The collapse of

the Soviet Union

Allanah Richman

Russian Civil War

(November 1917- October 1922)
White Army and Red Army
Long and violent war between opposing
Russian political factions
Lead to the creation of the communist Soviet
Union

Creation of the Politburo

(1917)
Day to day central policy making and
governing body of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union (CPSU)
Created on the eve of 1917 Russian
Revolution
Not functional until March 1917
Governed Soviet Union until 1990

Stalins 5 year plans

(1928)
Promote industrial growth
State control of all manufacturing and trade
High quotas on industry (iron, steel, and
tractor manufacturing) and creating
collective farms
Millions died from starvation or overwork

World War II
(1939-1945)
Adolf Hitler instructed army to invade Poland
Soviets fought in war after Nicholas II
brought them into it
Soviets sent to concentration camps
As many as 25 million soviets killed

Joe 1
(1949)
First Soviet nuclear test, given the name
First Lightning
Joe 1 exploded the plutonium (radioactive)
bomb RDS-1
At the time of Joe 1 the focus of the Soviet
program was to set off Soviet atomic blast at
the earliest possible time, no matter the cost
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/Sovwpnprog.html

Hydrogen Bomb
(1953)
Created by US President Harry Truman in response to
Cold War
Naval quarantine imposed by President Kennedy
around Cuba, refusing to allow Soviet ships through the
blockade.
The threat posed by nuclear weapons did not end with
the collapse of the Soviet Union but it reduced tensions
and lowered the potential large nuclear conflict

Warsaw Pact
(1955)
The purpose of the Warsaw Pact was to provide
resources, troops and money for defense reasons
The forces that were available were controlled by the
Soviet Union, who benefited from the Warsaw pact
since it reduced Soviet military spendings
At one point, Czechoslovakia withdrew temporarily from
the Warsaw Pact as 500,000 Warsaw Treaty
Organization (WTO) troops invaded the country to
restore and bring back order

Sputnik
(1957)
Soviet Union launch of Sputnik brought in a
new part of the Cold War Space Race
First man made object to go into space
October 4th 1957 launch and went 150 miles
above the Earth

Laika and Sputnik 2

(1957)
Funded by USSR
Second spacecraft launched into Earths
orbit
Laika was a dog on the spacecraft, who was
fitted with a harness, a bag to collect waste,
and electrodes to monitor vital signs while in
Orbit

Creation of the Berlin Wall

(1961)
Physical barrier separating West from East Berlin and the rest of East
Germany
On November 11, 1958, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev declared the
1944 London Protocol invalid.
East German started to pressure the Soviet Union to guarantee the
ongoing existence of the "Socialist state" in Autumn 1960 by closing the
borders to West Berlin
Khrushchev's gave his approval of the project early July 1961, when the
Soviet leader felt the time for such a measure was needed
August 7, 1961, leader of East Germany Walter Ulbricht informed the
Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische
Einheitspartei DeutschlandsSED) about the upcoming process of longcoming measures along the border around West Berlin

1968 Invasion of Czechoslovakia

(1968)
Morning of August 21, 1968, the Soviet army invaded
Czechoslovakia along with troops from four other
Warsaw Pact countries
Occupation was the beginning of the end for the reform
movement of Czechoslovakia known as Prague Spring
Movement had been oncoming for years due to
economic problems along with growing demands from
Communist for more freedom in a socialist system

Salt I
(1972)
September 30, 1972
Richard Nixon and Soviet Leader Leonis Brezhnev
signed SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks)
5 year agreement that limited the number of missiles
launched each year

Soviet- Afghan War

(1979-1989)
December 24, 1979 Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan
Afghanistan wanted to be independant.
The Soviet Union was beginning to take over the middle
east
Muslim Revolution stopped communism in Afghanistan,
Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to restore
communism

Salt II
(1979)
June 1979
Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezshnev signed the SALT II
Treaty
United States first refused to sign SALT II due to Soviet
protesters who threatened the second round of SALT
negotiations with United States
SALT II Treaty signed later

Lithuania and Latvia protests

(1982-1991)
Protest against soviet rule
Illegal soviet occupation
Human Chain formed by 2 million people in
1989
Baltic Way
Peaceful protest

Gorbachev becomes leader

(1985)
Took over following death of Konstantin
Chernenko in 1985 as new general secretary
Created Glasnost and Perestroika
Improved Soviet-American relations

Glasnost
(1985)
Part of 1985 Perestroika program created by
Gorbachev
Reform Soviet political system and Soviet
Society
Nationalist movements that have been long
suppressed in the USSR republics used
Glasnost to advance independence

Perestroika
(1985)
Perestroika, the Russian term for reforming
or restructuring the state, refers to the policy
introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the
Soviet Union in 1985.

