Collapse of the Ussr

Stephen Wears Assess the mall factors of the break-up of the Soviet Union The break up and dissolution of the soviet union on the 25th December 1991 heralded the residual of the Cold War. It ushered In what had been termed the new world order, furthermore, it was suggested by Francis Fauvism to have signaled the end of memorial and the involvement of ideas which had dominated much of the twentieth century (Huntington, 1996 31). The clash of civilizations had already seen the demise of fascism as a credible force in 1945, the close of 1991 would see the end of communism in Europe.The relatively sudden collapse of the USSR has compelled winkers and analysts to seek answers as to why the worlds second super violence could collapse so quickly and so utterly. mickle it be attributed to one single catastrophic event, or is it far more appropriate to place blame on a number of contributing factors? The fray surrounding the collapse of the USSR has been compared to the collapse of the R oman Empire among others and willing as well as continue to be interpreted and reinterpreted for many years to come (Liqueur 1993 387).This essay will look at some of the factors which lead to dissolution and assess the importance of each. The key issues that this essay will assess include the problem of he nationalities, the Geographer factor, economic problems, and the social and political upheavals caused by Perestroika and Glasnost. The Geographer factor must be viewed In the context of verbalize of the country he Inherited from his predecessors coupled with the effects of Glasnost and Perestroika. It has been suggested that Glasnost and Perestroika vie key roles in hastening the collapse of the worlds second superpower.Glasnost (meaning openness) allowed people to see the flaws In the dust and questions were raised as to whether or not communism had been good for Russia. Perestroika (meaning restructuring) also highlighted flaws in the lattice and bureaucratic system that could not be given a quick fix. The economic problems of the USSR have also been cited as a respectable factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The command economy had stifled Innovation and its existence outside of the world economy had caused major problems. Further to this the USSR could not keep up with the military spending of the USA during the 1 sass.Competing against the military spending of the Reagan Administration as well as fighting a prolong war against the Munched in Afghanistan had all but exhausted the economy of the USSR. The nationalities provided a great problem for any ideas of national unity. It has been argued by Lord William Wallace that it would be actually difficult for the European union evolve into a unified state because there is a lack of identity and little sense to shared history across the continent (Smith, 2005). This is the same problem facing attempts by soviet leaders to foster a single soviet nationality.The very same regaining had be en faced by the Tsarist system forwards It. One of the fewer things the nationalities had in common was the centuries of Russian domination. Sitting on what 75 years before had been the Tsarist Russian Empire, the Soviet union faced same problem as had the Tsarist regime, namely the Incredibly republics of the USSR, was made up of many littler semi-autonomous republics. Russians formed the biggest ethnic sort at Just over 50%, followed by the Ukrainians with 15% of the total population. Other nationalities included Zebu Biliousness Khaki and Volta atar among many others.The downfall of the Soviet Union gave an opportunity for peoples across the vast territory from Kampuchea to the Kola Peninsula to glamour for recognition (Dukes, 1998 332). This suggests that the problem of the nationalities would continue to e a headache for the newly formed Russian Federation. The rise of nationalism added to the troubles faced by the Kremlin during the sass. The growth of the Transactions and Baltic Popular Fronts had brought the problem of the nationalities to the fore when in 1989 the Red Army entered Tidbits to assist the tabunn authorities in putting down a rally.Soviet troops were also used to prop up the commie government of Azerbaijan under threat from nationalist forces (Chubbier, 2001 195). The Baltic States did not Join the chorus of statements of sovereignty which had come from Astrakhan and Ukraine, this was because they regarded their incorporation into the USSR as an illegal act. They challenged the legality of the permanent wave Robertson pact of 1939 and achieved international support in the form of the American refusal to recognize the annexation of the region (Strayed, 1998 152-153).The policy of Perestroika can be seen as the catalyst for the affix in nationalism as the planned restructuring of the USSR exposed fundamental flaws in the Soviet system. The policy of Glasnost also exposed corruption within the Caucasian and ex transport Asian republi cs, Geographer responded by replacing the Khaki Communist Party leader Sunken with a Russian. This caused a great deal of rioting in intimately (Strayed, 1998 150-151). Further to the rise of hot front bowel movements within the constituent republics, the Soviet Union was also facing a crisis with its East European satellites due in part to the policies of Glasnost and Perestroika.Glasnost and Perestroika are often cited as the most important factors in speeding the demise of the Soviet Union. Eric Hobbies claims that the only thing that made the soviet system work was the command structure of the society and the state which had been inherited from the days of Stalin (1995 480). Once again it mimed that reform from the top was going to introduce fundamental change which was to be ultimately uncontrollable. Hobbies also suggests that glasnost amounted to the disintegration of authority and perestroika amounted to the destruction of the old mechanisms which made the economy work ( 1995 483).Perestroika had to an extent legalized dissent, and groups in cities across the USSR began forming larger political groups known as clubs of socially active citizens (Chubbier, 2001 190). This radical