The Collapse of the Soviet Union 6.4 And the world watched with wonder …

Eastern Bloc Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 15 Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan 7 Satellite Countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia

Three Key Parts of the Cold War

Was the Collapse Due to Force? No  The Cold War cost more than $11 trillion. But the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites was not a result of force.  No NATO tank fired a shot.  No bomb fell on the Kremlin.

A Home-Grown Insurgency  Instead, a massive, home- grown insurgency, led by a number of different participants, contributed to the collapse:  Workers  Dissident intellectuals  Advocates of national self-determination  Reformers

The Czechoslovak Crisis  In January, 1968 he was chosen First Secretary. General Ludwig Svoboda became President.  Some freedom of the press was introduced for the first time since  Civil liberties were proclaimed.  Dubcek said he wanted to create “Socialism with a human face.”

The Czechoslovak Crisis  Cooperatives were to be established.  Workers would get a greater say in running their factories.  Travel restrictions to the West were lifted. (Glasnost and Perestroika)

The Czechoslovak Crisis  Carried along by a wave of enthusiastic support, Dubcek seemed to be willing to allow opposition groups to form in the country.  This was too much for Brezhnev and other Eastern European communist countries to accept.  On July 14-15, Soviet, Polish, Hungarian, E. German and Bulgarian leaders warned Dubcek. They demanded he end press freedom.

The Czechoslovak Crisis  Suddenly, on the night of August 20, 1968, Soviet & other Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia.  The Czechoslovak leadership asked the public & military to not fight back. They did not want violence.

The Czechoslovak Crisis  The population adopted passive resistance tactics. –Street signs were changed to confuse the invaders. –Students, who learned Russian at school, argued with invading troops. –Some risked their lives to plug tank barrels with flowers.

The Czechoslovak Crisis  Dubcek and Svoboda were arrested and spirited out of the country.  Soviet ambassadorial staff around the world argued the Czechoslovak case.  Even western communist parties protested against the attack, splitting them from the Soviets and creating a new term – Eurocommunism. “Is this what our Lenin ordered you to do?”

The Czechoslovak Crisis  Ultimately the Czechoslovak leadership was replaced Dubcek gave way to Gustav Husak.  The Prague Spring was now over.

The Czechoslovak Crisis  In September, Pravda published a retroactive justification for the invasion that came to be known as the Brezhnev Doctrine. Claiming he was “resolutely opposed to interference in the affairs of any state” he went on to insist that “when a threat arises to the cause of socialism” in any socialist country, it becomes “also a general problem, the concern of all socialist countries.”  The Chinese, Jugoslavs and Romanians all felt greater unease after this show of Soviet force.

The Czechoslovak Crisis  Interestingly, the Soviets did not act with such force elsewhere.  The key appears to be the Czechoslovak insistence on a free press.

The Czechoslovak Crisis  In the 1969 World Hockey Championships in Stockholm, the Czechoslovaks beat the Soviets, sparking wild nationalist demonstrations in Prague. Riots followed and Aeroflot’s office in the Czech capital was ransacked.  Born after the Prague Spring, Czech hockey player Jaromir Jagr immortalized the event when he adopted “68” as his number in the NHL and on his national jersey.

Polish Trade Union: Solidarity  The downfall began in 1980 when striking Polish workers organized Solidarity, an independent trade union of nearly 10 million members.  Solidarity-unity or agreement of feeling or action, esp. among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group.

The Gorbachev Revolution  Mikhail Gorbachev recognized that the Soviet Union could not remain politically and economically isolated and that the Soviet system had to be changed if it was to survive.

Insistent Calls for Change  The policy of glasnost (openness) made it possible for people to more freely criticize the government's policies. People realized it was safe to speak out.  The gradual market reforms and decentralization of the economy (perestroika) were too slow and failed to keep pace with the crisis and his people's demands.

Reagan’s Brandenburg Gate Speech  President Ronald Reagan called upon Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall: "In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards... Even today, the Soviet Union cannot feed itself. The inescapable conclusion is that freedom is the victor. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

President Reagan giving a speech at the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Federal Republic of Germany. June 12, 1987

Wave of Demonstrations  Beginning in September 1989, a wave of huge demonstrations shook Communist regimes across eastern Europe.  November 9, 1989, ordinary Germans poured through the Berlin Wall. The GDR quickly disintegrated, and by the end of 1990, all of East Germany had been incorporated into the wealthy, powerful Federal Republic of Germany.

A tram is blocked by East German demonstrators in the center of the city in October Their banner reads: 'Legalization of opposition parties, free democratic elections, free press and independent unions.'

The Rise of Nationalism  the iron grip of the centralized Soviet state relaxed  growing failure of the state to adequately feed and clothe its people  nationalism in the republics surged and separatist movements threatened the very existence of the Soviet Union.

Events in Eastern Europe  Communist governments in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria either tumbled or underwent reform.  The Communist dictatorship in Romania fell after a week of bloody street battles between ordinary citizens and police, who defended the old order to the bitter end. (only non-peaceful transition)

Boris Yeltsin  Boris Yeltsin, who headed the Russian Republic  diminished state controls  Gorbachev found that there was no Soviet Union to lead and retired into private life.  Gorbachev peacefully relinquished power and won the Nobel Peace Prize because of it Time magazine's July 15, 1996, issue, featured a 10-page spread about a squad of U.S. political pros who "clandestinely participated in guiding Yeltsin's campaign.“

The End of the Cold War  The Cold War was over, brought to a close not by the missiles and tanks of the principal participants, but by the collective courage and willpower of ordinary men and women.  Economics played the biggest role for both the Americans and the Soviets

Nuclear Stockpiles, Source data from: Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, "Global nuclear stockpiles, ," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 62, no. 4 (July/August 2006), Online at

The National Debt US Pop: 304,998,272 Share of Debt/Person: $34, Daily Increase: $3.84 billion $438 billion deficit

Another Side to the Story  According to U.S. diplomat George Kennan, author of "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" (1947) and architect of the containment policy, the West's militarized posture helped the Communists to rationalize their authoritarian rule. The more U.S. policies followed a hard line, the greater was the tendency in Moscow to tighten the controls and to discourage liberalizing tendencies.

Lech Walesa's SOLIDARITY Gorbachev’s REFORMS John Paul II’s CATHOLIC CHURCH Glasnost Ronald Reagan’s FOREIGN POLICY No Brezhnev Doctrine Perestroika Reform KGB Reform Comm Party EVIL EMPIRE Speech MILITARY BUILDUP ARMS RACE East German NATIONALISM The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the End of the Cold War Ordinary MEN & WOMEN WILL POWER COURAGE Eastern Bloc Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Communist Countries Communist Countries  At its peak, communism was practiced in dozens of countries:  Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan  Asian Countries: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Yemen  Soviet Controlled Eastern bloc countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia.  The Balkans: Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.  Africa: Angola, Benin, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Mozambique.  Currently only a handful of countries identified as communist remain: Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, China, and Cuba.