The Collapse of the Soviet
Union
Causes and Consequences
By Andrea Lopez, John Amalfitano,
Nicole Conejo, & Yesenia Santadrea
BORGES STYLE NOTES!
Before We
Begin…
Let’s Get To Know
the Crucial
Leaders Involved…
NAME
COUNTRY
DESCRIPTION
Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet
Union
a communist reformer was appointed General Secretary
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985. His
major reforms were glasnost, perestroika and
democratization. These reforms allowed the problems of
the USSR to be uncovered and become public
knowledge.
Leonid Brezhnev
Soviet
Union
Emerged as the dominant leader in the 1970’s. { right
before Gorbachev}. He was determined to keep
Eastern Europe in Communist hands and was
uninterested in reform. Under his rule, the party officials
were living large, while average Russians fought just to
make ends meet.
Ronald Reagan
U.S.A.
When elected in 1980, the relations with the Soviets got
even worse as he referred to them as an “evil empire”.
He began a military buildup, which stimulated a new
arms race. {weaponry} By providing military aid to proSoviet regimes in Afghanistan, he thought he would force
them to waste their resources on a foreign war.
Boris Yeltsin
Russia
President of the Russian republic, and new commander
in chief of Russia after collapse of the Soviet Union. He
vowed to transform Russia’s socialist economy into a free
market.
Vladimir Putin
Russia
Elected President in 2000. He was a former officer of the
secret police and was widely seen as someone who
wanted to keep a tight reign on government power.
Review of Key Terms
• Nationalism - devotion and loyalty to one's own nation; patriotism.
• Republic – a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of
citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen
directly or indirectly by them.
• Democracy - government by the people; a form of government in which
the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by
them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
• Communism – where no government exists and the means of
production are owned and operated by all people as one equal class.
• Socialism – where the means of production are owned and run by the
government; non profit driven
• Capitalism - the means of production and distribution are privately or
corporately owned and development and is based on the principle of
individual rights; profit driven
Now It’s Time To
Start…
POST
COLLAPSE
What’s been going on?
Soviets Under Stress
• Between 1964 and 1982, drastic change in
the Soviet Union was highly unlikely. So,
what the happened to create such a rapid
turnaround?
• The major reason was because of a man
named: Mikhail Gorbachev
Gorbachev continued…
• When the Communist Party chose Mikhail
Gorbachev as its new leader in 1985, it
had little idea of what he would do:
Immediately launch a widespread
campaign aimed at transforming Soviet
society called perestroika and glasnost
Definitions Copy both
• Perestroika – {“restructuring”} a policy
intended to increase automation and labor
efficiency which reconstructed the Soviet
economy and bureaucracy beginning in the mid
1980s.
• Glasnost – {“openess”} a policy allowing freer
discussion of social problems emphasizing
candor with regard to shortcomings.
Soviet Reform
•
In the 1980’s, the Soviet Union faced
several issues:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A declining economy
A rise in infant mortality rates
A surge in alcoholism
Poor working conditions
From the start of his reign, Gorbachev
preached the need for radical reform; his
basis: perestroika
But…
• Although, perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev's
program of economic, political, and social
restructuring, became the unintended catalyst
for dismantling what had taken nearly threequarters of a century to erect: the MarxistLeninist-Stalinist totalitarian state. {Nice job
dummy…}
The To –Do List
• His first priority was to reconstruct the
economic policy; desiring to create an
economy in which goods and services are
exchanged in a free market, as opposed to a
state-controlled or socialist economy; a
capitalistic economy. So that some businesses
could be privately owned.
• {This was his glasnost, the “openness”, in his
plans!}
Reforms
• Glasnost resulted in greater freedom of speech
and the press becoming far less controlled. It is
likely that Gorbachev's primary goal in
undertaking glasnost was to pressure
conservatives who opposed his policies of
economic restructuring.
• Although, he also hoped that through different
ranges of openness, debate and participation,
the Soviet people as a whole would support his
reform initiatives.
Reforms Continued…
• The Law on Cooperatives, enacted in May 1988,
perhaps the most radical of the economic reforms,
permitted private ownership of businesses in the
services, manufacturing, and foreign-trade sectors.
The law initially imposed high taxes and
employment restrictions, but later revised these to
avoid discouraging private-sector activity.
• The media was far less controlled by the
government.
• At the time, many political prisoners and dissidents
were also released from jail.
• In May 1989 Gorbachev ordered the withdrawal
of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, a major step
in removing a point of contention between the
United States and the Soviet Union.
• In Europe, he abandoned the traditional Soviet
commitment to its East European allies, and
ordered Soviet forces stationed in Eastern
Europe not to interfere in the internal affairs of
their host states. This reformist foreign policy,
dubbed "New Thinking," was a drastic departure
from traditional Soviet practice.
“New Thinking”
• Gorbachev’s willingness to rethink Soviet
Foreign Policy resulted in an abrupt halt in
military support in other communist
governments in Europe.
• This change opened the door to the overthrow
of these Communist regimes.
• As Gorbachev allowed this to happen, it gave
the opportunity for nationalist reformers to use
their “right of speech” to riot and protest in order
to regain their independence from the Soviet
Union.
• This laid the groundwork for a wave of political
upheavals in Eastern Europe, which swept
communist governments aside and brought to
power leaders with anti-Russian, pro-Western
orientations.
• The new approach resulted in the celebrated
unification of East and West Germany (1990)
and had major ramifications for the Soviet
Union and the global political environment.
Reactions to Reforms
• In the Soviet Union itself, however, reactions to
the new policies were mixed. Reform policies
rocked the foundation of entrenched traditional
power bases in the party, economy, and society
but did not replace them entirely.
