The Collapse of the Soviet

Union
TORI TAORMINA

Russian Civil War

The civil war was between the Bolsheviks and the anti
Bolsheviks. This war raged within Russia until 1920. The white
supported all anti communist groups and some leaders wanted
a military dictatorship but never spoke up.

Creation of the Politburo

The politburo was the highest body for the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Lenin set up the Politburo in
1917, it was the central policy making and governing of the communist
party and the state. Every 4 or 5 there would be new candidates
elected by the delegates of the communist party congress. This was
done until the collapse of the Soviet union in 1991.

Stalin's 5 Year Plan

In 1928 Stalin created this plan to increase the

out of steel, coal, oil, and electricity. During his
first 5 years plan he tried to reorganize the
economy with collective farms and factories. The
results of his plan were disastrous, but yet Stalin
maintained export levels, shipping food out of
the country ever as residents died. Anyone who
protested is plan was immediately killed or sent
to a collective farm where they would produce
food for the state.

World War II

From 1939-1945, this was referred to as the second world war and was
between the worlds most powerful groups including japan, Russia,
Germany, and united states. This event allowed for the strong USSR to
take over weak government in different countries and turn them into
communist governments.

Joe I

The United States assigned it the code-name Joe-1, in reference

to Joseph Stalin, It was exploded on August 29, 1949 at 7am.
This bomb was a big step for the USSR because it showed their
advancements on creating devastating weapons.

Hydrogen Bomb

This was first developed and used in 1952

and has since been employed by most of
the worlds nuclear weapons. This is a bomb
that has multiple fission stages that creates
a bigger explosion then a single staged
fission bomb. This was the main focus for
Russia after the second world war because
Stalin wanted to take the lead in the global
armed race of the 1950s.

Warsaw Pact

May 14th, 1955 the soviet union and 8 communist states in

central and eastern Europe formed a defense treaty. This treaty
allowed the Soviets to maintain control of military forces in
Central and Eastern Europe.

Sputnik

On October 4th 1957 Russia sent the earths first artificial

satellite into space. The soviet union launched this satellite
which marked the start to the space race. This race would soon
become the main effort in Russia and in other countries as well
including the United States.

Laika

Leika was a dog who as the very first living creature to enter
orbit on November 3, 1957. Sadly Laika died in space which
then opened the door for debates about animal rights. This also
set the floor for humans to soon begin too start space
exploration

Sputnik 2

This Soviet satellite was sent into space on May 15th, 1958 with
many different large instruments for geographical research. Tis
satellite successfully made into orbit and allowed the Soviets to
receive data from space.

Creation of the Berlin Wall

The wall existed from 1961 through 1989 and constructed by the German
Democratic Republic. This wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East
Germany and from East Berlin. The wall made it harder for the people living in
the West berlin to receive supplies and this soon became a huge problem
within Berlin because supplies in West Berlin became so scarce tat the United
States had to air drop supplies into West Berlin.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia

The Soviets invaded Czech on August 20th, 1968.

They did this because the Communists party within
Czech was beginning to fade. They didnt want this
to be done in other satellite states because it
would cause a huge rebellion against the
Communist Party. The invasion caught most of the
western world by surprise. The Warsaw Pact Army
had swiftly moved Anti-Prague and other major
cities by taking control of transportation and
communications.

SALT

In 1972, Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev signed the first

strategic arms limitations between the USSR and the United
States. This added limitations to each of the sides use of Nuclear
weapons. In return, the arms race began to slow down.

SALT 2

President Jimmy Carter and Brezhnev met in Vienna to sign salt 2. This
limited each side to have no more than 2400 weapons systems and it
added more specific regulations on different missile launchers. This
limited Russia from producing any more weapons then they already
had.

Soviet Afghan War

On December of 1977 the soviet union sent troops into Afghanistan and
gained political and military control of countries very quickly. This
caused a decade long attempt by Moscow to overcome the Afghan civil
war and remain a friendly socialist on its border.

Glasnost

Introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half

of the 1980s, this was a policy that was often
referred to as a guide on how to end corruption in
the higher communist parts of the government.

Gorbachev becomes leader

Gorbachev was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union,
having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991.

Voting Reforms by Gorbachev

During his time being head of General Secretary of

the Communist Party, he had made many reforms.
The reforms included Perestroika, democratize and
glasnost which contributed to the demise of the
soviet union.

Chernobyl Disaster

This was a nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant in

Ukraine. It was under the direct jurisdiction of the soviet union.
Hundreds of people had to evacuate their homes at a moments notice
because the radiation was deathly.

Perestroika

This was a program put into place in the Soviet Union by Mikhail
Gorbachev to restore Soviet economic and political policies.
Gorbachev wanted enterprises to become self financed by
taking away economic control. This helped the Soviet Union
slowly regain control of its economy and political reforms.

Free Elections in Poland, Czech , and

Hungary

During 1989 Poland was the first country to have free elections.
Shortly after Hungary and Czechoslovakia followed in Poland's
footsteps. Many people in each country used civil resistance to
show their hate for a one party rule.

Lithuania and Latvia Protests

August 23, 1989- This was a protest that took place throughout the
western cities of Russia to try and receive Baltic independence. Over 2
million people came together at 7 o'clock and held hands for 15
minutes connecting through the three Baltic cities.

Fall of the Berlin Wall

This began the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued over the
following days and weeks, with people nicknamed Mauerspechte which
were wall woodpeckers. These people worked away at the wall and
opened up unofficial passages from one side to the other.

Gorbachev Steps Down

Gorbachev said in his farewell speech that the establishment of the CIS,
played a major role resulting in his decision to resign or step down. He
said was "concerned about the fact that the people in this country are
ceasing to become citizens of a great power and the consequences may
be very difficult for all of us to deal with."

Boris Yeltsin Becomes President

In the 1980s, Yeltsin became acquainted with Mikhail Gorbachev,

they both were in the run in the Communist Party. In 1985, after
Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union, he named Yeltsin
to the top party post in Moscow and to the Politburo that ruled
the nation. Within two years though, Yeltsin made himself
unwelcome by pushing for more rapid reforms and criticizing
Gorbachevs leadership. He lost his leadership positions.

Why did the Soviet Union collapse?

I believe that the Soviet Union couldnt have survived. I believe this
because the Communist party was running it too poorly and it was
slowly building up more and more tension between the government and
its people. Sooner or later the people would have rebelled with great
force that the government and communist party would be destroyed.
Since Gorbachev had stepped down from power I think that the Soviet
Union didnt have the correct leader to rule them and so they would
have also fallen because of an unstable government.

Works Cited
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"Baltic Way. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Jan. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
"How Did Laika Wind Up Being the First Animal in Space? About . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
"Perestroika and Glasnost. History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
"The Russian Civil War. On This Day in History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
"The Russian Civil War. The Russian Civil War . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
"Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968 1961 1968 Milestones - Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.