...Political issues played a key role in the downfall of the Soviet union in 1991. Many of these issues came from the foundations of a non-reforming society, a defective union, and party politics. One way to describe the society of the Soviet Union was its tendency for non reform, which would “plague the very infrastructure of the Soviet Union until its dying days.”(What Explains the Collapse of the USSR?, Jean Baptiste) This is due to primarily due to Stalin’s “hijacking” of the Communist ideology, where he primarily cut all opposing views and critical thinking, which is a primary source of reform. The satellites that compromised the USSR struggled to unite due to extremely diverse nationalities, races, and religions. This led to societal problems...
Words: 416 - Pages: 2
...Ronald Reagan’s influence in the collapse of the Soviet Union I. Economic Policy Economic Recovery Plan After the U.S celebrated the victory and end of WWII, two of the world’s greatest superpowers would compete to be the biggest and the greatest of all time. It would prove to be the greatest struggle of political, social, economic, and ideological polices and plans, between the U.S and the USSR, the world had ever seen. This would soon be known as the inevitable Cold War. Amongst the major struggles of the war, one man would prove to have a great influence in collapsing the Soviet empire, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan directly contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union through his economic, political, and military polices. (Dobson, 2005, p. 4). During Reagan’s administration, the Soviet Union was facing serious economic growth and policy issues. One of the more major issues the Soviets had was in economic manufacturing. The Soviet Union dictated how many factories people could own, as well as...
Words: 907 - Pages: 4
...Factors That Culminated In the Eventual Collapse of Communism and the Demise of the Soviet Union Purnea Gillani Author Note This report was prepared for International Relations Practice, BS (Hons) Major in Political Science and Minor in Management, taught by Professor Sajaad Naseer ABSTRACT The collapse of the soviet empire is often heralded in the West as a triumph of capitalism and democracy, as though this event was a direct result of the policies of the Reagan and Thatcher governments. This analysis has little relation to measurable facts, circumstances and internal political dynamics that were the real historical causes of the deterioration of the Soviet empire. The key to understanding the reasons for the demise of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe is to be found not in the speeches or policies of Western politicians, but in internal Soviet history. Through our report we have attempted to discern the various complex factors that came together and led to the unraveling of the Soviet Union and the end of communism in Europe. This report contains an analysis of how social, political and economic factors culminated in the sudden and unprecedented collapse of the Soviet Union at the perceived height of its power. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank … Contents ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 3 INTRODUCTION 5 LITERATURE REVIEW 8 ROLE...
Words: 4852 - Pages: 20
...November 3rd, 2013 The Soviet Union, now Russia, heavily influenced the second global economy. From the reconstruction of Germany to the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s actions affected the world second only to the United States. While the second global economy is loosely defined as the era between the years of 1971 and 1998, the seeds of this time period were planted shortly after the end of World War II in the European theatre. Following the fall of Nazi Germany, the United States devised the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economies of war-devastated countries. As a world power, the United States believed it was their duty to prevent another world war. The Soviet Union agreed with the sentiment, but not with the approach the western nations took. To prevent the rise of authoritarian governments, the United States promoted democracies, constitutional rule, and capitalism. The Soviet Union, an authoritarian government, advanced their communist ideas to counter the Truman Doctrine. The result of the opposing ideologies was a strained relationship between the two influencers of the modern world, and the initiation of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was focused on spreading their political ideology for one reason: Protection (Service 2). While most of the world considers the establishment of communist regimes as Soviet expansion, the Soviet Union created a buffer zone. In essence, the surrounding nations would provide more time for the Soviet Union to prepare while opposing troops...
