So which of these reasons was the most important? The most important reason for the overthrow in Eastern Europe was the economic decline in the USSR. Simon J Ball (1998) also argued that “there is little doubt that the Cold War came to an end as a result of Soviet economic failure. This failure led in turn a failure of nerve amongst the Soviet governing elite.” Ball suggests that if the Soviet Union did not experience an economic failure then they may have been able to keep power and it was that economic failure that triggered the other factors. By 1986 the Soviet economy suffered from both hidden inflation and pervasive supply shortages which were aggravated by an increasingly open black market that undermined the official economy.
The government could not control all these invasions, so this was another component that helped the fall of the Roman Empire. Document 5 shows bias because it blames the fall of the civilization on internal decay. This is significant because if a very well organized government that had been able to keep order throughout such a large empire could no longer do it, then this meant nobody else could. All of these political
At this point, however it was Gorbachev who bought the Cold War to an end…”. To first understand to what extent Mikhail Gorbachev was responsible for the fall of the USSR the long-term factors that contributed to the ending of the Soviet Union have to be considered. In the years preceding Gorbachev the Soviet Union was controlled by many other leaders but the majority of the problems dealing with the economy and nationalism first appeared in the time referred to as the “Brezhnev era”, a time in which the Soviet Union was ruled by Leonid Brezhnev. By the time of Brezhnev’s death in 1982 the Soviet Union had spent massive amounts of money on foreign policy and although it had taken part in many arms reduction treaties with the US such as the SALT 1&2 treaties in 1972 and 1974 it had ultimately under Brezhnev, reached nuclear “Parity” with the United States but at a heavy price. 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.
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.
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.
Such as freedom of speech, voting rights, cutting off the power of the communist party, as well as releasing dissidents like Sakharov. As during that period of time, Soviet Union and his satellites were facing many internal problems, which led to a time of great economic hardship, living standard of people declined, for example, the inefficient agriculture led to shortage of food and the serious inflation, these caused the people suffered a lot and created a discontent feeling with the leader. Since the USSR was used to be a communist state, the opposing opinions were all suppressed by the military force. Thus the reform program provided a chance for the people to express their opinions freely. As a result, people who felt very dissatisfied with the government and wanted to get rid of communist control started a series
The Cold War is a war without guns and bombs amongst the Allies during 1945 to 1991, after World War Two. As the common enemy Germany and Japan were defeated, the balance between allies was no longer be there and a high level of tension was brought by the end of the war. USA and the USSR were the major two parties in the Cold War, their arguments were based on their different political opinions, which is capitalism and communism and it was the disagreement with each other caused the high level of tension between the Allies by the end of World War Two. The main difference between USA and the USSR is that they have a different point of view of politics. The USSR was a communist country and the USA is a capitalist country, just like China and USA now.
HOW DID THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR INFLUENCED THE GEOPOLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE BLACK SEA AREA ? INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND DIPLOMACY GHERASIM BIANCA-DANIELA SPE II The internal situation of Russia and its international position had changed rapidly between 1985 and 1988, but the real danger was not yet manifested. Many historians believe that the main factor to the dissolution of the USSR was the Cold War; it just took almost half a century for the real damage to occur. However, on Christmas day of the year 1991, the red flag waved over Kremlin for the last time. Few days before this important event had taken place, eleven states, that at that time were part of the Soviet Republic, had met in the capital-city of Kazakhstan and they all decided they will no longer be part of the USSR political entity, but they will now be part of the new interstate entity which was called the Commonwealth of the Independent States.
Residents of East Berlin faced a lack of job opportunities, limited resources, economic instability and separation from friends and family. This obvious decline in East Berlin’s standard of living, Compared to the West, caused many to attempt drastic and dangerous escapes. Overall though it was “not a very nice solution”, the building of the Berlin wall was “a hell of a lot better than a wall”. Body 1: Compromise – tension already present The soviet decision to erect the Berlin Wall was certainly a compromise, as it prevented, more drastic military alternatives and the deterioration of the area. After the end of WWII, mutual distrust and tension signified relations between Western powers and their former Russian allies.
Case Study: The Russian Ruble Crisis and its Aftermath Overview The case “Russian Ruble crisis and its aftermath” gives a brief description of the crisis that the Russian currency went through after the fall of communism. The case provides a prelude which gives the background of the problem, it then delves into the actual crisis and the issues that happened at that time that shaped the aftermath of the crisis. The fall of communism had split the Soviet Union into different nations, Russia being the largest of them. The Russian government in an effort to decentralize the economy which was crumbling, introduced various programs to transform the country. One such step was to remove price controls, although price controls saw an increase in prices.