The Collapse Of The Soviet Union

The Cold War is over, but the influence of the Soviet Union is not. The Soviet Union grew out of the Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War in 1917. Eight leaders and 74 years later the Soviet Union fell in 1991. The story of those 74 years leaves much to tell. However, three areas are most necessary to understand: its cultural achievements, its military strength, and its political oppression.

The war distracted the Soviet people from Stalin's excesses in previous years and generated patriotism and national unity. It also greatly strengthened the Soviet military. The Soviet Union emerged from the war as second in power only to the United States. (Dr. Minton F, Goldman) So what were the factors that contributed to the collapse of the super power and what is preventing Russia from re-entering

In 1989, the world saw the fall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.), which was also known as the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a block of 15 Communist Eastern European states that was ruled by one government with various puppet governments located throughout the states. Its collapse brought about new issues that the world had never had to deal with before. The fall of such a large block of Soviet states created many problems and some of the solutions that were used to solve these problems, as well as many of the tensions that were created during this time, still affect the world today. Some of the ramifications resulting from the Soviet Union’s collapse are still being felt; however, many problems have been solved

The December of 1991 marked the end of the Soviet Union—and with it, an entire era. Like the February Revolution of 1917 that ended tsardom, the events leading up to August 1991 took place in rapid succession, with both spontaneity and, to some degree, retrospective inevitability. To understand the demise of Soviet Union is to understand the communist party-state system itself. Although the particular happenings of the Gorbachev years undoubtedly accelerated its ruin, there existed fundamental flaws within the Soviet system that would be had been proven ultimately fatal. The USSR became a past chapter of history because it was impossible to significantly reform the administrative

The collapse of the communist Soviet Union ultimately led to the end of the cold war. The dissolution of the USSR in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. Thus highlighting the inferiority of communism and the superiority of western capitalism. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, however, was a result of both domestic and international factors including policies established by both the US and the Soviet leaders, most importantly Gorbachev’s ‘New Thinking’ reforms combined with the hard-line approach of Ronald Reagan. It has also been argued that the collapse of communism in eastern Europe was inevitable due to its moral bankruptcy, as well as the growing economic pressures which ultimately forced the Soviet Union to

The Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) was a socialist state between Europe and Asia which existed between 1922-1991. The State collapsed because of lack of things a successful Country/State needs. Such as Political Freedom, Economic Growth, Quality of Life, National Unity, and Security. Successful countries have these things. The Soviet Union collapsed because of the bad quality of life, poor security, and lack of political freedom for citizens.

The Soviet Union hope to attain the “New Soviet Man”, but in their attempts only made their state situation much more dreadful by causing severe fragmentation within several ethnic groups, politics, as well as the army. This cast upon the Soviets a very bad image, which when the Soviet Union applied more tension, made their situation only worse. The Soviet Union became such a fragmented Union that Gorbachev could no longer control the power of the population and was forced to resign, and hence the fall of the Soviet Union. Political and Ethnic fragmentation contributed to the disintegration of the Soviet Union by causing division in leadership, “This division within the Soviet leadership weakened its ability to respond to centrifugal forces and contributed to the central authorities erratic response to them”(Hunter et.al, 212), as well as prove that the “New Soviet Man” was socially untenable, “The notion that nationalities would willingly give up their cultural identities for the common good, and that a unique soviet man would emerge- was socially untenable.”(Xenakis,

What caused the collapse of the Soviet Union? To find the answer it was best to choose two very diverse primary sources. The first source i will be assessing in depth is a Norwich University online website. The valuability the origin of this source is the universal outlook and perspective of delivering the information. It is very useful to have a higher level outlook.

The first internal pressure was the impending economic collapse and debts accrued from economic competition between the United States and Russia. The second internal pressure was the rise of the modern era revealing the politics and society of the East and West forcing Russia to reform. The Russian government started policies intended to establish a market economy, but Soviet authoritarian structures ensured these reforms were ineffective policies. Gorbachev’s role in the collapse of the Soviet Union was the reforms he passed making the Russian economy and government more capitalist. The major events that contributed to Soviet economic collapse were a lack of infrastructure, lack economic reinvestment, and the economic collapse of the collectivist system.

Founded in December of 1922 after five years of Civil War, the Soviet Union was a collection of countries united by communism. It lasted 69 years before collapsing from numerous internal issues and outside influence. Some of the numerous causes of its collapse include the introduction of western ideas, stagnation of the economy following the invasion of Afghanistan, loss of the Eastern Satellite states of Poland and East Germany, and reforms that opened up the country to outside influence. The Fall of the Soviet Union has had many effects, including establishing the United States as the sole superpower, the rise of Vladimir Putin, the collapse of the Russian Economy and Putin’s rise to power, the Gulf

At the beginning of the Atomic Age, the Soviet Union was perhaps one of the greatest superpowers in the world. By 1991, it had completely collapsed, splitting into 15 independent states, each with their own unique national and cultural identities. There were a multitude of factors that led to the Soviet Union’s downfall. Economic stagnation, anti-communist sentiment, and nationalist movements finally brought the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union.

Blaming Gorbachev for the Collapse of the Soviet Union On December 5 1991 the Soviet Union was declared officially non-existent, radically changing the world’s economic and political environment. On the 10 February 1991 Heydar Aliyev spoke in Parliament warning of his anticipation that the Soviet Union was to collapse, “The Culprit to be blamed is Gorbachev”. There is no doubt Gorbachev played a prominent role in the fall of communism in the USSR and the collapse of the USSR itself, as well as acquiring the responsibility for ending the Cold War, a major post-war tension. What I will endeavour to conclude in this essay is the extent to which Gorbachev was responsible for the USSR’s downfall

The Soviet Union was at one time one of the two most powerful countries in the world, and yet the Soviet Union is not longer in exists. How did this come to be? They were on the winning side of World War II, with the United States. They were growing in size, and they were spreading communism to other countries. They were on pace to be as powerful and influential as the United States. While there are many reasons as to why the Soviet Union collapsed, the main reason is the Cold War. There were also two very important people that contributed to the fall Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Under the pressures of the Soviet regime's plans for economic development, the Russian people were worn down. Subsequently, the willingness of these people to do further work for the Soviet cause was wavering. The transfer of power within the Communist Party also provided a source of instability within the USSR. Infighting over potential leadership changes provided a very real force of upheaval within Russia. These weaknesses showed that the USSR may bring about its own downfall.

Reforms and ethnic problems helped the Soviet Union collapse in 1991. What was the next move to help Russia be a major power in the world? Boris Yeltsin led Russia through most of the decade promoting something known as democracy and better living conditions than the Soviet Union. There were some failures along with success, however once Yeltsin was too old for the job he found a successor. Hence, Yeltsin passed the presidency on to Putin; the promotion of democracy was severely limited by an authoritarian leader wanting more power.