Words: 2500 - Pages: 10
...from 1981-1989. In his 1985 State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan called upon Congress and the American people to stand up to the Soviet Union, what he had previously called the “Evil Empire”. From this State of the Union came the well-known Reagan Doctrine of 1985. This doctrine defined American interests around the globe and its determination of preventing communism from expanding. “The Reagan Doctrine proclaims overt and unashamed American support for anti-Communist revolution. It is intended to establish a new, firmer--a doctrinal--foundation for such support by declaring equally worthy all armed resistance to communism, whether foreign or indigenously imposed.” (Krauthammer, 1985). A situation that required the United States diplomatic efforts during President Reagan’s time in office was the rapidly growing expansion of the Soviet Union in East Asia, Indies and the Middle East. Another situation was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which had begun in 1979. Previously, the Carter administration had little hesitation in coming to the aid of Afghanistan after the invasion. At the time, the United States had the understanding that the Soviet Union would eventually become Middle East and would be able to gain control of the oil fields. Two events increased U.S.-Soviet tensions: the suppression of the Solidarity labor movement in Poland in December 1981, and the destruction of an off-course civilian airliner by a Soviet jet fighter in 1983. The United States also...
Words: 1191 - Pages: 5
...Which did more to cause the collapse of the Soviet Communism by 1991, developments inside or outside the USSR? 1991 marks the end of Soviet Communism. Leading to 1991, USSR started to lose support from the Eastern European as USSR was in a situation that provided them with undesirable economic situations, low living standards, political instability and lack of freedom. As a whole, the cause for these situations, thereby leading to the fall of Soviet Communism, can be categorized in two main reasons – developments inside of USSR, and developments outside the USSR. While the external developments such as role of Ronald Reagan & his policies, the Pope’s involvement, rise of non communist movements in Eastern Europe and price of oil and effects on USSR did played a significant role in breaking the Soviet Communism, it is still undeniable that the internal developments, mainly the USSR leaders’ (Brezhnev and Gorbachev) policies, made larger and more tangible impacts that raises the resentment and opposition to Soviet domination, causing it to fall apart. The developments inside the USSR therefore did more to cause the collapse of the Soviet Communism. To begin with, one of the early causes of the fall of communism is due to the stagnation period under Brezhnev where economy did not improve, or rather, declined (which can be seen from USSR’s continuous importing of grain from US). This stagnation was due to expanded military and neglected domestic economy. As a whole, this period...
Words: 1718 - Pages: 7
...During the first few years of Gorbachev’s leadership, the focus of the regime had been on the economic and then political reform. Although there had been some concerns about nationalist resurgence, few predicted it would escalate and lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s speech in 1986 stated that there was no longer any nationalities issue within the USSR as everyone was dedicated towards his reforms regardless of identity. This can be argued with the collapse of the USSR as it was brought on by movements within Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. However, the collapse of the USSR can also be argued by looking at the failure of Gorbachev’s economic reforms and political stagnation. The failure of acceleration and the reforms within the economy had an impact in the Republics where people began to question whether Gorbachev was committed towards the reforms as was required to to reinvigorate the economy. The reforms of Uskoreniye that was believed to be the gradualist approach to help to invigorate the economy failed. His estimates of national income were short by 2% and the initial measures of perestroika were having no effect. He blamed poor economic advice and the Republics were obstructing change, and this led to societal stagnation as the USSR began to experience shortages of food and higher prices for goods. By the summer of 1990, it was clear there was a major crisis in the economy. Most reformers now accepted that tinkering of the economy was over...
Words: 1051 - Pages: 5
...Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future ”-Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler and his regime is a great example of how a society based of hate will not last. After reading Book One in 1984 by George Orwell, one fundamental question is brought to mind, can society based on hate survive? In the book, the main character, Winston, believes that a society based on hate would basically kill itself. Another character in the book, O’brien, said that their society would last because they were founded on hate unlike other society founded on love and peace that eventually disappeared. No society based on hate can survive because history has proven that to be true. One example of a society based...
