, Research Paper

WHY DID THE SOVIET UNION COLLAPSE

The terminal of the Cold War and the prostration of the USSR are likely the most important events of our life-time so far. The causes for the prostration of the Soviet Union consist of a combination of internal and external factors. Briefly, the external factors consist of the competition and eventual weaponries race between the United States and the USSR, which about led to atomic war. The Cold War triggered struggles in different parts of the universe ; in other words the competition between the United States and the USSR went on a planetary degree although there had ne’er been a direct confrontation between the two world powers. The internal factors are based on structural instability in the economic system, particularly refering stiff cardinal planning. The essay shall get down with the external factors, therefore the function the United States played in the prostration of the multiethnic entity. A brief sum-up of what the state of affairs was like after the Second World War shall be presented. This will be done to put the historical context in which certain events triggered off the stockpiling of weaponries between the two world powers. A set of personal businesss which would drastically diminish the Soviet economic system as it is still seeking to retrace it to this twenty-four hours.

The United States and Soviet Union s rivalry officially began in 1945. But clash had really been present of all time since the beginning of the First World War. Diplomatic attempts to lesson the tenseness had ne’er been exhaustively dealt with because the past struggles ne’er drastically threatened the international system. At the shutting of the Second World War, the winning powers such as England and France had suffered great economic loss. At this clip, the United States economic system was really comfortable. With 6 % of the universe & # 8217 ; s population, the U.S. had 48 % of the wirelesss, 46 % of the electricity supplies, and U.S. companies controlled 59 % of the universe & # 8217 ; s known oil militias. During the period between 1928-1978, the Soviet economic system grew quickly to go a major world power. However, the Soviet economic system was based entirely in one field, that of heavy industry. It will be shown subsequently on in this essay how this concentration merely in one field would make a reverse which would hold tragic consequences for the Soviet economic system. After the Second World War, the two chief histrions in universe political relations who had opposing political orientations, one being communist the other back uping broad internationalism, found themselves confronting each other. Immediately, a feeling of tenseness grew as the two world powers stood in blunt contrast to one another. The Americans felt it necessary to spread out the impression of self-government in order to extinguish colonialism and besides to re-establish the balance of power. The Soviet Union on the other manus proved uninterested in broad internationalism as a promising political government. In 1945 at the Conference of Yalta, the three taking political figures, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin effort to re-organise the Earth on the footing of cooperation. Germany was demilitarised and divide up into four zones, which were to be occupied by the winning powers. At the Conference of Potsdam, which took topographic point the same twelvemonth, the ambiance had already grown more intense. The USSR resented Truman for ending the fiscal support. He saw this as lip service after the Conference in Yalta. In 1947 Truman stated, It must be the policy of the United States to back up free people who are defying attempted subjection by armed minorities or by outside force per unit areas. The point of views enshrined in the Truman philosophy and the policy of containment ( the American political scheme for defying perceived Soviet enlargement ) represented the American point of view of the clip. But what emphasised the tenseness and therefore prodigious military build-up on the portion of the Soviet Union was that the Americans became obsessed with the thought of back uping Western Europe from Soviet enlargement. Some began to believe that the Korean War, for illustration, was a mere distraction so that the Soviets could concentrate on communist enlargement in Western Europe. During the mid 1940s the Cold War between the two world powers and their Alliess was focused in Europe where both sides had their most of import involvements. Although the United States hesitated to affect themselves, as the impression of Containment follows, both world powers wanted to do their political political orientations the dominant 1s therefore the feelings of hostility intensified dramatically.

The Soviet economic system consisted of a Socialistic Shortage Economy. This system discouraged production efficiency, addition in end product quality and technological invention. With the intensification of tenseness, struggles started interrupting out in different parts of the Earth. Many of the beginnings of these confrontations lay in the context of the Cold War. The Vietnam War was a premier illustration. Vietnam consisted of France & # 8217 ; s far eastern imperium of all time since 1861. Ho Chi Minh was based in the North where there was the Chinese authorities implemented during the conference of Potsdam. Ho Chi decided to take advantage of the Russ

ian support which of class would promote communist regulation. War broke out between North Vietnam and South Vietnam where the Gallic attempted to rule and were moreover supported by the Americans and the British. The confrontation, which began in 1946 and ended in 1954, represented the re-occurring subject of the Cold War. In fact, the Americans had considered utilizing atomic arms, but they backed down exactly because they knew that the Soviets would non hold hesitated utilizing atomic arms which would hold produced a atomic war.

