...Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born in Stavropol, Stavropol Krai, USSR (Russia). He was born on March 2, 1931. He was born into a present family of a mixed Russian and Ukrainian family. His father was World War II veteran. He attended Moscow State University and graduated with a law degree in 1955. He would meet his future wife Raisa Titarenko whom he married in 1953. They had one daughter born in 1957. He joined the Communist party in 1950. Mikhail Gorbachev is still alive and is currently 83 years old. He was the only General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to be born after the October Revolution. The October Revolution was a culmination of The February Revolution, which overthrew the Tsar autocracy of Nicholas II. The October Revolution was the start of Russian Civil War, which was fought between White Russians (non-communist) led by Alexander Kerensky and the Reds (communists) led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. The Russian Civil War lasted until 1922, which saw the formation of USSR with the signing of The Treaty on the Creation of the USSR on December 30, 1922. 2: Rise in The Communist Party...
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...States. Previous administrations had failed to keep up with the Soviet Union in what had become the most technologically advanced arms race the world had ever seen. The destructive capabilities of both nations had grown from a reason of concern into the potential for nuclear holocaust. There were few options to ending the Cold War which was approaching 35 years in duration at the time of President Reagan’s Inauguration. It would take strong leadership and an informed vision of a peaceful future to finally bring an end to the Cold War, but this leadership and vision could not be unilateral. Upon taking office, President Reagan recognized that United States had disarmed during the 1970s while the Soviet Union had gained nuclear superiority. He took a hard line while negotiating with the Soviets (Gillon, 299). Reagan’s dramatic increase in defense spending forced the USSR to keep up. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985. Gorbachev was the first leader to have been born after the Communist Revolution and would prove to be the most progressive leader the nation had seen. With his willingness to be the catalyst for reform and eventually peace, it seemed there was finally hope for de-escalation (Britannica, 2014). In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev made speeches acknowledging that his nation’s economy had stalled and advocated sweeping reforms to make the Soviet bureaucracy more efficient and prosperous. The first of such reforms...
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...the Cold War came to an end because of Mikhail Gorbachev’s new approach to US-Soviet relations in the mid- to late 1980s? The ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 had a strong impact on the Cold War as well as the US-Soviet relations. Gorbachev new political thinking brought about new reforms for the Soviet Union and a much less hostile approach towards the US which lead to a relaxation in the tension between the two great superpowers. It can be argued that other factors such as the pressure from the West and People Power had a much more profound effect in the Cold War and that these factors lead to the end of the war. It can be agreed that Gorbachev’s new approach towards the US had an impact on ending the Cold War up to a point but other factors mentioned previously also had a huge part to play in ending the Cold War. The emergence of Gorbachev brought a great change to the Soviet’s foreign policy both towards the US and eastern Europe. In source 1 the ascension of Gorbachev is said to be the most critical turning point in the cold war’s final phase as Gorbachev himself was a unique individual who deprived the US of the enemy they were fighting. Gorbachev saw that the Russian people could not continue living in the terrible conditions they were in due to the arms race and thus believed that concessions with the West were needed. Just like the source states these concessions changed the US-Soviet relations and eventually lead to the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev’s charm...
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...Political issues played a key role in the downfall of the Soviet union in 1991. Many of these issues came from the foundations of a non-reforming society, a defective union, and party politics. One way to describe the society of the Soviet Union was its tendency for non reform, which would “plague the very infrastructure of the Soviet Union until its dying days.”(What Explains the Collapse of the USSR?, Jean Baptiste) This is due to primarily due to Stalin’s “hijacking” of the Communist ideology, where he primarily cut all opposing views and critical thinking, which is a primary source of reform. The satellites that compromised the USSR struggled to unite due to extremely diverse nationalities, races, and religions. This led to societal problems...