Words: 649 - Pages: 3
...Human trafficking and exploitation have been in existence since the beginning of time. This paper focuses on the underground economy of human trafficking and its relation to the transitioning economies of Russia and Ukraine. To understand the scope of the issue of human trafficking on transitioning economies, the history and origination of the issue must be clearly understood. The emergence of human trafficking, also commonly referred to as modern day slavery, can be dated back to the beginning of the 20th century; the start of slavery when humans were trafficked for mainly for labor. Records of human slavery within Europe date back to ancient Greece and Rome, but the practice did not end in ancient history. There are long-standing historical precedents for the exploitation of Slavs within Western Europe. It is commonly perceived that slavery disappeared from Europe many centuries ago. There was little knowledge of the active slave market in Palermo Sicily, with slaves being brought from Africa until the middle of the nineteenth century. Much of the slave trade was ran by legitimate actors and companies sanctioned by the state. An active slave trade with Africa flourished in the large colonial powers of Europe such as England and some of the smaller colonial powers such as Portugal. In addition to Africans, indigenous American populations were also enslaved in the colonies of Central and South America and the Caribbean. When the importation of slaves was outlawed in the colonies...
Words: 1593 - Pages: 7
...forces or words and actions of key individuals? Given Event: downfall of the USSR Focus word: more responsible Introduction: * Background Information: The downfall of the USSR in the year 1991 was due to the convergence of many factors, mainly the impersonal economic forces and the words and actions of key individuals. * Definitions: * Downfall of USSR: the collapse of the Soviet union in the year 1991 * Impersonal economic and social forces: Economic and Social forces not in relation to any particular person at all * Words and actions of key individuals: The people in power creating a situation which allowed many bad repercussions to occur * More responsible: had more significance in resulting in the downfall of the USSR. * Argument outline: * 1: Impersonal economic and social forces had more responsibility in the downfall of USSR as they created unforeseen circumstances which could not be averted * 2: Words and Actions of Key individuals in the Soviet Union had more responsibility as they had full control of the economic circumstance in the Soviet Union. * 3: Words and actions of Key individuals in the USSR had more responsibility as they provoked the masses into a social revolution. * Stand: Impersonal economic and social forces were simply aggravations of the words and actions of key individuals. Thus words and actions of key individuals had more responsibility in the downfall of USSR. Body Paragraphs ...
Words: 790 - Pages: 4
...Explain why Soviet control of Hungary caused an uprising in 1956. Explain why Stalin decided to blockade Berlin in 1948. Explain why there was a growing involvement of the USA in Europe from 1945-48 Explain why relations between the USA and USSR changed in the years 1948–53. Explain why relations between the USA and USSR worsened in the years 1947–49. Explain why relations between the USA and USSR worsened in the years 1949–55 Explain why there was an uprising in Hungary in 1956. Explain why Cuba was a flashpoint in the Cold War in the years 1961–62. Explain why Czechoslovakia was a flashpoint in the Cold War in 1968. Explain why relations between the Soviet Union and the USA changed in the years 1961-63 Explain why relations between Cuba and the USA worsened in the years 1959–61 Explain why there was a crisis over Cuba in 1962. Explain why Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Explain why Berlin was a Cold War flashpoint in the years 1957–63. Explain why the relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev in the years 1985–88 helped to end the Cold War. Explain why relations between the USA and the Soviet Union changed in the years 1980–84 Explain why the USSR loosened its grip in eastern Europe from 1985-90 Explain why détente collapsed in the years 1979–84 Explain why relations between the USA and Soviet Union changed in the years 1983–87. Explain why relations between the USA and Soviet Union changed in the years 1979–83. Explain...
