...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...
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...Was the demise of the Soviet Union caused principally by American policies or growing domestic unrest across the Eastern bloc? Student Name: XIANG MA Student ID Number: 2112688 Module Code: V12153 Module Title: The Contemporary World since 1945 Module Convenor: Sarah Browne At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union, the world’s first socialist country with the largest territorial area suddenly disintegrated without any war and foreign invasion, which was one of the most important global events in the 20th century and it shocked the world to a huge extent[1].Since then, there have been heated debates and discussion about what caused the demise of the Soviet Union. Some scholars think that internal factors such as social crisis and growing domestic unrest led to the end of the Soviet Union while others believe external factors like the policies of the US and Western Europe resulted in the end of the Soviet Union. This essay strongly agrees that the demise of the Soviet Union was caused principally by growing domestic unrest across the Eastern bloc rather than American policies. The Soviet Union was a multi-ethnic country built on the ruins of the Czarist Russia characterized by its nation. The ethnic issue of the Soviet Union was longstanding. During the history of more than 370 years starting from Moscow Grand Duke Ivan IV declared him to be Czar and established the Czarist Russia in 1547 until the Czarist Russia was overthrown in 1917, the Czarist...
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...Containment At the end of WWII both the Soviet Union and The United States were defined super powers. They were equal in terms of economics, and military power, and each was always striving to be the more superior country. The two countries did not trust one another based on their different views of the world, capitalism versus communism. The United States pushed for capitalism and democracy through out the world, while the Soviet Union felt that communism was better politics because it would enhance their economy and up their status. This relationship gave birth to their clash known as The Cold War, in which the USSR tried to spread their ideas about government and socialist economy, while The United States tried to contain it. In 1946, G.F. Kennan, and American Diplomat stationed in Moscow, wrote the Long Telegram that gave an outline on his views about the Soviet Union. Shortly before it was scribed and sent to Washington, the U.S. Treasury questioned the U.S. Embassy in Moscow about why the Soviet’s were not in support of the new World Bank. This is what prompted Kennan to write the telegram. In it he tells that the Soviet Union does not seek “peaceful coexistence” between communism and capitalism, that according to them capitalism was untrustworthy and could not influence the USSR. He also wrote of their other views, and how they desired to go about their expansion of communism, but the overall theme was that according to the Soviet Union communism was the answer and must be...
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...bad reasons. Berlin played a significant role in European history though the sequence of events from 1945 to the late 1990`s that were end of World War Two, through the rise and fall of the Berlin wall, and the birth of the Eurozone. The events covered during this time all interlinked with each other and where the cause for what Europe looks like today. At the end of World War two the USA, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union gathered together to see how Europe should be divided after the war. After it was all divided it came out that the Soviet Union should get most of the countries that Nazi Germany controlled, which were the eastern part of Europe. The division gave East Germany to the capitalist states, and West Germany to the socialist, with Berlin also divided into the two sides. Berlin was on the western side claimed by the USSR, but the city was divided into east and west just like the country had. This division of the capital happened pretty much over night and many were separated from their families and friends. The USSR built the Berlin Wall that would separate all contact with the east side. This forced a Socialist way of living that in the long run created many conflicts of Socialism against Capitalism. The Berlin Wall was eventually torn down and it marked the defeat of the Soviet Union in Europe and the end of the cold war, the wall was essentially the symbol of the Cold War. After the collapse there was much to do about where the continent was headed forward...
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...for a long time and because the Swedish are mostly Lutheran, most people in Latvia and Estonia are Lutheran as well. B. Why do you think people across the region practice many of the same customs? People across this region practice the same customs because they all are linked together from being under Soviet rule for so many years. 3. A. What is an industry that has grown in the region since the fall of the Soviet Union? One industry that has grown since the fall of the Soviet Union is tourism. The Americans have started visiting the countries that used to be under Soviet rule because they did not like to go there when it was under Soviet rule, because the Americans didn’t like the Soviets. B. How did Soviet rule hurt the region’s economy? Soviet rule hurt the region’s economy because the Soviets did not create a decent infrastructure, a set of resources like roads, factories and airports, that a country needs for economic growth and development. 4. Event | Effect | Soviet Rule | Damaged economy greatly. Tied Poland and the Baltic region together and established a communist government. | Breakup of Soviet Union | Many countries that were part of the Soviet Union became their own independent countries. Allowed...
