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Russia: From Empire to Great PowerMilitary parade held on 66th anniversary of Victory in Great Patriotic War (WWII)2011
What was it like for the average Soviet living under communist rule?
What does the government control in a communist economic system?
Who the Soviet Leader that expanded the Soviet Union by taken over much of Eastern Europe?
When didthe Cold War end?
Joseph Stalin, after WWII controls Eastern Europe.Stalin installs communist leaders and communist economy in Eastern Europe.
Living Under Soviet Communism20 Years after the Fall: video clips…..
Advantages Free Healthcare
Jobs for life
Free Education
Housing was provided
Security
Disadvantages Lack of
Information/Censorship
No Religion
Government control of most aspects of life
Purge of dissidents
Ultimate collapse of the economy!
In communist system there is no profit for capitalist/individuals.
Communist government owns the Means of Production…
If guaranteed a job, nobody is inspired to work, production of faulty goods
Corruption in system
Emphasis on military and defense spending over consumer goods- bread lines and food shortages
Soviet Afghan War- economically drains “satellite nations” country
Supporting “satellite nations” drains economy
Hatred among different nationalities (ethnicities) in empire.
Why did the Soviet Union collapse in 1989?
Mikhail Gorbachev reforms led to collapse of U.S.S.RGlasnost literally openness- “opening to the press”Perestroika was the policy of restructuring or reforming the economic and political systemThe Soviet economy had been in a period of stagnation for two decades and was in desperate need of reform.
Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989
Baltic Countries- Human Chain ProtestOn 23 August 1989, approximately two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined hands, forming a human chain, It was a peaceful protest against illegal Soviet occupation
A crowd blocks the passage of Soviet tanks on a road near Ganja, formerly Kirovabad, in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1990.
Troops sent into the area last week to quell ethnic violence met both armed and peaceful resistance. (AP Photo)
Attempted Coup against Mikhail Gorbachev- link imagesSoviet Army tanks parked near Spassky Gate, an entrance to the Kremlin and Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on August 19, 1991. Tanks rolled through Moscow towards the Russian White House, where Boris Yeltsin, leader of the Soviet-era Russian republic at the time, gathered his supporters after denouncing the coup. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)
Commonwealth of Independent States
1990, the (CCCP) Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union agreed to give up its monopoly of power.
Over the next several weeks, the 15 republics of the USSR held their first competitive elections.
Common wealth of Independent StatesCIS
Cold War System- Bi- Polar SystemSoviet Union & the United States were the two main power centers after WWII .
CCOMPETITION OF IDEOLOGIES- DEMOCRACY VS. COMMUNISMCAPITALISM VS. COMMUNISMCOMPETITION OF IDEOLOGIES- DEMOCRACY VS. COMMUNISMCAPITALISM VS. COMMUNISM
Both the U.S. and U.S.S.R had enough bombs to destroy the world many times over! What stopped the superpowers from using their weapons…..Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
The Soviet threat was weak, destroying America would not have benefited the Soviets!!!
More of a threat in Europe. Fear against communism in U.S. helps to fund defense budget.
Was the Soviet Union really a threat!