Words: 885 - Pages: 4
...The Cold War Overview * Arms Race * Communism * Glossary and Terms * Space RaceMajor Events * Berlin Airlift * Suez Crisis * Red Scare * Berlin Wall * Bay of Pigs * Cuban Missile Crisis * Collapse of the Soviet UnionWars * Korean War * Vietnam War * Chinese Civil War * Yom Kippur War * Soviet Afghanistan War | People of the Cold War Western Leaders * Harry Truman (US) * Dwight Eisenhower (US) * John F. Kennedy (US) * Lyndon B. Johnson (US) * Richard Nixon (US) * Ronald Reagan (US) * Margaret Thatcher (UK)Communist Leaders * Joseph Stalin (USSR) * Leonid Brezhnev (USSR) * Mikhail Gorbachev (USSR) * Mao Zedong (China) * Fidel Castro (Cuba) | http://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/summary.php The Cold War Communism Communism is a type of government and philosophy. Its goal is to form a society where everything is shared equally. All people are treated equally and there is little private ownership. In a communist government, the government owns and controls most everything including property, means of production, education, transportation, and agriculture. History of Communism Karl Marx is considered the Father of Communism. Marx was a German philosopher and economist who wrote about his ideas in a book called the Communist Manifesto in 1848. His communist theories have also become known as Marxism. Marx described ten important aspects of a communist government: * No private property * A single central bank...
Words: 5022 - Pages: 21
...part of U.S. history since the eighteenth century. Soviet Union leaders, such as Marx, Lenin, and Stalin continued to spread communism to other nations. The Cold War was not a war of weapons but a war to stop the spread of communism. The book goes into details about how the United States used every media outlet to convince the public of the horrors of communism. America was never really threatened by the Cold War. It was nothing more than two super powers battling for control. This book informs us that the start of the Cold War was caused by U.S. fear of the spread of communism and other events. The authors Sir Jeremy Isaacs is a British television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. The other author Taylor Downing is an award winning TV producer, head of independent production company Flashback Television for 25 years and writer of best sellers. The two put together a very informative book covering the 50 yearhistory of America. I. The Iron Curtain: America knew they could not trust the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin leadership. During the invasion of Germany the concerns about the Soviet was put aside. During World War II the U.S. and Soviet became allies. Stalin used aggressive tactics to gain control of countries near the Soviet Union after the war. This sparked strong reactions from the West. Using its military in the occupied counties the Soviet helped local communist parties to come into power....
Words: 1168 - Pages: 5
...The collapse of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the USSR is undoubtedly the most significant development in world politics since the Second World War. In immediate terms, it has provoked widespread ideological confusion and demoralisation within the international workers' movement, and on the other side, gloating by the capitalist rulers and their apologists. The latter have used this event to step up their efforts to discredit socialism by identifying it with the bureaucratic dictatorship that has ruled over the Soviet Union since Stalin's rise to power in the 1920s. This, of course, is not something new. The capitalist rulers in the West have always argued that the totalitarian regime created by Stalin and maintained by his heirs was the inevitable consequence of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The capitalists were greatly assisted in this task by the Stalinists' claim to represent the tradition of Marx and Lenin. The capitalists cynically accepted the Stalinists' description of their hideous police regimes as representing "socialism" in order to prejudice the workers of the West against socialism by identifying it with the denial of democratic freedoms, and to promote the idea that bourgeois parliamentary democracy is the highest embodiment of human freedom. While this bourgeois propaganda campaign certainly succeeded in discrediting Marxism and Leninism among large sections of working people in the imperialist democracies during...
Words: 657 - Pages: 3
...The Cold War was the time of rivalry and conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union. It started at the end of World War II and ended with the collapse of communism at the end of the 1980s. It was a time of political tension, in which both superpowers tried to prevent each other from gaining too much power. Even if the conflict did not result in a real war, there were many situations in which the world was very close to it. After World War II Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II, they had different ideas about the future of the world. At the end of the war the Soviets controlled much of Eastern Europe and installed Communist governments there. The United States, on the other side, wanted to stop Communist ideas from spreading. It helped Western European countries to stay free and also gave them big sums of money to help rebuild their weak economies. The border between the Communist east and the free west was called the Iron Curtain and ran straight through the middle of Europe. The Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain blue = NATO countries red = Warsaw Pact Countries green = bloc-free Grey = neutral Military Blocs after World War II After World War II two military organizations emerged. In 1949 the United States and other western countries founded NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), on the other side the Soviets led the Warsaw Pact, a military organization of eastern European countries. Both military blocs...
Words: 974 - Pages: 4