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...Lauren O'Grady Lenin, Stalin, and Gorbachev: Their Impact on Russia's History Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, and Mikhail Gorbachev all played remarkable roles in Russia's history, although in very different ways. Though each could be criticized or praised for various different policies, these three leaders were perhaps undeniably the most influential leaders of Russia's history in the last hundred years. Vladimir Lenin's influence on Russia started with the release of his book What's to be Done? In 1902. When the leaders of Russian Marxism gathered for a meeting in 1903, Lenin's ideas clashed with Iuli Martov's idea of a looser, more democratic workers' party. Due to this disagreement, was complicated by other conflicts, and from this meeting Russian Marxism was split into two factions (Simkin). Lenin's faction was called the Bolsheviks (majority) while the other referred to themselves as the Mensheviks (minority). When the Revolution of 1905 occurred in Russia, widespread revolt against the czar's government spread throughout the country. However, it was eventually demolished by the government. This revolt surprised all Russian leaders, including the Bolsheviks, Lenin managed to return to Russia only in November, when the defeat of the revolution was pretty much certain (Talbot). Over the next twelve years, Bolshevism, with Lenin at it's head, gradually emerged as an independent party that had cut it's ties with all other Russian...
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...The Life of Mikhail Gorbachev Abstract Mikhail Gorbachev was a Soviet politician. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party from 1985-1991 and the president of the Soviet Union from 1990-1991. For most of his life he was proponent on communist ideals, who learned these views at an early age from his grandfather. Gorbachev would later understand in order to strengthen the Soviet Union; he would need to democratize the country’s political system. He would see lead the end of Soviet communism and the end of the Soviet Union’s postwar domination of Eastern Europe. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in Privolye, Stavropol kray, Russia. Gorbachev was born of Russian peasant in the Straropol territory (kray). At a vey young age, fifteen, he joined the Komsomol (Young Communist League) and worked on a state farm until his early twenties. He was a very promising member of the Komsomol and entered law school at Moscow State University. During his time at Moscow State he became a member of the Communist Party. In 1955 he graduated with his law degree and held various important post in the Komsomol and regular party organizations in Stavropol, where he became the first secretary of the regional party committee in 1970. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012) Mikhail Gorbachev’s ideals were molded at a very young age. Gorbachev’s grandfather, Pantelei Yefimovich Gopkalo, was a devoted member of the Communist Party. In 1937 Gopkalo was arrested by the...
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...Tyler Svoke 9/16/2012 Reading Reaction 1 The Gorbachev Phenomenon: A historical interpretation By Moshe Lewin Moshe Lewin, a historian of the Soviet Union, wrote The Gorbachev Phenomenon. The Gorbachev Phenomenon is often referred to as the period between the late 1910’s to present (1988 when the book was published) that corresponds to the growth of the Soviet Union from an undeveloped agricultural society to an urban industrial power. Moshe focuses on social changes and the impacts that occur therein affecting the population’s demographics. Russia entered into World War One in 1914 with largest military force on the face of the earth. However, size did not seem to matter because of the poor weapons technology and incompetent leadership. Russia met this feat with failure, losing 1.7 million soldiers and leaving 3.9 million more wounded. Russia and its leadership were in shambles, and the Tsar Nicholas II began to lose strength in his reputation. In 1917 Russia was an economically backwards country; there was a promising yet feeble parliament and uneasy peasant workers. The main reason for change in Russia came with the beginnings of the Soviet Union through riots and demonstrations in Petrograd, later to be known as St. Petersburg. On the 15th of March the Tsar, Nicholas II, abdicated his position. This fall of the Tsar, gave rise to the idea of socialism and the idea of a world revolution. As contemporary Russia was forming, the people began to change. The population...