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...the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in an effort to preserve the communist government and ensure its own security, but it failed due to the superior tactics of guerilla fighters in a unique landscape and the United States’ support of the Afghan rebels. This war between Soviet forces and Afghan rebels was a struggle between the communist government and its opposition. The Soviet Union was unable to adjust to the terrain and battle space and was forced to withdrawal. This struggle highlights the strategic game that the United States and the Soviet Union played to prevent control by one another during the Cold War. According to Joseph Collins’ analysis of the Soviet invasion, the motives for the Soviets to invade Afghanistan...
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...Mikhail Gorbachev demonstrated all of these traits and many more while ruling the Soviet Union. Near the end of his ruling it seemed that many people were against him; however, he was still honored and admired in Europe and the U.S., and was even awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev came from a poor background and worked hard to reach the levels he did. When in power, Gorbachev had many plans to change and advance the Soviet Union. When faced with hardship, he never backed down and followed through with what he believed in. No matter who was against him, or who supported him, Gorbachev stayed true to his beliefs and followed his plans through to the end, showing his commitment and integrity....
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...was still occurring. Beginning in 1947, the Cold War was a states of political and military tension, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, a communist country. The war lasted for forty-four years, ending in 1991. President Ronald Reagan was instrumental in ending the Cold war because of his build-up of the United States military, implementation of the Reagan Doctrine and his strong diplomatic position with Mikhail Gorbachev. Early in Reagan’s Presidency, he gave a speech deeming the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and told the U.S. citizens that he would keep an aggressive campaign against communism (Cold War...
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...eight years old and a young child when the Soviets first invaded Latvia in 1940. When they would leave for the last time in 1991, she would be nearly sixty. Vivita was one of the lucky ones. She left before the Iron Curtain trapped people inside the Soviet Union and its territories in 1945. However, the four years Vivita spent living in Riga, Latvia was enough time for Latvia to be occupied by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and for tens of thousands of Latvians to be deported to prison camps by the U.S.S.R. and Germany. Europe Before WWII Vivita’s homeland, Latvia, is one of the Baltic States. The Baltic States include Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. They are located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, and lie between Russia and Germany. When Hitler...
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...of the Kremlin portrays a grim image of inevitable confrontation with the Soviet Union. In the context of describing the Kremlin’s design, the document positions the US as a perceived obstacle and adversary of the Kremlin and assumes that the Kremlin view includes an imperative to destroy or subvert the US by any means necessary. While the document called for a massive peace time mobilization and increase in spending to contain the military threat in the Soviet Union, decades later, the fall of the Soviet Union can be seen as either the ultimate success of the policies it advocated or rather the repudiation of its gross exaggerations of Soviet power. Contrary to assumptions in NSC-68, the economic power of the Soviet Union would turn out to be on path of decline rather than improvement and it would eventually lead to the unraveling of the Soviet Union. With indicatives lead by Soviet leaders Boris Yeltsin and Gorbachev, the Soviet Union aligns itself towards marketization in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. With the economy in limbo, a re-alignment of Soviet foreign policies ensues virtually ending the cold war. Gorbachev pursues what is seen as concessionary foreign policy based on the idea that the world is all interdependent and that global relationship would prevail over East-West divide, effectively an annulment of the idea of the Cold War. In the 1950’s, NSC-68 had portrayed the Soviet Union as an expanding antidemocratic oppressor entity that worked to enslave populations...
