn." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 07 Nov. 2009.
Web.
"Cuban Economy." Cuban Economy. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.

Cuny, Fredrick C. "Post-Cold War." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web.

"Fall of the Soviet Union." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Feb.2014

"GDP Growth (annual %)." Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

"Russian Economy in the Aftermath of the Collapse of the Soviet Union." Russian Economy in the Aftermath of the Collapse of the Soviet Union.
N.p., n.d. Web.

"Timeline: Soviet Union." BBC News. BBC, 03 Mar. 2006. Web.

"Vyacheslav Nikonov: Six Consequences of the Collapse of the Soviet Union." Vyacheslav Nikonov: Six Consequences of the Collapse of the Soviet Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • 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

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

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Why Did The Soviet Union Collapse

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Disintegration of the Soviet Union

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The Soviet Union Falls: December 26, 1991." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 2: Asia and Oceania. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2013. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • What Are The Political Factors Responsible To The Collapse Of The Soviet Union

    1748 Words  | 4 Pages

    During 1950-1991 The Soviet Union was considered one of the most powerful countries in the world. Known during this time for its enormous military and the overtaking and enforcing total communist ruler over all the eastern block European countries.The conquering of these countries gained the Soviet Union useful resources such as oil, food, minerals,goods,and land which during this time was very useful to the Soviet Union. Even with all of these advantages the Soviet Union had several internal problems such as severe famine , poor economy,People working in horrible conditions in factories being payed minimum wage, and depending on rival countries for food and supplies. It got worse when Gorbachev took over and made several new reforms such as glasnost and perestroika and with all of the rapid changes in the S.U ( Soviet Union) government it caused social chaos and disorder and rebellion against Gorbachev. (GQ) Though which of the factors contributed more to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Economy or politics?.(Claim) During this time period Political factors seem more responsible to the collapse of the Soviet Union, because even though the Soviet Union had several food shortages it does not compare to how the Soviet Union lost several sources of income and resources such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, etc.(Significance) Countries like Poland which has plenty of

    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

  • Cold War Rivalry

    1711 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...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.

    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

  • The Fall of the Soviet Union

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    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

  • Reagan: From Humble Beginnings to Global Impact

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reagan showed his recognition of the eventual self-destruction of the Soviet Union in his speech to the British Parliament: “The decay of the Soviet experiment should come as no surprise to us…The constant shrinkage of economic growth combined with the growth of military production is putting a heavy strain on the Soviet people. What we see here is a political structure that no longer corresponds to its economic base” (D’Souza,

    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

  • 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 emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at 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 soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government needs a strong economy to maintain its power and influence, but in this case the economic planning of the Soviet Union was just not working, which had an influence in other communist nations in Eastern Europe as they declined to collapse.

    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 Fall of Communism

    365 Words  | 1 Pages

    The fall of communism can be linked to several reasons. Some of these reasons were internal while other were the results of outside influence. For a form of any type of government to work the people must support it, true a government can use force to make their populace submit to the will of the government as with China in Tiananmem Square. In that case, the government use armed military force to put down student demonstrator demanding for democracy reform. Meanwhile over in Eastern Europe the people are able to force a change of government. When communism first took hold in Russia, Lenin predicted that their system would produce a new socialist man, completely loyal to communism. However, the young folks that had spent their whole life under communist control that hated this form of government and were trying to escape to the west. This maybe credit to fact that folks behind the Iron Wall were able to see the advantages the people of the west had. Other internal problems facing the communist governments of Eastern Europe was the collapse of their economy. The arms race the Soviet Union had been involved in with NATO had bankrupted their economy. This in turn effect 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, than the people will look for a form of government that can provide for them. Than there is one aspect of human nature that 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. When the Soviet Union pushed out the forces of Nazi Germany, they install puppet governments that were loyal to the Soviet Union. Inspite of 40 plus years of control, the communist party was never able to kill the dream of the people to govern themselves and chose their own destiny. The other major cause for the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was NATO.

    Read More

More about How the Fall of the Soviet Union Has Affected The World

Open Document