Two years after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union buckled. The Communist party was broken because the Russian Republic hindered to eject Gorbachev from office. In December 1991, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) included Russian Republics. “The Russian Republic assumed leadership of the CIS, but the Soviet Union was no more.” The Cold War was a long drawn out battle between Democracy and Communism. The United States believed that a country should have the ability to choose its government; not be feared of it.
Assess the reasons for the overthrow of Soviet Power in Eastern Europe. The Cold War (1945-91) was mainly between some of the most influential countries, USSR, USA and western European countries. Soviet power had dominated Eastern Europe for the majority of the Cold War, however, around the early 1980s this power began to falter. There were many reason for the overthrow of the Soviet power, some of which were, the economic decline in the USSR, the power of the people, the introduction of Gorbachev and Western prosperity. So which of these reasons was the most important?
It it over-simplistic to state that opposition was successful or unsuccessful in Russia from 1855 and 1964. The effectiveness of opposition in Russia had to be evaluated according to the regime in power. For example, the opposition to Tsarism under Alexander II was unsuccessful as his assassination led to reactionary Tsarist rule for thirty six more years. However, the opposition under Nicholas II’s rule was highly successful, helping to lead to a communist government. All Russian governments in this period faced strong opposition to their regime with the period as a whole punctuated by riots, disturbances and revolutions.
To what extent was the deterioration in Sino-soviet relations in the years 1958-69 due to personal rivalries? Tensions between China and Russia had long existed but the foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China had produced a profound shift in the dynamics of the cold war. From a position of greatly strengthening the power and position of the communist bloc in the period from 1949 to 1956, China had by 1972, split irrevocably with the USSR and brought about a rapprochement with its former enemy the USA. Although this change seemed on the face of it to be a dramatic turn, it was largely the result of continuity in Chinese foreign policy; the desire to protect Chinese national security against foreign powers. The change in Chinese policy was to shatter the perception of a bipolar world that existed since the beginning of the cold war.
World History since the End of WWII 1. What were the major events that led to the breakdown of the Grand Alliance (created during the WWII)? Three nations had underlying attitudes towards one another. The U.S opposed the Russian communism and British imperialism whereas Britain wasn’t consent with the U.S economic dominance. Russia opposed the others’ capitalism.
Romanov essay Romanov family had ruled Russia since 1613 and under a autocratic government, during the time between 1904-1918 Nicholas the 2nd had ruled taking all the responsibilities of the major collapse of the tsarist regime. There were many contributing factors that lead to the eventual collapse of the Romanov regime. The major events that affected Romanov rule included the many social, economic and political problems. Particular events which also acted as a catalyst for the collapse of the dynasty included the 1905 revolution/Bloody Sunday, the Russo – Japanese war, the October Manifesto, Industrialisation strikes and unrest and ultimately resulting in the outbreak of World War 1. As a result of these combination of factors, WWI was the ‘straw that broke the camels back’ and resulted in the downfall of the tsarist regime in 1917.
To what extent was the Soviet Union responsible for the division of Germany from 1945 to 1949? Post-war Germany found itself in the middle of international tensions after its division – between the Allied powers of Britain, France and the USA and the Soviet Union under Stalin. However, the German nation that hoped for a new beginning could not do so due to the distribution of her land between the victors of the Second World War, and historians have since debated over who was to blame for this occurring. It is clear that the Cold War climate that started to arise played a large part on the policies that both the Allied Powers and the USSR made, with both eventually pushing the divisions deeper into Germany’s culture, economy and politics. This idea is strengthened by the fact that the USSR brought in visions such as Cominform and Comencon, while the United States introduced ideas like the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine.
After World War II, the USSR became one of the members of the UN Security Council. In 1949 the USSR started to build up its own nuclear arsenal. About thirty years later there had been four leaders rule over this period in which the economy entered a period of stagnation and never recovered and created reforms. These reforms caused the Communist system to fail from within. Once this happened, Boris Yeltsin
When Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union he wanted the war to end. He first tried to increase Soviet troops to end the war quickly. However, this didn't work. By 1988 Gorbachev realized the war was costing Soviet troops and hurting their economy. He signed a peace treaty to end the war.
The housing market also plummeted leading to negative equity, which the majority of the working class could not afford resulting in the repossession of their houses combined with the drastic increase in unemployment Britain was in a mess. However Major did have some success, he abolished poll tax, which was very popular among the public, he increased spending on the NHS and introduced transport subsides to keep travel fares low.