Fall Of Soviet Union Essay

The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 left many Eastern European countries in disarray. One such country was Czechoslovakia. It separated from the Soviet Union December 26, 1991. A few years after Czechoslovakia broke away from the Soviet Union it broke apart, in January 1, 1993. The two countries are now The Czech Republic and Slovakia. When the two countries split, it was done peacefully, without a fight or war. The Soviet Union broke up because Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from being the president of the Soviet Union. This started many conflicts and confusion. The Soviet Union could no longer keep the union together.

During the Cold war, tensions were high between the US and the USSR. The two countries always wanted to show that they were the most dominant. One of the ways that the USSR showed dominance was through the Olympics and ice hockey. The hockey game between the US and the USSR during the 1980 Winter Olympics was a turning point in the Cold War. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) was said to be the best of all the teams in Olympic hockey. The 1980 Olympic hockey game between the US and the USSR was a significant turning point in the Cold War and also reflected the tension of it.

After World War II, the United States and the Soviets, considerably the two greatest superpowers of that time went from allies to enemies as we entered the era of the Cold war. During this period of time, there were critical turning points that proved vital in the revitalization of the American vitality. One of these pivotal moments derived from the outcome of the 1980 Winter Olympic games. The USA hockey teams defeat over the Soviets boosted the spirits of the American soldiers, as well as the American people. On the contrary, the Soviet Union saw their power dwindle after their major defeat in the Winter Olympic games. This critical shift made way for the downfall of the Soviets reign as a major superpower. To further recognize the Winter Olympic games as an imperative turning point in the Cold War, one must educate oneself on previous history.

The Cold War had set its toll on the free world, even though the USSR and US were never directly at war, both sides lost countless men and material goods indirectly fighting each other in

In the future the Italians in the North Africa in the year 1944 enters in to the war in mainland Europe. In 1940 between the Soviet and the allied forces they were able to win the European front of wwii. The end of that year Japan was fighting still. The US develops the atomic bomb they use on over Hiroshima and a few days later one in Nagasaki, doing this ends wwii the outcome of wwii was two remaining super powers those two were The soviet Union and the US the cold war was next. Eastern Europe was falling under the Soviet sway the Us, With the Soviet Union being a communist country and was totalitarian. Communist and Democracy are not things that went are not things that went against each other the Soviet Union did not have a capitalist

The Olympic Games has been a lens through which to scrutinize the world’s political, social, and economic spectacles. It has seen tsarist autocracy, fascism, despotism, and the great associated movements of the political solidity and contrariety of communism and capitalism. During the Cold War, sport was a sphere in which the USSR and the West competed bitterly. Following World War II, the Soviet Union utilized the Olympics to assure the world of its superiority and to prove communism’s stability as a political ideology. Purportedly amateur, sport meant a lot to Soviet authorities, as did awards and gold medals. Athletes often spent most of their time training in world-class facilities, even though they were meant to be factory workers or army officers. From 1950 to 1980, the United States exploited the Games as a platform to undertake a propaganda operation against communism, releasing an abundance of material to promote American ideals. On February 22, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York at the XII Winter Olympics, one unlikely hockey game served as a catalyst for newfound patriotism in America and marked the commencement of a new era in Soviet and American Cold War politics. The tensions between the United States and the U.S.S.R following the 1980 Winter Olympics and the Miracle on Ice represent strong, unwavering surges of nationalism. By analyzing the story of how 20 men and a determined head coach shocked the world- through the words of those present and affected-

#1. In the late 1980s, Soviet Union had brought its glasnost (openness) era. Soviet president Mikhail G. introduced the revolutionary idea of Perestroika, which refers to “economic restructuring.” Gradually, Soviet’s culture and business began to grow. The political parties began to spring up, and farmers began to sell their products on the open market. In 1987, the Kremlin passed a new law on the joint ventures, easing restrictions on the importation of foreign capital, technology, and expertise.

The declining power and fall of the Soviet Union represented a global change in the polarized world because it: led to the fall of the Berlin War, the end of communism in

The events that led up to this game all came down to one thing: what and whose way of life was better, communism or capitalism. During a time of what seemed like struggle for the American people on February 22, 1980 it turned one game for an hour that would avoid all the despair and tragedy that lead up to the games. “The success of the US team came at a critical juncture. In the wake of the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and several trying years under President Carter that indeed contributed to a crisis in confidence, the United States found a group of young men who, despite tremendous odds, captured the imagination of the people and the respect of sports enthusiasts around the world” (Abelson pg89). The battle between these two superpowers did not just start this Olympics. It had been around for many previous Olympics, form the last time the U.S beat the soviets in ice hockey in 1960, also when the Soviets upset the U.S in basketball in the 1972 Olympics. It all started six months before the Olympics when coach Herb Brooks, the last cut from the 1960 gold winning US Olympic hockey team, took a group of college players and transformed the American game of hockey to a hybrid to adapt not only the style of the Russians but also the Canadians focusing on puck possession, skating, and speed. It was the first time that the game style of American hockey had changed, where for the first-time forwards were not required to stay on their wings, moving up and down the ice like plastic figures attached to medal rods in an arcade hockey game (Abelson pg71). But with a 42-16-3 record before the Olympics, it was one week before the games that made it seem US hockey was irrelevant again when the Soviet Union played the US at an exhibition game in Madison Square

a whimper. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union saw the rise of a new generation

The defeat of Germany and its satellites in the war radically changed the balance of forces in the world. The Soviet Union became one of the leading world powers, without which, should not have been resolved then no question of international life. And so, its features began to have impact on world relations and became clearer for foreign diplomats and observers.

for the governing of a state was proved to work to the contrary of its

The purpose of this investigation is to assess how significant Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost, and Perestroika polices contribute to the collapse of the USSR. In order to understand how significant of a factor Gorbachev policies were to the collapse of the USSR, we will investigate from how significant were the reforms emplaced by Gorbachev, to how the USSR was doing economically from the time Gorbachev came into power. The main sources for this investigation range from an Excerpt from The cold war: The United States and the Soviet union by Ronald Powaski who states facts about both the economic and political issues of the time. Excerpts from “New political thinking” from perestroika by Gorbachev which states how he believes new political

The Causes of the Collapse of the USSR Works Cited Not Included Although its demise occurred in the very latter part of the 20th

When the Soviet Union and Communism was at its peak, America faced difficulties due to the power of the Soviet Union, especially in the Cold War. However, the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and this provided major relief for America as they were almost pushed to the brink of a nuclear war, in the Cuban missile crisis. Moreover, the collapse of Communism and subsequently, the fall of the Soviet Union, left the US as the only superpower of the world, albeit temporarily. This meant that they could afford to restructure and reduce their military expenditure and help promote peace and democracy in the world. Whether they were able to do so effectively is another debate. But the fact is, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, stopped what might have been a severe disaster in the form of a nuclear war, and led to a more peaceful and cooperative world for some period of time. (HubPages,