How the USSR is Still Haunting Europe
After twenty six years, the nations that were granted independence from the Russian Federation are still dealing with the affects of the fallout; In particular, Russia’s European neighbor, Ukraine. In an article dated September 29th, from the Russian News Agency TASS, it gives an overview of the recent implications of the civil war in the Donbass region. Russia and Germany are urging the Ukrainian Government to follow the Minsk Protocol, in order to keep peace and maintain a working relationship between all the countries listed on the agreement (TASS 2016). There has been constant conflict in the Donbass region since the beginning of 2014, with times of cease-fire, but nothing significant. The conflict is a result of the Russian demographic in Eastern Ukraine, wanting separation from a Western influenced Ukraine. This paper will examine the geographical aspect of this relationship and how it has affected the conflict.
How History and Geography have Played a Role
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a socialist political party, the Bolsheviks, formed the USSR after a five-year power struggle. It brought about a union of many different republics, into one united nation that looked to change the world into a centrally controlled power. Although there were many issues had between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world, it was a key helper to the allied forces in the Second World War. For many years prior to
In the period after World War II, from the late 1940’s up until the 1990’s, the United States and their allies were engaged in a “cold” war with the Soviet Union and its allies. Except for minor proxy wars between countries supported by the respective sides, no major wars were fought between the U.S. and the USSR. Nonetheless, tensions were extremely high for many years and the two superpowers constantly went back and forth trying to best the other. Likely the most well-known of these competitions was the Space Race. Battling for cosmic supremacy from the late 1950’s to 1969, the two countries traded many victories over the years and pushed each other to their technological apexes.
In 1917, Russia was crumbling into pieces. The World War I was draining all of Russia’s resources. There was shortage of food throughout the country, which left people starving. At the battlefront, millions of Russian soldiers were dying, they did not possess many of the powerful weapons that their opponents had. The government under Czar Nicholas II was disintegrating, and a provisional government had been set up. In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Josef Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union, which was the name for the communist Russia. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought
1947 through 1991 was the time period of the Cold War; the Cold War was a result caused by the tension of the after math of what had happened with world war 2 .The tension that was there wasn 't just any kind of tension it was military tension between the power of the eastern bloc and the power of the western bloc. The Cold War wasn 't only one war but it was decades of "little"wars and intimidation. Germany was busy after the war, there where so much tension between the Soviet Union and the western allies because they had feared each other because they had thought a new war could arise. Minister Churchill then decided that he would put what would be an iron curtain across Europe. The Cold War had so many little conflicts within it like the Chinese revolution, the Palestine liberation organisation, and so many more hundreds if you would that happened in the Cold War time.
The 1980’s were a dynamic time in the life cycle of the Cold War. The early portion of this decade, which saw massive shifts in the administrations of the United States and Soviet Union, maintained an atmosphere of suspicion, wariness, and skepticism. This theme of uncertainty and caution was the logical product of decades of both American and Soviet duplicity, confrontation, and militarization. Yet, despite this mistrust between the polar Cold War belligerents, and contrary to the early rhetoric of the Reagan administration, the United States and Soviet Union modified their perceptions of each other’s intentions following 1985’s Reykjavik Summit, which, despite producing no tangible results, established common desire for arms reduction and a conclusion of the Cold War. This warming of relations, however, increased at a gradual rate and encountered significant hurdles as the two nations attempted to limit the potential for thermonuclear war. Ultimately, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev’s “dialogue of the eyes” transitioned from one administration to the next, while also weathering significant domestic pressures as the United Soviet Socialist Republic disintegrated.
Upon the creation of the USSR, Lenin introduced new rule that would ensure greater totalitarian control. Only communists would be able to stand for the soviets, and so this meant that the communist party had the true control over the
Before the 38th Parallel , there was no North Korea and South Korea – only Korea. The 38th Parallel was initially created to guarantee that Japan would surrender to the Soviet Union in the north and the south would surrender to the United States, but it later became a barrier between the two states. (Gupta 1972). The line was proposed by the United States and agreed to by the Soviet Union. Author William Stueck names the 38th parallel as the first step in the Korean War, writing, “the war originated in 1945 with the division of the peninsula into occupation zones by the Soviet Union and the United States, and the perpetuation of that division as a result of the two nation’s subsequent failure to agree on terms for unification.” (Stueck 1995)
Toronto, Canada---- Since the end of World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union have experienced a number of political clashes. From the Marshall Plan to the Korean war, to testing nuclear weapons, and to the use of missiles, the United States and the Soviet Union have definitely established a divide between the two empires. The growing dependence of the United States in Europe and Great Britain has increased imperialist speculation from the USSR. However, the United States justifies their presence though the policy of Containment, in its attempt to defend democracy. Also since post World War Two, there has been a massive increase of arms in both the Soviet Union and the United States. From the booming economy of the war and the devastating atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States became a global superpower. The need for efficient nuclear weapons suddenly became an obsession. In 1952, the USSR managed to develop their own Atomic bomb, which threatened the position of the United States. And from there an arms race began. The use of nuclear weapons is an extreme that neither empire wishes to reach, however, the public is not certain.
