Collapse of the Soviet Union By: Noah Labao and Elizabeth Arias

Background ●The USSR was a Marxist Leninist State that stretched Eurasia ●Existed from 1922 to 1992 ●Was governed as a Single Party State by the Communist Party ●Comprised of different Soviet Republics (Ukraine, Armenia, Latvia, etc.) ●Changed the world's economic and political environment. ●The Soviet Union was supposed to be “a society of true democracy,” ●Left in a state of crisis and disorder after losing economically USA after the Cold War, effectively eliminating them as a Superpower ●the collapse of the Soviet Union—two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall—was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century

Stagnating Economy ●The USSR had grown so large, to the point where it was too much for the government to handle. ●High level state planners within the government were unwilling to hand more power down to mid level government managers, despite this allowing higher levels of co-operation between high, mid, and local level economic state officials. ●1924, Joseph stalin came to power, the state exercised totalitarianism over the economy, administering all industrial activity and establishing collective farms ●Totalitarianism- “political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible.

Invasion of Afghanistan ●Anti-Communist rebels in Afghanistan posed a significant threat to the Soviet Friendly Afghan Government onced they outnumbered the Afghanistan Army ●The USSR first supplied thousands of troops and weapons, but then proceeded to a full on invasion of Afghanistan ●This lead to the soviets fighting a guerilla war with the increasing Afghan resistance movement before their withdrawal from ●This left the Soviet Union damaged and humiliated

Growing Distrust and Regional Nationalism ●Many events towards the end of the USSR would contribute to it’s downfall ●The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant meltdown in 1986, was widely covered up by the government initially, further growing distrust among citizens ●The opening of world and government affairs to the public, “Glasnost”, by President Mikhail Gorbachev backfired when the population found out about political cover-ups, atrocities committed, economic problems etc., and further support for the regime was lost ●With the USSR losing more and more support, regional nationalism would bring independence movements in republics such as Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia and Estonia

The Revolutions of 1989 & the Fall of the Soviet Union ●Gorbachev believed that a better Soviet economy depended on better relationships with the rest of the world, especially the United States. ●Even as President Reagan called the USSR the “Evil Empire” and launched a massive military buildup ● He announced that he would withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan, fought war since 1979 ● First revolution of 1989 took place in Poland with the creation of solitary ●This period was sometimes called “Autumn Of Nations” ●Civic Forum in Czechoslovakia, Solidarity in Poland,Democratic Forum in Hungary,National Salvation Front in Romania,New Forum in east Germany (Discussion groups emerging in most of Eastern Europe

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