...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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...Chapter 38 The Bipolar World THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE No sooner had World War II reached its bloody finish than the world 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...
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...The Cold War Overview * Arms Race * Communism * Glossary and Terms * Space RaceMajor Events * Berlin Airlift * Suez Crisis * Red Scare * Berlin Wall * Bay of Pigs * Cuban Missile Crisis * Collapse of the Soviet UnionWars * Korean War * Vietnam War * Chinese Civil War * Yom Kippur War * Soviet Afghanistan War | People of the Cold War Western Leaders * Harry Truman (US) * Dwight Eisenhower (US) * John F. Kennedy (US) * Lyndon B. Johnson (US) * Richard Nixon (US) * Ronald Reagan (US) * Margaret Thatcher (UK)Communist Leaders * Joseph Stalin (USSR) * Leonid Brezhnev (USSR) * Mikhail Gorbachev (USSR) * Mao Zedong (China) * Fidel Castro (Cuba) | http://www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/summary.php The Cold War Communism Communism is a type of government and philosophy. Its goal is to form a society where everything is shared equally. All people are treated equally and there is little private ownership. In a communist government, the government owns and controls most everything including property, means of production, education, transportation, and agriculture. History of Communism Karl Marx is considered the Father of Communism. Marx was a German philosopher and economist who wrote about his ideas in a book called the Communist Manifesto in 1848. His communist theories have also become known as Marxism. Marx described ten important aspects of a communist government: * No private property * A single central bank...
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...Ronald Reagan - The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy POL30048GA050-1118-001 IR: The New World of International Relations October 24, 2011 Abstract In this assignment, I will write a three to five page paper on President Ronald Reagan doctrine of The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy during his presidency. In addition, this paper will address the following: 1. Summarize a situation that required U.S. diplomatic efforts during the president’s time in office. 2. Explicate the diplomatic doctrine the president followed, with reference to specific actions or events that occurred. 3. Describe the effects of these diplomatic efforts for the U.S. and other countries. 4. Assess, in conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of the particular doctrine that was followed. Ronald Reagan - The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy In this assignment, I will discuss President Ronald Reagan’s position on The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy during his presidency. First, let me define the terms “The Cold War”, and “U.S. Diplomacy”. The Cold War was a period of military and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. It was called the Cold War, because there was no direct fighting between the two powers. The term “U.S. Diplomacy” refers to a country’s ability or skill to negotiate on the international level between nations or groups of nations, or simply, it is political contact between national governments. Diplomacy is extremely important. It is the feedback...
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...The Soviet Union (Russian: Сове́тский Сою́з, tr. Sovetskij Soyuz; IPA: [sɐ'vʲetskʲɪj sɐˈjʉs]), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲɛtskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪsˈtʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪˈspublʲɪk] ( listen)) abbreviated to USSR (Russian: СССР, tr. SSSR) was a socialist state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991. A union of multiple subnational Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The Soviet Union was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government that had replaced the Tsar. They established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (renamed Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1936), beginning a civil war between the revolutionary "Reds" and the counter-revolutionary "Whites." The Red Army entered several territories of the former Russian Empire and helped local Communists take power through soviets, which nominally acted on behalf of workers and peasants. In 1922, the Communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics. Following Lenin's death in 1924, a troika and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power...
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...Factors That Culminated In the Eventual Collapse of Communism and the Demise of the Soviet Union Purnea Gillani Author Note This report was prepared for International Relations Practice, BS (Hons) Major in Political Science and Minor in Management, taught by Professor Sajaad Naseer ABSTRACT The collapse of the soviet empire is often heralded in the West as a triumph of capitalism and democracy, as though this event was a direct result of the policies of the Reagan and Thatcher governments. This analysis has little relation to measurable facts, circumstances and internal political dynamics that were the real historical causes of the deterioration of the Soviet empire. The key to understanding the reasons for the demise of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe is to be found not in the speeches or policies of Western politicians, but in internal Soviet history. Through our report we have attempted to discern the various complex factors that came together and led to the unraveling of the Soviet Union and the end of communism in Europe. This report contains an analysis of how social, political and economic factors culminated in the sudden and unprecedented collapse of the Soviet Union at the perceived height of its power. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank … Contents ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 3 INTRODUCTION 5 LITERATURE REVIEW 8 ROLE...
