One problem with ideology was that the two powers openly criticised each other’s policies. Khrushchev was very critical about the Great Leap Forward, which led to the withdrawal of Soviet economic aid. Part of the reason was that Khrushchev did not agree with the ideological methodology of things such as the ‘back-yard’ furnaces. It was different to how the Soviets did it. Mao criticised Khrushchev for his policies such as de-Stalinisation and his secret speech.
Trotsky described war as the ‘locomotive of history’. How far can it be argued that change in Russia in the period 1855-1964 was caused only by involvement in wars? During this period the biggest change that happened was the move from Tsarist autocracy to communist dictatorship as well as the short lived provisional government, which was a form of democracy. Furthermore there were changes to economic policy, which had a great impact on society. The wars that occurred did bring change but were not the only causes of change.
But which factor played the greatest role in the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relations in the late 1960’s? As previously mentioned, the relations between the USSR and China broke down dramatically in the late 1960’s that it eventually lead to small armed skirmishes. A famous example of this occurring was in 1969, and the fight over the Ussuri river. This deterioration of relations was largely fueled by China’s desire to assert itself as a world power, and Russia’s determination to prevent this. Conflicting national interest caused relations between the two powers to deteriorate further, as shown in Russia’s decision to double its army along the Russian and Chinese border following the border disputes.
America, Great Britain and the USSR have been working together as members of the Grand Alliance as an attempt to defeat Nazi Germany. Although they were working together, their relationships weren’t always friendly and there was many disagreements which is part of the reason the Grand Alliance broke down. America and Great Britain were Capitalists countries where as the USSR was a Communist country so there was disputes between all of the superpowers. The USA is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. After Roosevelt died Truman became the American president.
World War II left Europe in a distraught and confused state, and although The United States, Soviet Union, and allies had won, it seemed as if the United States and Soviet Union had not yet settled all of their differences. Germany was left in a completely disastrous state , and desperately needed the aid of some of the worlds super power countries , The United States and Soviets came to their aid, and at the Yalta Conference they decided to split Germany and Berlin . As the differences in Ideologies grew , the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to physically separate themselves and their occupation zone from the United States. into occupation zones. The Berlin Wall was a physical symbol of the political and emotional differences between East Germany and West Germany.
The peasantry were consistent opponents of Russian Government throughout the period, yet were rarely successful in doing so. One reason for this is the continuing role which the army played in limiting opposition from the peasantry, with military force frequently being deployed throughout the period. Lenin used it in the Civil War against the Green armies and Stalin used a similar style of brute force during the collectivisation process, albeit on a much grander scale. Middle Military force was continually employed by the state, with Lenin crushing the Kronstadt mutiny in a similar effect to the Lena Goldfields massacre of 1912 and Bloody Sunday. The
The war was a large mistake for the Tsar. Although Russia obtained some successes at the beginning, they were facing one of the most advanced military powers in the world and were being led by incompetent Generals as well as being badly equipped Nicholas II made a grave error, when he fired the military commander and took command of the army. This was a mistake in the fact that he had no military experience whatsoever and from then on, the Tsar was seen as responsible for every failure and defeat that Russia suffered. It saw the loss of 200,000 men and around 15 million peasants were enrolled in the army from the farms. This would lead to the army losing their faith in the Tsar which was extremely vital, for as long as the army remained loyal to the him, they were able to put down any threat of revolution however, the poor conditions eventually led to them refusing to fire upon rioters.
The Cold War, along with attitudes and doctrines formed within it, continues to shape the world, years after its end. The Cold War ended, arguably, because of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms, and economic problems left over from older administrations. The Cold War had its origins in the direct aftermath of World War 2, but simply leaving it at that would be too simple. The Cold War began as a result of political tension between the United States and Soviet Russia; the Soviet ideology, as listed in the Communist Manifesto, states that the bourgeoisie, those that own the means of production and the capitalist doctrine as a whole are the enemies of the proletariat. To Marx and Engel, the capitalist system as used during the Industrial Revolution created a class system, which oppressed the proletariat.
This constant drive to match and even surpass the US led to a serious decrease in spending in the consumer and domestic economy as a whole which greatly impacted the citizens in the USSR. Brezhnev left his successors an
Because of the disagreement with the foundation of a countries’ structure, the USA and the USSR were strange bedfellows during the Second World War. Their alliance was purely strategic. The underlying differences between the supreme capitalist nation (the USA) and the original communist state (the USSR) were bound to re-emerge once Germany and Japan had been defeated. Both of the Superpowers saw each other as a threat to its continued survival and adopted strategies to preserve their positions, which brought a high level of tension after World War 2. At the final stage of World War Two, it was quite clear that the Allies would get the final victory, so in February 1945, Stalin (USSR), Churchill (UK) and Roosevelt (USA) met at Yalta to discuss