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...to finally bringing it to an end. Hoffman’s book also goes into detail about the secret decisions and motives the United States and the Soviet Union had during the Cold War. Hoffman also draws in top secret documents deep within Kremlin, interviews, and memoirs from both the Soviet Union and the United States, which he introduces the soldiers, scientist, diplomats, and spies all witnessed the world going towards what was thought as a complete disaster. From this, the author draws in the official leaders and their influence in the Cold War during that time, telling stories of President Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and others who fought to bring the arms race and the Cold War to an end. The author’s purpose for writing this book was that he wanted to deliver a narrative how the arms race during the Cold War officially came to an end, along with explaining the...
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...escalate and lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s speech in 1986 stated that there was no longer any nationalities issue within the USSR as everyone was dedicated towards his reforms regardless of identity. This can be argued with the collapse of the USSR as it was brought on by movements within Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. However, the collapse of the USSR can also be argued by looking at the failure of Gorbachev’s economic reforms and political stagnation. The failure of acceleration and the reforms within the economy had an impact in the Republics where people began to question whether Gorbachev was committed towards the reforms as was required to to reinvigorate the economy. The reforms of Uskoreniye that was believed to be the gradualist approach to help to invigorate the economy failed. His estimates of national income were short by 2% and the initial measures of perestroika were having no effect. He blamed poor economic advice and the Republics were obstructing change, and this led to societal stagnation as the USSR began to experience shortages of food and higher prices for goods. By the summer of 1990, it was clear there was a major crisis in the economy. Most reformers now accepted that tinkering of the economy was over and only a rapid move to a full market based economy could avoid catastrophe. Gorbachev allied with Yeltsin to set up a team of reforming economists headed by Shatalin. Gorbachev refused to accept the Shatalin plan, as it...
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...Soviet Union Collapse In the 1980’s, Mikhail Gorbachev, the 8th leader of the Soviet Union embarked on several reforms that were aimed at modernizing the Soviet Union to help the economy and improve relations with the West. These were Glasnost (political openness) and Perestroika (reduced governmental control of the economy). Gorbachev also withdrew Soviet military presence from the Warsaw pact nations in Eastern Europe like Romania, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, which reduced the span of Russian Influence. Gorbachev also reduced the power of the internal institutions like the Politburo (Communist Party leadership) in June of 1990. His goal was to implement these reforms that would modernize the Soviet Union while keeping it intact. Many in the Western governments supported his goals, In particular both US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush predicted Gorbachev’s reforms would succeed. However his plans did not succeed as he had hoped. The KGB was alarmed at the progressive weakening of the strong central government and organized a coup attempt. Gorbachev’s vision had not been fulfilled. His attempt to modernize the Soviet Union had some serious flaws. The first was that existing economic structures were abandoned before new structures could take root. The results were that there was economic decline, which caused discontent among the populace. Also the power elite saw a chance to gain wealth and property by supporting democratic change, though they were not...
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...November 3rd, 2013 The Soviet Union, now Russia, heavily influenced the second global economy. From the reconstruction of Germany to the Cold War, the Soviet Union’s actions affected the world second only to the United States. While the second global economy is loosely defined as the era between the years of 1971 and 1998, the seeds of this time period were planted shortly after the end of World War II in the European theatre. Following the fall of Nazi Germany, the United States devised the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economies of war-devastated countries. As a world power, the United States believed it was their duty to prevent another world war. The Soviet Union agreed with the sentiment, but not with the approach the western nations took. To prevent the rise of authoritarian governments, the United States promoted democracies, constitutional rule, and capitalism. The Soviet Union, an authoritarian government, advanced their communist ideas to counter the Truman Doctrine. The result of the opposing ideologies was a strained relationship between the two influencers of the modern world, and the initiation of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was focused on spreading their political ideology for one reason: Protection (Service 2). While most of the world considers the establishment of communist regimes as Soviet expansion, the Soviet Union created a buffer zone. In essence, the surrounding nations would provide more time for the Soviet Union to prepare while opposing troops...