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...States. Previous administrations had failed to keep up with the Soviet Union in what had become the most technologically advanced arms race the world had ever seen. The destructive capabilities of both nations had grown from a reason of concern into the potential for nuclear holocaust. There were few options to ending the Cold War which was approaching 35 years in duration at the time of President Reagan’s Inauguration. It would take strong leadership and an informed vision of a peaceful future to finally bring an end to the Cold War, but this leadership and vision could not be unilateral. Upon taking office, President Reagan recognized that United States had disarmed during the 1970s while the Soviet Union had gained nuclear superiority. He took a hard line while negotiating with the Soviets (Gillon, 299). Reagan’s dramatic increase in defense spending forced the USSR to keep up. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985. Gorbachev was the first leader to have been born after the Communist Revolution and would prove to be the most progressive leader the nation had seen. With his willingness to be the catalyst for reform and eventually peace, it seemed there was finally hope for de-escalation (Britannica, 2014). In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev made speeches acknowledging that his nation’s economy had stalled and advocated sweeping reforms to make the Soviet bureaucracy more efficient and prosperous. The first of such reforms...
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...Strayer University Summer 2014 The purpose of the Reagan Doctrine was to “sponsor anticommunist guerrillas who are trying to overthrow pro-Soviet regimes” (Roskin, 2010, p.58). It was implemented in the mid-1980’s; specifically mentioned in a discrete manner in President Reagan’s 1985 State of the Union Address and lasted less than a decade, until the end of the Cold War in 1991. One of the major challenges that President Reagan faced throughout his time in office was Communism and the Cold War. Although these issues had been a problem through several presidencies, they began to escalate in the early years of Reagan’s administration. Reagan believed that President Carter provided minimal leadership to reverse communism. In 1985 President Reagan introduced the principles of the doctrine through support of anti-communist revolutions. During his State of the Union Address in 1985 he compared, “anticommunist forces with American colonists who had fought the revolutionary war, describing those latter-day patriots as ‘freedom fighters’ for democracy” (“The Reagan Doctrine”, 2014, par. 2). The doctrine was created to decrease the Soviet influence in Africa, Asia and Latin America as part of the Reagan administration’s Cold War strategy (Reagan Doctrine, 2014). It has been argued that the Reagan doctrine contributed to the fall of communism itself. One of the diplomatic efforts that occurred during Reagan’s time in office was the support of freedom fighters and/or rebels...
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...The world has changed drastically since 1945, so much so that there are entire classes dedicated to the change brought about by the end of World War II. Between 1945 and 2018, the world has seen the rise and fall of communism governments, has witnessed countries formed and others torn apart. The world has seen empires fall and superpowers rise to take their place, only to become locked in the ideological Cold War that left all in fear of nuclear war. No country remained unaffected by the conflict of the United States (US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Consequently, Cold War politics continue to affect modern the actions and reputations of countries globally even long after its end in 1989. The Cold War refers to the...
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...Berlin Walls construction started at midnight on August 12, 1961. The building of the wall was a disaster for Khrushchev. Stalin tried to negotiate with the East Germans, but did not sign the treaty. The soviets were not gentle and were not inclined to be gentle with anyone. It was more peaceful for the Germans than it ever was during the war for them. Some germans speak of regret that the Berlin Wall was not still standing. The allied forces divided Berlin at the end of 1945, creating a period of peace for Germany. At the end of the war Germany was split into East Germany and West Germany. The Germans surrendered on May 7, 1945. The allied forces decided that Germany had to much power. The allies decided that they could not give power back to Germany immediately, because the war might flare up again. At...
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...Known as the Cold War, this battle pitted the world’s two great powers–the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union–against each other. Beginning in the late 1950s, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower and–by extension–its political-economic system. Fall of the Berlin Wall On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne. At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. Tito–Stalin Split The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of SFR Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union It resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948. This was the beginning of the Informbiro period, marked by poor relations with the USSR, that came to an end in 1955. Vietnam...
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