• Newfound freedoms of assembly, speech, and
religion, the right to strike, and multicandidate
elections undermined not only the Soviet
Union's authoritarian structures, but also the
familiar sense of order and predictability. Longsuppressed, bitter inter-ethnic, economic, and
social grievances led to clashes, strikes, and
growing crime rates.
Uh…Oh…
• Gorbachev's efforts to streamline the
Communist system offered promise, but
ultimately proved uncontrollable and
resulted in a cascade of events that
eventually concluded with the dissolution
of the Soviet Union.
• Initially intended as tools to bolster the
Soviet economy, the policies of perestroika
and glasnost soon led to unintended
consequences.
Unintended Consequences
• Relaxation under glasnost resulted in the
Communist Party losing its absolute grip
on the media.
• Before long, and much to the
embarrassment of the authorities, the
media began to expose severe social and
economic problems the Soviet government
had long denied and actively concealed.
Unintended Consequences…
Problems receiving increased attention included:
1. poor housing
2. alcoholism
3. drug abuse
4. pollution
5. outdated Stalin-era factories
Media reports also exposed crimes
committed by Stalin and the Soviet regime,
such as the gulags, his treaty with Hitler, and
the Great Purge, which all had been ignored.
This didn’t sit well with the people.
• Moreover, the ongoing war in Afghanistan,
and the mishandling of the 1986
Chernobyl disaster, which Gorbachev tried
to cover up, further damaged the credibility
of the Soviet government at a time when
dissatisfaction was increasing.
• In all, the very positive view of Soviet life which
had long been presented to the public by the
official media, was being rapidly dismantled,
and the negative aspects of life in the Soviet
Union were brought into the spotlight.
• This undermined the faith of the public in the
Soviet system and eroded the Communist
Party's social power base, threatening the
identity and integrity of the Soviet Union itself.
The
CLIMAX
Collapse of the Soviet Union
• During 1990 and 1991, Gorbachev
struggled to deal with problems unleashed
by his reforms. He had fellow conservative
leaders and the secret police worried out of
their minds!
• Fearing their privileges would terminate
with the collapse of their country, these
conservatives arrested Gorbachev and
tried to seize power, but failed. {Ha…Suckers!}
Meanwhile…
Dah…Dah…Daaaaaaaaaaah…
• In Moscow, president of
the Russian Republic,
Boris Yeltsin, along with
thousands of Russians,
resisted the rebel
forces.
• Two days after the
arrest of Gorbachev,
between August 21st
and September 22nd, the
following countries
declared their
independence:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Ukraine
Belarus
Moldova
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Uzbekistan
Tajikstan
Turkmenistan
• With the country in a rapid state of deterioration,
the final blow to Gorbachev's vision was
effectively dealt by a Ukrainian referendum on 1
December, where the Ukrainian people voted for
independence. The presidents of Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus met on December 8th,
founding the Commonwealth of Independent
States and declared the the end of the Soviet
Union.
• Gorbachev then reluctantly agreed with Yeltsin,
on December 17th, to dissolve the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev resigned December 25th and the
Soviet Union was formally dissolved the next
day. Two days later, December 27th, Yeltsin
moved into Gorbachev's old office.[5]
RESOLUTION
Life Afterwards
• Nationalist supporters justified the break up of
the Soviet Union into 15 separate nations. They
argued that every nation had an ordained right to
govern itself.
• Nationalists saw national sovereignty and
statehood as inalienable rights, withheld from
them by the repressive Soviet regime.
Perestroika and glasnost made it possible for
nationalist aspirations to be propagated and take
hold, and the Soviet collapse made their
independence possible.
The New Russia
• In 1991 the Democratic Party and its leader,
Boris Yeltsin, was left in control of Russia after
replacing the communist party. The democrats
had a major problem on their hands: in order to
completely get rid of communism, they would
have to do a great deal of damage to
everything communism had sustained in the
country.
• This included Russia's economy and political
structure.
A Slow Path To Recovery
• President Yeltsin had no clear plans regarding
the transition that had to be made, and when
little was done in the first month of Yeltsin's rule
concerning the crisis facing the nation, the
Russian people began to panic as they realized
how severe an effect the removal of communism
would have on both the economy and their
everyday life.
• On October 28th, 1991, Yeltsin finally announced
several drastic changes that would begin the
transition. Yeltsin was able to privatize the
enterprises responsible for 70% of Russia's
gross domestic product by the end of his
presidency.
Today…
• During the reign of Communism, the Party
controlled all facets of Russian civilization,
including the economy. Now that Russia has
made the transition to a democratic government,
the state needs to refrain from intervention in
the economy in order to promote the free market
system that has prevailed in western
countries. If this happens, Russia will eventually
regain its status as a major power in the world
market.
Timeline of Events
1970
1974
1978
1970’s- The U.S. and
Soviet Union have good
relations
1979-1981 – Soviets invade
Afghanistan resulting in
a worse relationship with
the U.S. when Reagan gets
elected in 1981.
1982
1985
1989
1993
2000
1991 – Boris Yeltsin
becomes president of
Russia.
1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev
assumes leadership of
Soviet Union {PG}
1987 – INF Treaty with
The U.S. to eliminate
intermediate-range
nuclear weapons.
1997
December 25 1991 –
Gorbachev’s resignation.
August 19th 1991 – A group
of conservatives arrest
Gorbachev and try to seize
his power.
1989-1990 – Nationalist
Movements arose in republics
that made up the USSR.
there were calls for independence
in Latvia, Estonia, Moldavia, and
Lithuania.
1988 – Communist party
conference initiates
political reforms;
establishes a new
Soviet parliament:
the Congress of People’s
Deputies.
October 3rd, 1990 – Reunification
of Germany
2000 – Ex-KGB agent Vladimir
Putin becomes president
of Russia.