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... B) In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev brought upon the world the idea of Glasnost', which led to the changing of the largest ruling power in the world to a new power benefiting everyone. II) The Former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics before Glasnost'. C) Different styles of Soviet government from the early 1900s up to 1985. 1) Leninism to Stalinism to Khrushchev to Brezhnev. D) Coups and the Great Purge III) What lead to Glasnost' and what it is. E) In 1986, Gorbachev dismayed at the slow process of reform being conducted in the country proposed to the citizens of the USSR and the entire world a two new ideas to help bring reform to the country in a much more radical direction. F) Gorbachev called for a glasnost’ (openness or candor) in the media and culture. IV) Changes within Russia and Foreign changes. G) Banned works and speaking out are no longer dangerous crimes against the state. 2) Criticizing the government led to the formation of a large number of independent nationalistic movements in the USSR. 3) Scholars and scientists are allowed to share their findings with others. H) Multiple treaties signed to end decades of heated arguments. 4) The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I). 5) Fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. V) Glasnost' finally in the end lead to the complete non-unification of the Soviet Union. I) Glasnost' led to...
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...Causes and Origins of the Collapse of the Former Soviet Union An Honors Research Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation ―with Honors Research Distinction in Russian Economic Studies‖ in the Undergraduate Colleges of the Ohio State University by Erik Lauritzen The Ohio State University June 2011 Project Advisors: Professor Jason Blevins, Department of Economics Professor Jennifer Suchland, Department of Russian Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3 1. Macroeconomic Planning in the Soviet Union ................................................................. 5 1.1 The Early Policies of Period One ................................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 War Communism .......................................................................................................................... 5 1.1.2 The New Economic Policy (NEP) ............................................................................................... 9 1.1.3 Democratic Centralism ............................................................................................................... 11 1.2 The Significance of Economic...
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...Why factor that cause the collapse of the USSR? On Christmas Day on 1991,Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the president of USSR and announced that USSR from then on was not going to existed anymore. Except the US president Reagan, very few people predict the collapse would happened. Evidences prove that the break-up of the USSR was intended and also out of Gorbachev’s expectations. After Brezhnev died. There were lots of problems left to Gorbachev. There were mainly two problems: Economy crippling and severe relationship with the US and eastern European countries.Gorbachev actually had a specific goal to improve USSR’s development by using Perestroika and Glasnost.However, those two police actually accelerated the coming of the fall. with an unintended consequences.However,there are also historian argues conversely that actually it is an intended result that the long-term economics crippling and stagnation caused the financial sustainability of USSR which directly influence people’s life situation and the USSR development. One of the Gorbachev’s policy Perestroika which was reconstruction on economy was one of the factor leads to fall of USSR which wasn't seen as a stimulant of the collapse by Gorbachev. By that time USSR saw its economic crippling. Gorbachev set up goals for ending the economic stagnation and improving the economy in USSR.Perestroika allowed more independent actions from various ministries and introduced market autonomy reforms.The goal of the...
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...ld was thrust into an even more frightening conflagration. The United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies faced off in a fundamental struggle to shape the postwar world. It was a contest based on power politics, competing social and economic systems, and differing political ideologies that lasted over fifty years and touched every corner of the globe. A spiraling arms race eventually brought the world to the brink of nuclear apocalypse. While the war remained technically cold, the fear of a nuclear disaster made it feel very different to the peoples of the world. OVERVIEW The Formation of a Bipolar World Despite the lingering general animosity and mistrust that the Soviets and Americans shared, at the heart of the cold war was a fundamental disagreement between political, economic, and social systems. Capitalism and communism, at least in the minds of the superpowers, remained mutually exclusive. The United States attacked communism and backed, at least in theory, liberalism. Consequently, the United States criticized the Soviet record on human rights and the suppression of civil and religious institutions. In turn the Soviets, led by Nikita Khrushchev, were critics of the failings of laissez‐faire capitalism and the wide gulf between rich and poor in western European and especially the United States. Further, the Soviets recognized the shortcomings of the collectivization and the brutal use of terror during the Stalinist years...
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