An internal factor, which had of import effects on the Soviet political hereafter, consisted of the decease of Stalin in 1953. The replacement, Nikita Khrushcev attempted to modernize the Soviet society. But in concentrating on domestic personal businesss, possible influence in Eastern Europe was lost. During this clip Eastern European states particularly Hungary became rather independent politically. This in bend, resulted in the decentralization of power in Moscow, which originally had been the control Centre and exercised absolute power over the Eastern states. Making it more hard for the Soviet leaders to exert power expeditiously in domestic personal businesss and on the international degree. This is because the beginnings of the power, whether it be economic based or that within the strength of the people, to a great extent relied on the Eastern European states. Although there were periods of D tente, which consisted of a common understanding to stop the weaponries race so as to avoid a atomic war, it did non finally end the Cold War. As both powers continued to prosecute their ain ends, which were incompatible with one another for illustration, during the mid 1970s, the Soviet Union began to back up the radical motions in the Third World, such as Ethiopia in 1975. In 1979, the Soviet Union still continued to derive military power to the point where NATO was prepared to deploy land based missiles in Europe, if the Soviet Union failed to collaborate.

In 1980, Reagan was elected president and decided to take a more stiff attack towards the Soviet Union, mentioning to it as the evil imperium. By this clip, living criterions were neglected and the economic system proved inefficient, with low factor productiveness and a hapless quality of industrial end product. National income fell from 7.8 % in 1970 to 3.2 % in 1985, hence the growing of the Soviet economic system decelerated. When Mikhail Gorbachev became president in 1985, the period of tenseness between 1979 and 1986 which had suffered from military intercessions such as Grenada in 1983 and Libya in 1986, changed dramatically. Gorbachev intended to use domestic reforms to the Soviet Union. This plan consisted of two chief stages known as Perestroika and Glasnost. Perestroika was based on a policy of reconstituting the Soviet political and economic system. Glasnost was a policy of greater openness based on greater acceptance and self-criticism. He besides signed disarming pacts with the Americans in 1986 in order to cut down the USSR & # 8217 ; s shortage. Unfortunately, Gorbachev & # 8217 ; s policies further diminished the strength of the now already weak Soviet Union. States such as Yugoslavia started to demand independency and struggles broke out such as in Azerbaijanis in 1990. Finally, Gorbachev allowed the Eastern European states to, & # 8216 ; make it their manner & # 8217 ; , as the Sinatra philosophy provinces. Two events, which contributed well towards the prostration, was the American invasion of Panama in 1989, which threatened the Kremlin & # 8217 ; s disarmament hopes and besides, the gap of the Berlin Wall by the new Communist leaders of East Germany.

To reason, the Soviet Union collapsed because Soviet political leaders proved incapable of maintaining up with the assemblage of weaponries to procure themselves from international menace and covering with domestic issues. Another important cause was the economic system which allocated deficient resources to ingestion and investing in light industry and substructures, as most resources were reserved for the military industry. Besides, the Soviet Union failed to maintain up with the criterion of engineering in the West. Gorbachev & # 8217 ; s reforms proved unsuccessful because he failed to cut military disbursals. The more short-run causes were based on the economic stagnancy between the 1970s and the 1980s. There was a drastic diminution in crops in the late seventiess and early 1980s which led to scarceness of nutrient and a lessening in productiveness. The Soviet Union is in fact still get bying with these jobs that have had a tragic affect on the economic system. In add-on, Eastern European states, which chose to interrupt off from Moscow s control, have besides had their just portion of catastrophes.

Bibliography

Rebirth ; A History of Europe Since World War 2

C.E. Black et Al

Europe Since 1945

J. Robert Wegs & A ; Robert Ladrech

Continuity and Change in Contemporary Europe ;

C.H. Church & A ; G. Hendriks

The Globalization of World Politics ;

Baylis and Smith

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