The Collapse of a Superpower
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document in English
history 1789 to present
term papers
published 03/05/2007
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Summary
After World War I, Communism reigned in Russia, which became known as the Soviet Union (USSR). As Karl Marx said, Communism would only be successful if it occurred as a worldwide revolution; thus by its nature, Communism needed to spread. Therefore, after World War II, the Western Allies, primarily England and the United States, granted the Soviet Union all the territories that it had liberated from the Nazis, which included most of Eastern Europe and parts of Central Europe. Very clear spheres of influence were established: Western Europe was heavily influenced by the United States, and its brand of consumerism; whereas Eastern Europe fell behind the Iron Curtain of Communism. Thus, with the creation of the Warsaw Pact in May 1955, the Soviet Union and its satellite states “formed an alliance of ‘friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance’ under a unified command” (Postwar, p. 246). The occupation of the satellite states would last for over forty years, and the Warsaw Pact alliance for more than thirty. However, between 1989 and 1991, Communism in the Soviet Union and its satellites collapsed. Many factors precipitated the fall, including the system’s inability to provide for the consumer needs of its citizens, the very expensive arms race with the US, the rise of opposition movements, such as Solidarity, the oil crisis in the 1970s, citizen’s loss of faith in a Socialist utopia, and military blunders, such as the invasion of Afghanistan. While all of these factors were significant in the collapse of Communism, the system could not have been demolished if Moscow did not allow it to happen (inadvertently or not). Thus, along with many important economic, cultural, and political factors, Mikhail Gorbachev and his programs of non-intervention, glasnost and perestoika allowed the satellite states to break away from the Soviet Union, which in turn led to destabilization in the heart of the Union itself.
Table of Contents
- Looking at the economic situation in the USSR
- These consumer problems were exacerbated by the oil crisis in the 1970s
- Another factor that contributed to the Soviet Union's demise
- One of Gorbachev's most important reforms
- Poland is a good example of how distinct cultural issues crippled Communism
- The Communist party in Poland was losing power
- Gorbachev's policy of non-intervention in satellite states
- The fall of Communism yielded many serious consequences
- The catastrophe at Chernobyl is just one example of the environmental disasters of the Soviet system
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