departure from the Soviet norm of suppressing membership of political parties other than the Communist Party was acclimated by the decision to stop arrests on the grounds of political activity. The release of political prisoners saw the growth of new organizations outside of the Soviet system, however by 1988 this opposition numbered Just a few thousand (Chubbier, 2001 191).Glasnost played a major part in the unraveling of the Soviet Union. It brought forward into stark light the myriad of social problems which had 320-321). Part of glasnost and perestroika involved the restful of censorship of the press and other media. It was clear to Geographer that hard line censorship was a utile exercise given the increasing public access to horse opera broadcasts, particularly in the aftermath of the Coherency disaster of 1986 (Acton, 1995 320). It was recognized that reform of the economy and wider society could not happen under the current level of state censorship.Not even Lenin escaped criticism under glasnost, it was claimed that the October revolution had been an unmitigated disaster for Russia, leading the nation on a long road to nowhere (Acton, 1995 323). Geographer and his policies of glasnost and perestroika in brief faced serious problems with regards to implementation of the reforms. It seemed that Geographer was trying to do the impossible by marrying completely opposing concepts, socialism with capitalism, totalitarianism with democracy(Chubbier, 2001 194). This was also known as the Geographer federal agent.The Geographer Factor stems from the problem of the Soviet Union being too reliant on the top figure in government (Chubbier, 2001 194). It was almost impossible to override the powers held by Geographer, even if it did mean following his le ad to the destruction of the USSR. It can be argued that this same problem led to economic stagnation under Brethren and the less than successful schemes of Khrushchev. Regional fragmentation and the erosion of the USSR as a political and economic empire pushed the republics further towards secession, the communist parties in the Baltic States split from the main communist party of the Soviet Union (CUPS).This caused a wave of similar actions in other constituent republics and served to hasten the disintegration of the country. The process of demonstration initiated by Geographer set the Soviet Union on the course to oblivion for it allowed the republics to elect popular governments and vote to secede from the union via referendum. This most significant of these was the referendum held by Ukraine the results of which indicated the will of the people to kick in the union. However this is at odds with the referendum set down by Geographer regarding the retention and reform of the US SR, which received overwhelming popular support.Nevertheless the simple fact that the largest republic in the USSR other than Russia had voted to leave the union could only have a catastrophic effect on the future of the country as a whole. Geographer had no survival but to accept these events, as there could be no return to Stalinist era of brutal suppression such as that en during the Magyar Uprising in 1956. Geographer faced opposition to the introduction of restructuring and openness to the soviet system. The opposition came to a head in August of 1991, the central state bureaucracy made an attempt at regaining political control of the country (Chubbier, 2001 193).A coup dtat was launched in an attempt to reassert conservative values to the Soviet system. Geographer was put under house arrest in Crimea while attempts were made at reversing the damage done by perestroika. This however received no popular support from the public, prompting Boris Yielding to act to put a stop to the coup. Yielding, President of the Russian SF led a three day resistance movement which involved barricades being set up in central Moscow and around the White House to prevent the plotters from assuming power (Chubbier, 2001 193).This proved to be Geographers power almost completely eroded, a secret meeting of the leaders of the three main Slavic states declared that the USSR officially ceased to exist. Without a country to lead Geographer tendered his sufferance on 25th December 1991. All but five signatures were present on the declaration of the end of the USSR. The Baltic tastes had long maintained their annexation was illegal, Georgia would sign later. The other noticeable absence was that of Mikhail Geographer (Chubbier, 2001 194-195).This essay has given an assessment of the events leading to the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Although it cannot be said with any great deduction that any one factor was more influential than another, it must be noted that Glasnost and P erestroika have not been too far away from any of the issues discussed here. The two flagship policies of Geographer had been intended to complement each other, in reality they had the opposite effect. Attempting to Join opposing concepts was a futile exercise which no doubt hastened the demise of the Soviet superpower.The problems faced by the Soviet government ran much deeper than appeared to the Soviet public. Years of economic stagnation and bureaucratic strangulation had left the Soviet Union a spent force by the late sass. Robert Strayed suggests that tinkering with its fragile structures would send it the USSR spinning into oblivion (1998 88). One cant avoid this harrowing assessment being very similar to the asseveration made by Doll Hitler shortly before launching Operation Barbarous, hat one has only to kick in the door, and the whole rotten edifice will come crashing down.Of course this was a statement of propaganda and should be viewed with that in mind. Ultimately t he Soviet Union was broken by a series of intertwining events, both long term and short term, some more important than others but each playing a crucial role. Just as the USSR was established on the ruins of the Tsarist Empire, the newly formed Russian Federation is established on the ruins of the USSR, marked by the raising of the Russian Atrocious, watched by a small group of pro-communist supporters. List of References