Many political beliefs exist. Everyone has the right to chose what to believe in, what ideas to have, what to seek and how to achieve his goals. Political science is not very defined and strict. Specific rules saying that if one believes in a certain idea he should join a certain party do not exist. Certain things match certain group of people and other things this group of people would not accept. The same principle can be applied for countries. Communism appears to be successful for China, but it failed for Eastern European countries. It is very important the proper way of government to be found and used by the government of a country. The failure of the government can lead to failure in
Eastern Europe’s geography allowed and encouraged many diverse people to easily conquer its land. The history of Eastern Europe has been marked by migration, foreign conquest, war and revolution. The region is home to a mix of diverse people who have often battled with each other and many foreigners
The Crimea Peninsula, located between Kherson of Ukraine and Kuban of Russia, is a major land mass almost completely surrounded by the Black Sea, providing it an extremely important geopolitical position in Eastern Europe. Because of its special geopolitical position, Crimea always has strategic significance to Russia. In history, Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1783 and, following the Russian Revolution of 1917, became a republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the USSR. It became the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within newly independent Ukraine in 1991. As a result of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Russia annexed Crimea through a combination of military occupation and democratic procedure, leading to a serious crisis in international relation. The crisis has caused the most serious tension between Russia and the Western World since the end of Cold War and brought profound and lasting influence to international society. A deep understanding of Crimea Crisis is an
The crisis in Ukraine and Crimea’s recent accession to Russia are events that clearly highlight the underlying sources of conflict in global politics. While Russia sees its actions in Crimea as a “reunification” and the respect for the right of self-determination, the West views it as a threat to European security and a violation of territorial integrity. Crimea has been a debatable topic from the time it came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1783 during the reign of Catherine the Great. The justification then was similar to the reasoning being used by Vladimir Putin today. Catherine declared that she was protecting ethnic Russians in the region from the Ottoman Empire, much as Putin is claiming to protect Russians from Ukrainian
The command system, which is also described as Marxism, socialism, or communism, is both a political and economic philosophy. In a communist economy, the government owns most of the firms, subsequently controlling production and allocation of resources. One of the most well-known and well-documented cases of a communist government took place in the Soviet Union, beginning in 1917 and eventually falling in 1992. Idealistically, communism eliminates social classism and provides equal work for all in a particular society. The government appoints a central planning board to “determine production goals for each enterprise and to specify the amount of resources to be allocated to each enterprise so that it can reach its production goals.”
Ukraine is a large and pivotal state, occupying an important and sensitive location between the Russian Federation and the eastern European states. The country borders several members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), such as Poland and Romania. Up until 1991, Ukraine was a member of the Soviet Union. Their independence has long been the source of conflict and dispute in the region, and has led to violent armed conflict in recent years. The country has a rich history and unique culture which deserve detailed analysis. In this paper, I will explore the geography, society, government, economy, infrastructure, military, and transnational issues of Ukraine.
The most powerful entities of Russia (one of the main Soviet Union creators) took control when they began to spread the motto "all power to the soviets." It is at this time that the monarchy of Tsar Nicholas II was threatened and finally destroyed in 1917. From this year, began the establishment of a social state and free of exploiters was consolidated until more than a dozen countries were they joined him.
Since its beginning, the conflict in Eastern Ukraine has raised legal issues that get to the core of International Law and international legal theory. In particular, the debate among legal experts has focused on the question of secession, the right to self-determination of people, and the respect of the territorial integrity of States. The main concern of the scholarship has been to identify the political and legal consequences of a secession of Ukraine’s eastern territories and the possible violations of International Law that would occur in such a situation. A less investigated aspect of the conflict is the chance to find a legal solution to the hostilities, seeking to cease violence among the parties and to settle the dispute under the aegis of the UN. This goal may be achieved with the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces.