COLLAPSE OF THE U.S.S.

R
BY: PAIGE TOTTEN

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR (1918)

The Russian Civil War began in 1918 and it was a multi-party war in the Russian Empire that was against
the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army. The Russian Civil War will help the Soviet Union as a nation
because it will help them gain power towards everyone else.

CREATION OF THE POLITBURO (1917)

The creation of the politburo was the ruling committee of the Communist Party and it was able to crush
all political disagreements. It was able to help the Soviet Union existence as a nation because the
Communist Party is part of the Soviet Union and they were able to govern the authority under this
party such as the Soviet Union. But later on, the Politburo had ended because of the cause of the
breakup with the Soviet Union.

STALINS FIVE YEAR PLAN (1928)

Stalins five year plan was started by a man named Joseph Stalin and it was designed to industrialize the
USSR in the shortest time period while also to quicken the collectivization of the farms. Stalins five year
plan was able to hurt the Soviet Union as a nation because they made their land into collective farms
which is farms that are owned by the government. Collective farms are also small in land.

WORLD WAR II (1939)

World War II was the second World War that was a global war that lasted from 1939-1945 that was
involved with mostly the majority of the worlds nations. There were two teams that were spliten up
called the Allies and the Axis and thats who the war was against. It was hurting the Soviet union
because there was a war going on against a lot of people which means that thousands of people will die
or even get hurt.

JOE 1 (1943)

Joe 1 was an atomic bomb that was referencing Joseph Stalin and the United States assigned it the code
name. Joe 1 was able to hurt the Soviet Union because they have an atomic bomb that is able to hurt
and kill a ton of people and it was unnessecary because everyone would die just because you were the
one that had the atomic bomb.

HYDROGEN BOMB (1953)

A Hydrogen bomb is a powerful bomb that has power that comes from the rapid release of energy that
was during the nuclear fusion of isotopes of hydrogen. The Hydrogen bomb would hurt the Soviet
Union because people are using this powerful bomb to be able to kill thousands of people which means
that there will be less of people.

WARSAW PACT (1955)

Warsaw Pact is a collective defense treaty that was among eight communist states of the Central and
Eastern Europe that existed during the time period of the Cold War. The Warsaw Pact would help the
Soviet Union because the Warsaw Pact was in part of the Soviet military and it was able to maintain
control over the military.

SPUTNIK (1957)

Sputnik was the first artificial satellite that was a 58 cm diameter that was a polished metal sphere that
had four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. The Soviet Union was the ones that
launched it into a low Earth orbit which would mean that Sputnik would have helped the Soviet Union.

LAIKA AND SPUTNIK 3 (1957)

Sputnik was a spacecraft launched into the Earths orbit on November 3rd and it was the first to carry a
living animal such as the Soviet dog named Laika to the Earths orbit. Laika and Sputnik 3 was able to
help the Soviet Union because they ended up launching a satellite so this ended up prepping them and
helping them be able to launch theres.

CREATION OF THE BERLIN WALL (1961)

The Berlin Wall was a barrier that was created by the German Democratic Republic that cut off West
Berlin from surrounding East Germany and East Berlin until it was opened in the year of 1989. The
Berlin Wall was able to help the Soviet Union because it makes it easier for them to split up the
democracy and the Communism during the Cold War.

1968 INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

The invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was the Soviet Union leading the Warshaw Pact troops in this
invasion of Czechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague. The invasion of Czechoslovakia
in 1968 was able to help the Soviet Union because they were the ones that were able to lead most of
the troops which shows that they were in charge.

SALT I (1969)

Salt I was signed by the United States and Soviet Union Socialist Republics which was the first
agreements and they had more detail. The Salt I was able to help the Soviet Union because they were
the ones who signed the first agreements along with the United States. This shows that they have
control since they were able to sign papers for agreements.

SALT II (1972)

Salt II was also the first agreements that were signed by the United States and the Soviet Union Socialist
Republics and they were able to have nuclear weapons. Salt II were able to help the Soviet Union
because the United States and the Soviet Union were the ones to sign the first agreements which shows
that they have power.

SOVIET-AFGHAN WAR (1979)

The Soviet-Afghan war was a war that was located in Afghanistan that lasted for nine years. It was
between the Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national insurgent groups. The Soviet-Afghan War
was able to hurt the Soviet Union because this war lasted for a long time which shows that they had
many problems with other people. Also, a lot of people died and thats not good to know or hear, when
they also had weapons to use and wasted millions of money.

GORBACHEV BECOMES LEADER (1985)

Gorbachev was a former Soviet statesman and he was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union.
This shows that Gorbachev was able to help the Soviet Union because he was head of state and was
able to control everyone of the Soviet Union.

CHERNOBYL DISASTER (1986)

Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that was located at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in
Ukraine and was under central authorities of the Soviet Union. The Chernobyl disaster was able to hurt
the Soviet Union because there was explosions and fires that spread over much of the western USSR
and Europe.

PERESTROIKA (1986)

Perestroika was a political movement that was for reformation within the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union that took place in 1986 that was connected with the Soviet leader, Gorbachev. Perestroika
will be able to help the Soviet Union because its a movement that the Soviet Unions were involved
with and they were able to make better needs for the Soviet consumers and workers.

GLASNOST (1986)

Glasnost was a policy that was calling for increase openness transparency in the government
institutions and the activities in the Soviet Union. Glasnost was used by the leader and was able to
specify the policies that he thinks will be able to reduce the problem at the top of the Communist Party
and the Soviet government. Glasnost will be able to help the Soviet Union because they would be able
to have more freedom of information and their making sure that everything is okay and nothing bad is
occurring.

VOTING REFORMS BY GORBACHEV (1987)

Gorbachev made up a plan called democratization which would make it a gradual opening of the
political system. But in other words, this plan created a election of a new legislative body and voters
would be able to choose from a list of candidates for each office. The voters would choose unpopular
candidates and the reformers over powerful party bosses. The voting reforms that Gorbachev created
would be able to hurt the Soviet Union because theyre spending millions of money on these elections
and they couldnt afford the costly arms race.

FREE ELECTIONS IN POLAND,

CZECHOSLOVAKIA, & HUNGARY (1989)

Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary were able to have free elections but the election in Poland was
fair while also being proportional. The election in Czechoslovakia and Hungary had more rigorous
electoral rules and they were leading to government stability. Free elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia,
and Hungary were able to help the Soviet Union because they werent interfering with them or starting
with them and this helped others out by saving millions of money.

LITHUANIA AND LATIVA PROTESTS (1989)

Lithuania and Lativa protests were the first challenges that came from the Baltic nations. These nations
were independent states between the two world wars and then Lithuania declared independence to try
to force it back into the Soviet Union. Lithuania and Lativa protests were able to hurt the Soviet Union
because the Soviet troops were attacking the unarmed civilians in Lithuanias capital. The Soviet troops
ended up killing 14 people while also wounding hundred others. Also, the lack of economic progress
damaged Gorbachevs popularity.

FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL (1989)

The Berlin Wall was a barrier that was made by the German Democratic Republic which divided the
West Berlin from the East Berlin. The fall of this wall took about three decades for it was actually torn
down. Many times people in the Communist countries would rise up against the Communist system but
they ended up failing. The fall of the Berlin Wall would be able to help the Soviet Union because they
were able to control their satellites but they also had some problems with the Poland and Hungary.

GORBACHEV STEPS DOWN (1991)

Gorbachev was able to step down because Gorbachev and Yeltsin faced a common enemy in the old
guard of the Communist officials and people were furious that he had given up the Soviets role as
being the dominant force in Eastern Europe. Others also feared that they would loose their power and
their privileges so the officials decided to overthrow him and undo his reforms.

BORIS YELTSIN BECOMES PRESIDENT

(1991)
Boris Yeltsin was elected as becoming the Russian Federations first directly elected
President in 1991. He was named as being one of the most powerful political opponents
of Gorbachevs while also becoming the chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet. Since
Boris Yeltsin became president this shows that it would to able to help the Soviet Union
because he was associated with the Soviet Union and then he was reelected which shows
that people loved him. Also, he resigned in 1999 because he had failing health such as
heart problems.

SOVIET UNION
The Soviet Union collapsed for many reasons such as having too much central power with a lot of local
geographic and social areas. Also, they lacked having money which made them unable to keep up with
the United States since President Reagan elevated the arms race. They also lacked the reforms which
made them go downhill while also having the cost of the wars that went on at that time period.
I dont think that the Soviet Union would have been able to survive because they didnt have enough
money which shows that they were spending too much money on wars and elections. Also, everything
was just falling apart since they had too much power with other areas of the world when they didnt
need to and they just had too many problems going on at the same time. Since their economy was
going downhill, this showed that they wasted a lot of money on wars to use for weapons towards the
others to save themselves. They spent millions of money on these wars while also having millions of
people dying at the same time. They should have had a backup plan since there was so much problems
going on at this time period and there was nothing they could have done about it.