Post WWII USSR, from 1945-1991
The Soviet Union was an incredibly powerful and unstable country; it had just been on the winning side of the WWII, also had a ruined economy and a regime that was incredibly oppressive, and an economic and social system that was so incredibly alien to anything else witnessed in modern history. Now, the main causes of this change is most likely linked to both the Soviet Revolution, which happened prior to WWII, and WWII itself.
WWII in general really changed the face of the world, and of all those places, it probably changed the most in the former allies. Britain, America, and Russia. While the west was reaching a new level of progress and stability, both politically and economically, Russia was having some massive changes, that, arguably could be considered progress, but could also be seen as stagnation. Russia's economy was incredibly unstable, due to the amount of money put into the war effort and the huge casualties sustained by Russia after Germany invaded. Russia also faced a large amount of political instability-or stability, depending on your view- as it was a communist-scoliosis society that was not being controlled by the people, but rather the one political party of Russia, the communists. And at the head of this during and the earliest points if post war Russia, Stalin.
Russia's population was extremely damaged during WWII. Around 23 million people died as a direct result of the war, and of that 23 million, 12 million were civilians. This is more than any other European country in sheer number of casualties. This was 13.7% of the Russian population. This is just a huge number, and it also damaged the economy, due to the lose of many of the workers, in a system in w...
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Gorbachev graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. While he was at the university, he joined the Communist Party, and soon became very active within it. Within three years of the deaths of Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo in 1985. Before he reached the post, he had occasionally been mentioned in Western newspapers as a likely next leader and a man of the younger generation at the top level.
Gorbachev's policies of openness and restructuring as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War, removed the constitutional role of the Communist Party in governing the state, and inadvertently led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
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.
No war is fought without the struggle for resources, and with Russia still rapidly lagging behind in the international industrialisation race by the turn of the 20th century, the stage was set for social unrest and uprising against its already uncoordinated and temporally displaced government. With inconceivable demands for soldiers, cavalry and warfare paraphernalia, Russia stood little chance in the face of the great powers of World War One. Shortages of basic human necessities led to countless subsistence riots and the eventual power struggle between the ruling body and its people. From the beginnings of WWI to 1916, prices of essential goods rose 131 percent in Moscow and more than 150 percent in Petrograd. Additionally, historian Walter G. Moss stated that in September 1915 that “there were 100,000 strikers in Russia; in October 1916, there were 250,000 in Petrograd alone.” Moss continues to exemplify the increasing evidence of social unrest and connects the riots to a lack of resources when he goes on to point out that “subsistence riots protesting high prices and shortages… also increased.” ...
The major factor that led to the true end of the Cold War was the ongoing personal and diplomatic relationship between Presidents George H. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev. This resulted in the reduction of the Russian military and favorable arms agreements. Key indicators of the substance behind this relationship were the Soviet troop withdrawals from Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, and Hungary (lifting the Hungarian/Austrian “Iron Curtain” along the border). Subsequently the opening of the Berl...
Most of WWII took place half way through the 1940s, which had a reflective result on the majority of countries and citizens in Europe and Asia. The penalty of warfare lingered into the next part of the decade. Europe separated among the spheres of influence of the Soviet Union and the west foremost to the start of the Cold War. The 1940s also witnessed the premature early stages of new technologies including computers, nuclear power and jet propulsion, often first developed in tandem with the war effort, and later adapted and improved upon in the post-war era. The 1940s connects to the influence of contemporary America because it was the decade that changed so many things in life not only the government. In general our world as we knew it changed for the better and worse. The 1940s did the most to influence contemporary America because the U.S culture and society had changed a lot especially the role of women, many families were greatly impacted. The aspect of technology was completely revolutionized. During the decade the wealth rebounded from despair; big business improved its flawed public status; income and wages reached new heights; and dominant original sectors of the economy urbanized, particularly in the fabrication of buyer goods and armed forces hardware.
ending of the cold war. It has been said that President Ronald Reagan ended the
WWII evolved the entire globe, putting the world's largest economic and military powers against each other: the AXIS powers Germany, Japan and Italy against the ALLIED powers Russia, Britain and the U.S. There were some 27,372,900 civilians and 20,858,800 military personnel killed in the war. http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/deaths.htm
Gorbachev’s input and his clear goal of eliminating the arms race made it more possible for better Soviet-American relationships. Thus, Gorbachev, domestic politics and economic factors are more important to the end of the Cold War than Reagan. The realization that world peace is not reliant on military power transformed the Soviet-American relationship from the threat of mutual destruction and long lasting stereotype to an equilibrium of great power. Overall, an agreement can only be made when two sides
Ronald Reagan came to the Presidency without any major political qualifications, but his victory in the Cold War was no lucky outcome. Dinesh D'Souza’s new book, Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, just published by the Free Press, looks at how Reagan helped end the Cold War. Ten years ago Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate and said, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and East...
Gorbachev wanted a de-Stalinized Russia, did he go about it in a correct manner, well that is another question. What he did do, as previously stated is he ended the Cold War. He brought the Soviet Union to a stop as President Reagan credits him. But, ultimately, the collapse of the USSR came from within. Economic problems had eroded the once strong revolutionary-imperial paradigm and the power of the Soviet Union. In terms of today, Gorbachev (as stressed by Zubok) “did not have nor did he even seek to obtain any written agreement with the West to preserve Soviet interests in the region; such as preventing NATO expansion to the
The main fact that must not be forgotten when answering this question is that Russia emerged successful from the Second World War, despite its problems. It could not have done this without the achievements and developments of the industrial 1930s. An industrial decade underpinned by the violence of the Great Terror. Without this motivating fear, neither the Five Year Plans nor collectivisation could have succeeded to the extent that they did, and as a consequence the Soviet Union would have been defeated. Politically, dictatorship and the purging of factions created unity and brought tighter control over the party.
When Stalin became leader of the USSR the quality of life and standard of living dropped considerably. For instance the people had no personal freedom. Meaning that they had to worship Stalin as all other religions had been abolished and most churches had been demolished. The people who went into those churches that were left standing were arrested or punished otherwise. Soon there were food shortages. Somewhere between 1932 and 1933 over 6 million people died of starvation. This was the greatest man made famine in history. The famine came as a result of Stalin’s unrealistic goals . Also, people had poor family lives. Abortions came a dime a dozen as did divorces. Wedding rings were banned. There was insufficient housing, as some people had to live in tents. This may be because of workers not working hard enough. Maybe if the workers worked harder they could have received better housing.
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.
69 years after Joseph Stalin facilitated the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922, Mikhail Gorbachev played a part in its collapse, resigning from office the day before it officially fell on Christmas Day. Both leaders had an enormous effect on Soviet Russia and the welfare of its state and citizens. Stalin was a communist, who continued and supported the single party state founded by his predecessor Vladimir Lenin. Gorbachev, even though he was originally a member of the Communist Party, worked against the Marxist ideals implemented by Stalin and Lenin and worked to reform Russia to a more open society. Despite the obvious differences in ideologies and varying levels of success in office, both leaders left
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.
Despite this disagreement, Gorbachev and Reagan reached many agreements on issues regarding disarmament and sent a message to the world that the two biggest conflicting powers had ended their near-40 year dispute. Although at the outset of his presidency, Reagan sought to resolve the Cold War primarily through the use of money, it was his mouth that got the job done. The policy of containment had successfully stifled the Soviet empire and provided an opportune time for Reagan to end the war, and Gorbachev's willingness to comply provided him with the means to do so. Ultimately it was their special relationship, the inevitable implosion of the Russian economy, and President Reagan's fearlessness in demanding progress that brought an end to the Cold War.