Chernobyl Disaster
(1986)
Chernobyl was the name of a Nuclear plan
Nuclear plant in Ukrainian city of Pripyat was
the scene of massive nuclear accident on
April 26, 1986
Disaster was not made known until 2 days
after explosion
100 times the radiation of the Nagasaki and
Hiroshima bombings combined

Voting Reforms by Gorbachev

(1987)
Improve elections and economy
People could choose from candidates who
should be in office
Democratization plan making a gradual
opening of the political system

Free elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary

(1988)

Rebellion from communist

All able to have free elections, while
elections in Poland were fair and equal

Fall of the Berlin Wall

(1989)
Cold war moving into East Europe
End of the war
People hitting the wall with hammers and
spray painting the wall
People can now go between East and West
Europe

Gorbachev steps down

(1991)
December 25 1991
Resigned as president
When making resignation speech, seemed
to indicate that recent establishment of CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent States) was
the primary motive to leave office

Boris Yeltsin becomes President

(1991)
Took over after Gorbachev stepped down
Won two presidential elections
Supported freedom of press, permitted
public criticism and letting in Western culture

My opinion
In my opinion, the collapse of the Soviet Union was something that could not be avoided. It was bound to happen one day and it
would only take a certain person or event to cause it to collapse. The Soviet Union collapsed because there was no one to hold it
together when it was having issues with the government or when the people in the Soviet Union were rebelling. The Soviet Union
would not have survived if it did not collapse years ago. It would not survive because when it was collapsing, the Soviet Union
was unable to hold a strong government and with all the changes in government, it would need a miracle to bring them back as a
nation and turn it into the way it was before. Also, it would not survive because many of the people in the Soviet Union were not
happy with the way it was functioning as a nation and had many rebellions that ended up with many killed and even more
wounded. Since the Russian Civil War in 1917 there has been issue with the nation and if there was one event that could bring
them all together, maybe then would the Soviet Union survive and be a functioning nation.

Works Cited
"Berlin Wall." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wal>.
"Boris Yeltsin." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/boris-yeltsin >.
"Fall Of The Soviet Union." Timetoast. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/fall-of-the-soviet-union--7>.
"Freedom in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany." Freedom in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.
Macrohistory, 2000-2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33-7.htm>.
"Gorbachev Resigns as President of the USSR." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2015. <
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gorbachev-resigns-as-president-of-the-ussr>.
"Gorbachev's Domestic Reforms Led to End of Soviet Union." Gorbachev's Domestic Reforms Led to End of Soviet Union. VOA: Voice
of America, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <
http://www.voanews.com/content/gorbachevs-domestic-reforms-led-to-end-of-soviet-union-135190548/149241.html>.
"On This Day: "Baltic Way" Human Chain Formed to Protest Soviet Rule." On This Day: "Baltic Way" Human Chain Formed to
Protest Soviet Rule. Finding Dulcinea: Librarian of the Internet, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/July-August-08/On-this-Day---Baltic-Way--Human-Chain-Formed-to-Protest-S
oviet-Rule.html
>.
"The Soviet Invasionof Czechoslovakia:August 1968." The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: Prague Spring. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr.
2015. <http://www.lib.umich.edu/soviet-invasion-czechoslovakia/pg1.html>.
Sputnik 2. NASA, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1957-002A>.
World History- The Modern Era. ABC- Clio, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <
http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/?webSiteCode=SLN_HMOD&returnToPage=%2f&token=A6F4FAE2FC670802133D3E1727492
1C8&casError=False
>.