The Collapse of Communism

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Essential Question

• What were the causes and consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union?
• What role did Mikhail Gorbachev play in the second half of the twentieth century?

The Soviet Legacy

• Russian Revolution in 1917
• Established a communist state, became totalitarian
• Tried to create unified, central state where national and ethic differences were eliminated

Historical Problems in Russia

• Non-Russian ethnic groups resisted assimilation
• Economic planning failed to meet the needs of the State (arms race with US)
• Communism never took root and lost influence

Underlying Causes

• Years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development
• Economic growth/stagnant economy
• Failed attempts at reform
• General feeling of discontent, especially in the Baltic republics and Eastern Europe (i.e. Chernobyl)

Chernobyl

After the Korean War in the 1950s and the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War in the 1960s, relations between the Soviet Union and the U.S. began to shift.

Leonid Brezhnev

Detente'

• A French word meaning releasing from tensions
• Took form when President Nixon visited Communist Party General Secretary Brezhnev in Moscow
• Came to agreements on trade, arms control, space exploration, and expanded commerce.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev

• Became Soviet leader in 1985
• Inherited many problems; recognized need for change (the economy needed fundamental reforms)
• Introduced two-tiered policy of reform to meet the needs of the Russian state

GLASNOST

Glasnost

• Freedom of speech and free elections
• 1989 elections - reformist politicians swept into power
• unwittingly unleashed emotions and political feelings that had been pent up for decades
• Pandora's Box

PERESTROIKA

Perestroika

• Economic reform and rebuilding (complete economic restructuring)
• Did not have the immediate results Gorbachev had hoped for
• Unsuccessful due to bureaucratic corruption
• Reduced size of army and relaxed government control

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

President Reagan

• recognized the change in the direction of Soviet leadership
• shifted to diplomacy to pursue substantial arms agreements
• four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988
• believed that he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech which would lead to reform

Collapse of the Soviet Union

• New freedom of speech increased tension among various Soviet ethnic groups
• Soviet republics began to demand independence
• 1989 Poland first Eastern European country to end Communist rule
• Followed by Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania and others

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The Fall of the Berlin Wall

“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

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Gorbachev's Response

• Decision not to use military force to put down revolutions in Eastern Europe
• Allowing revolutions to run their course would spell disaster for the Soviet Union
• Ultimately eroded the power of the Soviet Union during 1989 and 1990.
• Last President of the U.S.S.R.

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Response in the West

• Victory for freedom
• Triumph of democracy over totalitarianism
• Superiority of capitalism over communism
• Relief – end of Cold War which had hovered over the two superpowers

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Results of the Fall

• Transformed the entire world political situation
• Reformulation of political, economic and military alliances-NATO expansion
• America sole military and world hegemonic power
• End of Cold War and MAD threat

NATO has continued to expand after the Cold War

The presence of nuclear weapons has influenced patterns of conflict and cooperation since 1945.
Communism failed as an economic system in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.