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...Disarmament Talks Impact of Disarmament Talks on Cold War Tensions from 1963 to 1991 Disarmament talks between the two powers during the period of 1963 to 1991 improved the relationship between Soviet Union and United States by providing the necessary spirit of cooperation. The two most significant examples of arms control talks positively impacting the superpower relationship are the SALT I and INF treaties. Negotiations for SALT I played a part in bringing the two countries from the nuclear 'brinkmanship' of the Cuban missile crisis to détente. Gorbachev realising the importance of arms control in mutual political accommodation, initiated INF. INF and NST alleviated secrecy and suspicion and began a spirit of cooperation that could not have been achieved without successful talks. The interactions also helped the two sides to understand each other better. Through the frequent summit-meetings between Gorbachev and Reagan and Gorbachev and Bush the American public got to know the face of their enemy. This encouraged greater tolerance between the two nations which was necessary if the cold war was to end. The Cuban missile crisis led to the end of a period of nuclear 'brinkmanship' as both sides became very aware of how close they came to nuclear war. In 1963 the US and the USSR made important agreements that contributed to arms control. In June a direct 'hot line' was established between Washington and Moscow. This communication link between the head of states was established...
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...Russian governance and attempts at social reform. Considering the tumultuous thousand-year history of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the notion of inertia would seem unlikely. However, much of Russia is currently embracing a regime that seemingly defies the significant religious changes that have occurred since Tsarist rule. 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, a defining moment in Russian, if not world, history when Communists rose to power. Their agenda included the destruction of symbols of the previous dynasty, most notably, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) which had supported the Russian Tsars for hundreds of years. Among the many...
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...Latin American Politics and DevelopmentThe Cold War, the Cuban Revolution, the spread of guerilla warfare and the doctrine of National Security in Latin America | During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical rule of his own country. For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Post-war Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fuelled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. Meanwhile, the USSR came to resent what they perceived as American officials’ rhetoric, arms build-up and interventionist approach to international relations. By the time World War II ended, most American officials agreed that the best defence against the Soviet threat was a strategy called “containment.” In 1946, in his famous “Long Telegram,” the diplomat George Kennan explained this policy, The Soviet Union, he wrote, was “a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with the U.S. there can be no permanent modus vivendi...
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...United States and the Soviet Union competed for hegemony, with Pakistan establishing ties with the United States in 1954, and Afghanistan turning to the Soviet Union. The Soviets viewed Afghanistan not only as a strategic location to counter the US alliance with Pakistan, but also as a key trade location with access to oil. ● At the time, the Saur Revolution of April 1978 had recently taken place, where the Afghan communist party seized power in a coup and killed the prime minister, and set up a new government with close ties to the Soviet Union. Its ruthlessness with harsh military, social and land reforms, combined with economic measures that worsened conditions for the poor led to resistance by the Mujahideen,...
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...Revolution was an important theme throughout the Cold War. Revolutions begat, molded and then finally brought an end to the Cold War. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution forced Vladimir Lenin, the new communist leader, to withdraw from World War I on the side of the Western Allies and to sign a separate peace agreement with Germany. The suspicions that this aroused among the Allies were the seeds of the Cold War. In 1949, the New Democratic Revolution of China ended the Kuomintang (KMT) rule and established a communist government, thus guaranteeing the existence of the Cold War. Throughout its existence, the Cold War appeared to be something that was constantly present and unchanging. However, revolutions in Europe and Asia after 1953 continued to shape the Cold War until revolution inevitably destroyed in 1989. In 1954, after failing to contain communism in Korea, America involved itself in the Vietnam Conflict. At this time, France had just lost control of its colonial holdings in Vietnam. After the French were defeated by a communist contingent lead by Vo Nguyen Giap at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided that they could no longer retain their Indochinese colonies. In the summer of 1954, France and Vietnam signed the Geneva Peace Accords. It was agreed that Vietnam would be temporarily divided along the 17th parallel such that the north would be communist and the south would not be. As a result of this, the United States decided to intervene in the South Vietnamese affairs...
