Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
rise and fall of communism in the soviet union
the fall of the Soviet Union
the fall of the Soviet Union
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: rise and fall of communism in the soviet union
In 1989, two historic events took place that would come to shape world politics. The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union were the two most populous and powerful communist powers on the globe. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall in East Germany was torn down. This wall was a symbol of communism's hold on Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Its fall marked the end of the hegemony of the Soviet Union. By 1991, the Soviet Union was replaced with the democratic Russian Federation. In June 1989, tens of thousands of protestors flooded into Tiananmen Square in Beijing. These students were demanding more rights in the communist People's Republic of China. The communist leaders violently crushed the demonstrators by sending in tanks. Two dramatically different approaches towards demands for reform. China reformed at a slow pace that kept intact their political structure while transforming their economic system. Whereas the Soviet Union attempted to reform both politically and economically at a rapid pace and the country collapsed.
By the end of the 1980s, both the Soviet Union and China were experiencing domestic unrest. In China, frustration with the leaders of the country would cause the most civil unrest seen in that nation since the death of Mao. Reform was anathema to the octogenarians who led China. Deng Xiaoping lead China from 1978 until his death in the 1990s, though he never held any of the top leadership posts. Deng would give the order to violently crush the protestors in June 1989. Throughout the 1980s there was an ideological battle within the ranks of the Communist party. One group wished the government to maintain its policies. The other argued for liberalization, both economically and...
... middle of paper ...
...the process and maintain its power structure. These two nations, both communist powers with similar historic backgrounds, met two very different fates. Since the late 1980s, China has embarked on a series of economic reform that have led to the liberalization of their economy. Private enterprises thrive and the economy booms. Communist leaders have allowed this economic transition to take place and grow tremendously. Whereas since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has fallen into economic stagnation. The Russian Federation maintains many of the problems of the Soviet Union: a colossal bureaucracy, low standards of living, and high unemployment. Two similar nations faced with comparable circumstances took radically different paths. These dissimilar routes would lead each nation in opposite directions: one to a renaissance and the other one to its demise.
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
In the year 1961, the building of Berlin Wall called upon disasters in Germany. United States controlled the west of Berlin while German Democratic Republic held the East. Being stuck under the rule of day to day terror, people from East Berlin were making their way to the West Berlin. West Berlin was a safe spot and freedom checkpoint in the middle of terror. To stop the moving of East Berliners, the East German government decided to build a barrier that limited and halted the East Berliners from leaving. But the battle to control Berlin between, the United States and the Soviet Union, had been taking place since after the division of Germany. The German Democratic Republic wanted better control over its people to spread its communist ideas
... 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.
Post-Cold War Asia has been witness to a China that increasingly focuses its foreign policy on its neighbors rather than on a regional or global context. This stems from China's realization that free markets have triumphed over centrally planned economies and that a world revolution is not going to happen. This has two implications. One, China no longer needs to divert resources to involve itself in global politics since the proletarian revolution is not going to take place. Second, China needs to embark on a program of economic development and modernization (F. Wang p. 32 and J. Wang p. 80).
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 publically voiced. Barbed wire border fences in Hungary were being torn down. East Germans were fleeing to the West. Overnight the Berlin wall collapsed. The start of these historical events was the Polish Revolution of 1989.
...) and bring China under uniform thought as well. Thus, in his attempt to accomplish his goals he placed less emphasis on freedom and more on developing a sturdy political backbone. Deng, on the other hand, wanted to thrust China in the global community for economic fortune at the expense of everything Mao had established. In the process, he brought a freedom and wave of democracy to the People's Republic, endowing the Chinese citizens with dreams of wealth and prosperity that were never even considered in the time of Mao. As China, progresses further into the twenty first century, its role seems quite unclear. A return to Post-revolutionary authoritarian communism seems unlikely, as does the institution of a true democracy but perhaps a new form of stability will arise to grant greater liberty to individuals or possibly even another Tiannenmen lurking in the future.
In conclusion Berlin Wall was an important milestone in the growth of the Cold War. It was the expansion that represented the thinking of a determined Communist system. Western Capitalism, which was more powerful, eventually defeated the system. The massive wall that did so much harm to a country was finally destroyed, and the people of Germany could now live the way they all wanted to live. They could live the life of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall East Germany has went through a lot of changes, and it still is not easy for all of the people in East Germany. But no matter how hard it is for the people of East Germany now, it is better than being alone and separated from their families, friends and rest of Europe.
In States vs. Markets, Herman Schwartz presents two economic development strategies that have been employed by late industrial developers in order to either take advantage of existing comparative advantages or facilitate rapid industrial growth through state intervention and provision in order to gain a competitive foothold in world markets. Schwartz demonstrates how China was able to employ elements of these development strategies to generate capital from an abundant rural labour supply in order to pursue industrial development and attract foreign investment through economic reform starting in the late 1970's.
Russia, on the other hand, has a technologically superior military over China, a very large source of...
Despite the death of Mao in 1976 and the trial of the Gang of Four in 1980, the Cultural Revolution continues to hold significant influence over China’s political decisions. This is particularly evident in 1989, during the Tiananmen Incident. Despite the celebration of the May Fourth student movement as the catalyst in the formation of the Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping (a victim of the Cultural Revolution) and other hardline Party members were adamantly against the gathering of students in Tiananmen Square. The experience of the Cultural Revolution has led Chinese political leaders to be cautious about large scale political movements, and student activism in particular. The lingering resonance of the Cultural Revolution is also evident in the fact that the CCP saw the need to address Mao’s responsibility while trying to maintain his legitimacy and importance as the ideological leader of the Party.
The spread of Communism and its ideals significantly increased during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War which intensified after the Second World War and resulted in a victory to the Communists in October 1949. At this time, the majority of the provinces in China were led by either the GMD or the CCP. However, the civilians in the GMD-ruled cities were suffering rapid inflation, strikes, violence and riots which led to a collapse of public order. Adding to this instability, corruption was rife within the Nationalist party’s lead...
In conclusion, the chaos that was encountered by t the Soviet Union together with the ideas the new leaders brought in enlightenment Eastern Europe about communism. This made the countries understand their freedom and rights through the Glasnot. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the freedom and independence of many soviet states. They were no longer a world super power and with the difficulties it faced economically, politically and socially, led to its own downfall. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union also led to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe as the countries became democratic.
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 topic of democracy in China is a highly controversial topic. Although China has not democratised, it has done well in the global situation amongst its democratic competitors. Since the path to democracy is different for each country, we cannot expect that China would follow the same path or same model of democracy as the western nations. This essay will look at what democracy is and how it can be placed in a Chinese context as well as looking at the proponents and opponents of democracy in China. It will also look at whether China is democratising by focusing on village elections, globalisation and the emergence of a civil society. These specific topics were chosen because they will help provide good evidence and arguments to the topic of democratisation in China. The main argument in this essay will be that although China is implementing some changes that can be seen as the beginning of a road to democracy, there contribution should not be over estimated. China still has a long way to go before it can be considered that it is democratising. The small changes are good but China still has a long road ahead of itself to achieve democracy.