The Collapse Of The Soviet Union - 1451 Words

Harmony Xu Political Science 156A TA: Sobolev, A One of the most revolutionary historical events in the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991. The dissolution of the USSR was at the time, not immediately foreseen nor expected. There was neither a civil war nor people’s revolution in a military coup that stormed the King’s castle. The only very evident factor, however, was that the economy of the Soviet Union preceding its dissolution was in free fall to be eventually coined the Era of Stagnation. But an economy in trouble could not be the cause that would lead to the collapse of seventy year-old seemingly powerful nation. It would not be the first first-world nation in economic trouble. It would take the Soviet Union’s last leader’s misguided attempts at reforms within his own party that intermixed with loosening the nation’s century old political ideology to open the floodgates for a chain of events and repercussions that would lead to the USSR’s collapse. If not for Gorbechav’s liberal sentiments at reforming a communist nation under democratic ideologies that had only previously survived under totalitarian oppression, the USSR might exist today given no other major historical events succeed and alter its continuing Communist pathway. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established in 1922 under Vladimir Lenin, and was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin, solidified the SovietShow MoreRelatedThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union949 Words   |  4 PagesThe collapse of the Soviet Union can ultimately be attributed to three broad, complex, and interconnected issues: The economy, Leadership, and Geography. All three of theses factors are interconnected and each contain several reasons why they contributed to the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. The first and most simple reason the Soviet Union failed can be attributed to their geographical challenges. The Soviet Union suffered two problems in regard to geographic challenges. Firstly the countryRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union2349 Words   |  10 PagesIn December of 1991, the world was shocked, of once seeing a super power that was dominating the world beside the United State of America. Moreover, The Soviet Union sudden collapse, which was composed of fifteen countries, exposed the downfall of the political and economic rule of Communism, which was put in place by the Bolshevik revolution in November of 1917. Many westerners predicted and or were happy that the Communistic ruled country finally saw it’s ending, which left only one dominate nationRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union906 Words   |  4 PagesThe quick collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 appalled everyone in the West, but that is because no one outside the Soviet Union knew what was go ing on. The Soviet government’s lies of economic success and superiority over the Western capitalist states had controlled the citizens of Russia to believe that the USSR’s Communist regime was growing for half a decade. It wasn’t until Mikhail Gorbachev that mocked previous leaders like Stalin and Brezhnev for being responsible for not improving the SovietRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union1649 Words   |  7 PagesThe collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 marked the beginning of Russia’s transition from a communist system to a market-based economy and democratic political system. Russia, despite being a nation rich with natural resources such as oil, fell into a state of economic instability and continued to weaken throughout the 1990s. The situation escalated until the point of financial collapse on August 17, 1998, resulting in a 90-day suspension on payment to foreign creditors, a default on domesticRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Sovie t Union1529 Words   |  7 PagesYuqing He In the year of 1991, the socialist giant –Soviet Union collapsed. At the beginning, many people expected a fast tend of democratization to spread all around not only Russia but also even the whole Eurasian areas. However, this expectation did not come into reality. Or in other words, Russia was anticipated to accept a total new political order internally and externally. But transitions are never so easy. Sometimes, they can be extremely difficult and painful. From my point of view, evenRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union1375 Words   |  6 PagesSCENARIO THREE: The Break Up The third scenario is probably the most traumatic. It is a chaotic collapse of the Eurozone, starting in Greece but spreading to Spain and Italy. The core countries will be more disconnected from the current crisis and will not feel responsibility for the consequences of unsuitable decisions made in the European Commission. Countries suffering the crisis will come to the conclusion that the core countries have achieved competitiveness and success at the expenses of otherRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union2728 Words   |  11 Pagesthe structures and regulations that have protected bested interest groups. To what extent was the crisis of the Soviet economy, 1990-91, a direct outcome of the reforms undertaken under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev? The swap of the Communist flag in the Kremlin on December 25th 1991 for a Russian tricolour, was the official acknowledgement of the collapse of the Soviet Union; a political, economical and ideological system that had reigned over the vast territory for decades. The dissolutionRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union1689 Words   |  7 PagesThe collapse of the Soviet Union had ended the communist hold on Eastern Europe and surrounding former communist states. The year 1990 had also marked the beginning of rapid economic and social transition from a communist state to a democratic market based economy. Milton Friedman coined the term shock policy, also referred to as economic liberalism, to describe the abrupt release of currency and price controls, the extraction of state subsidies, large scale privatization of former public ownedRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union Essay1255 Words   |  6 PagesAbstract The collapse of the Soviet Union left a gap in the educational system of the Soviet republics including Ukraine (Polese 47). Since independence the Ukrainian Constitution guarantees compulsory education for all children and provides federal funds to public schools (4). Every child has a chance to go to elementary school and middle school: however, only 30 percent of school graduates have a chance to go to higher education, especially in agricultural areas of the country [2]. Another majorRead MoreThe Collapse Of The Soviet Union1686 Words   |  7 PagesThe collapse of the Soviet Union ended one era of American Security Concerns, but it gave rise to another more extensive era. This era would be marked by concern over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction throughout former Soviet countries and other unstable nations. Every president from George H.W. Bush to Obama would mark this issue as a key threat to the nation’s security. The true question is what would each o f these presidents do about the threat. Since World War II the United States