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...RACE FOR NUCLEAR ARMAMENT: THREAT TO WORLD PEACE Introduction Nuclear weapons are, simply, the most indiscriminately inhumane weapons ever invented, and the only ones capable of destroying life on this planet as we know it. There is only one other global policy issue remotely comparable in terms of its impact on planetary survivability and that is climate change: but nuclear bombs can kill us a lot faster than CO2. Harry Truman (1884-1972) was the most influential person in the race for the super bomb. As President Roosevelt’s Vice President, he knew nothing about the development of the atomic bomb. But within months of assuming the office of President of the United States on April 12, 1945, he became the first and only American leader to authorize the use of atomic weapons against an enemy target. Truman’s era only marked the beginning of the race for nuclear weapons. The development of nuclear weapons is still an issue today, decades after Truman left office. Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) succeeded in splitting the uranium atom and the Nobel Committee later awarded him the 1938 prize for physics. At Columbia University in New York, Fermi realized that if neutrons are emitted in the fissioning of uranium then the emitted neutrons might proceed to split other uranium atoms, setting in motion a chain reaction that would release enormous amounts of energy.(1) Fermi had succeeded in taking one of the first steps to making an atomic bomb. A decade later on July 16, 1945, the U.S....
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...Trustees of Princeton University Now Out of Never: The Element of Surprise in the East European Revolution of 1989 Author(s): Timur Kuran Source: World Politics, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Oct., 1991), pp. 7-48 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2010422 . Accessed: 26/02/2011 05:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Cambridge University Press and Trustees of Princeton University...
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...Most Significant Events By Bryon W. Neubauer Jr. University of Phoenix - Axia College Introduction The purpose of this paper is to inform you of the different events over the past five decades that changed the world that we live in today. Some of the events were good and some were bad. The people of the United States have seen and been through numerous of changes and wars. The U.S. has seen presidents come and go that has either helped us or have hurt us in some way or another. In this paper I will try to explain some of those events. People wonder why historical things happen and why it is important to learn about them. Although we do not have an exact answer down to an exact science, we have come to notice that past events have or may have happened has an impact on future events. Ever since the 1950’s all the way through 1990’s, numerous events have happened. Many of those events were social, economic and political related. Almost of all of these events throughout the 1950’s through the 1990’s have impacted how our world is today. Throughout the past five decades and all the historical events that have taken place has had some kind of effect on the way our world is today and future events that has yet to happen. The Korean War – 1950’s During the 1950’s significant social, economic and political events had occurred. The biggest events that happen...
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...AP* World History Study Guide and Graphic Organizers – Unit 5: The Modern World, 1914 CE – present 1. World War I Students are required to know the causes, major events, and consequences of WWI 1) Causes a) Imperialism i) No new lands to expand into – some nations didn’t have many colonies (Germany, Italy) ii) Rivalries as nations competed for colonies iii) Sometimes armed conflict in colonial lands for control over resources b) Nationalism i) Pride in one’s nation, want one’s nation to be the best and most powerful ii) Fostered conflict as nations competed to be the best iii) Justified imperialism, militarism iv) Caused disruptions in multi-ethnic nations (Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire); rebellions, revolts against foreign rule c) Militarism i) Build up of a country’s military; keeping a large standing army ii) Nations expanded their militaries as a show of power iii) Arms race: each nation needed to have a standing army because their neighbors had standing armies d) Alliances i) Bismarck: German chancellor behind alliance system in Europe ii) Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy allied; France, Great Britain, Russia allied 2) Events a) Assassination of Archduke Frantz Ferdinand: Serbian terrorists kill the Austrian duke and his wife as they honeymooned in Sarajevo i) Austria demands Serbian submission ii) Russia offers to back Serbians in defying Austrians iii) Austria and Germany declare war on Serbia and Russia (along with Russia’s allies) b) Schlieffen...
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