Joseph Stalin established a modern totalitarian government in Soviet Russia. He is known as the “Man of Steel”. A totalitarianism is a type of government that takes total, centralized, state control over every aspect of public and private life of their people. His rule had changed the people of his empire in numerous ways. Stalin had total control over economic needs. According to document 6 “By 1940 Russia produced more pig iron than Germany, and far more than Britain or France. Numbers of cattle grew in the 1920s, but fell increasingly during the collectivization of agriculture after 1929, and by 1940 hardly exceeded the figure for 1920. Since 1940 the industrial development of the Soviet Union has been impressive, but agricultural production has continued to be plumiding”. The document illustrates how pig iron had significantly increased as a result of the “Five Year Plan”, however heavy industry led to expense of food supplies. This would cause limited production of consumer goods. It caused a step back because of the severe shortages of housing, food, clothing as well as other necessary goods. The Five Year Plan didn’t help much to excel their economic as Stalin hoped, it impacted by creating famine. Stalin rising to power promised an economic boom for Russia however, in that process many people suffered and died of starvation. According to document 5, “The purge began its last,…
Compare and contrast the political and economic policies of Joseph Stalin in the period before the Second world War and those of Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991).…
The final stage of the Cold War began with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and President Reagan’s reference to the Soviet Union as “that evil empire”. Then, at the end of the 1980’s, the USSR started to lose control of its satellite countries due to factors such as Solidarity in Poland, where they wanted greater freedom. The strikes brought the country to a halt and even Gorbachev was encouraging greater freedoms in the USSR and satellite countries. By nineteen ninety one, the USSR had disintegrated and the Cold War suddenly ended. Reagan played an influential part of the Soviet Union’s deterioration, increasing the USA defence spending and challenging the already crumbling USSR to do the same. This worsened the USSR’s situation because not only was their military substantially weakened; their economy was virtually corrupt as well.…
In December of 1922 the creation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, better known as the Soviet Union, is created. First lead by Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet Union was found to be the first country to be considered socialist with plans to become a communist party in the future. The Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics and at the time was the largest country in the world. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power that had control throughout World War II until his death in 1953. After the war the Soviet Union became a global power and seemingly stayed strong until its fall on December 25th, 1991.…
The cold war was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. The soviet unions president Gorbachev's reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstructering) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev's basics for glasnost were the promotion of principles of freedom to criticize; the loosening of controls on media and publishing; and the freedom of worship. His essentials of perestroika were, a new legislature; creation of an executive presidency; ending of the leading role' of the communist party;…
How important was the fear of Trotsky becoming leader in explaining Stalin’s victory in the power struggle in the years 1924-1929? (24 marks)…
A long stretch of time known as the Cold War began and the Soviets and Americans were in a nuclear standoff which brought these two countries to Total War involving everything from daily life, except for war itself. Many important events came into play such as The Space Race, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the creation of Nato and the Warsaw Pact. An interview between President Nixon and Kruschev showed the two’s argument between Democracy and Communism and what helps the industrial…
Gorbachev introduced many new ideas and guidelines for the Soviet Union, some which hurt the USSR and some that strengthened it. Although Gorbachev’s policies and values weakened the economy it…
Gorbachev: Leader of Soviet Union until 1991. S.U. broke up then, into smaller, separate republics. Played a part in breaking up USSR. Did not cover up S.U.’s mistakes and problems. Correct intentions but USSR had too many problems piled up since Stalin, so he couldn’t solve most of them.…
Abstract The research question for the following investigation is: Was Joseph Stalin’s rise to power in 1924 the result of a calculated plan or a stroke of luck? The investigation was undertaken by first obtaining research materials such as books, academic journals and scholarly articles. The online database website questia was utilized to obtain relevant academic journals and scholarly articles while local libraries were visited to obtain the books and biographical materials. The first component of the essay to be researched was the steps that Stalin took to rise to power.…
� Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, 'Lenin 's Testament ' in Fitzpatrick, Shelia, The Russian Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p.120.…
One must primarily analyze Gorbachev’s role and consider the impact of his policies in determining events in Eastern Europe. ‘The Soviet Union in 1985 brought a new, younger leader to foreground, Mikhail Gorbachev,’ (Adas, 2006:332). His establishment of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (reconstruction) released irrepressible, contained revolutionary forces which shook the foundations of the internal order in Europe. It is important to note that before Gorbachev came into power, Communism was failing as an ideology, but with Gorbachev’s policies in place, it acted as a catalyst that made Communism fail as a system. The Communist regimes were failing as an ideology because they were plagued by economic woes, domestic problems and the younger generations had fostered a hatred for the communist ideology. There was no window for the masses to express their suppressed unhappiness about the regime until a new leader came into power. Gorbachev was a younger communist leader unlike his predecessors who were hardliners of the communist ideology. Thus, ‘Gorbachev believed in changes that could be made to improve the communist system instead of sticking to the orthodox…
In addition, Communism has lead Russia downhill during the beginning of the Cold War in 1945. President Ronald Reagan increasing the military budget; Mikhail Gorbachev expanded the Soviet Union military spending as well. “Not being able to overcome the economic and political demands of the United states ,caused the Soviets to suffer dramatically” (Student Resources Gale, “End”). Only months later the Soviet Union was stagnate and crashed, resulting in a Soviet lost. Postwar actions of Gorbachev was to change from a communist country to a democracy, trying to figure out a solution to help Russia regain strength. Changing into a democracy has not helped modern day Russia. Being deeply flawed and having democratic credentials, brings an outcome of overwhelmingly tainted by corruption, and massively influenced by the power given to Vladimir Putin (Opposing Viewpoints Gale, “Russia”).…
First, we must analyze the decisions of Mikhail Gorbachev, who dissolved the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. Gorbachev, as a leader, contributed by bringing Western ideals to Soviet Russia, ultimately thawing the conflict between the USSR and the United States and ending communism in Russia (Hogan 12). When he came to power, Gorbachev did not want to bring down the Soviet Union; he wanted to rather reform it while maintaining Communism (Gaddis 67). However, his reforms not only made his relationship with the United States better, but his decisions led to democratization in Russia. Gorbachev changed the direction of the Soviet Union by introducing a less aggressive, more defensive foreign policy, and taking steps with regards to arms reduction. This changed the tone of the Cold War drastically. By signing the…
In 1917, Lenin rewarded Joseph Stalin for his support of the October Revolution by selecting him Commissar of Nationalities. It was a task gave Stalin enormous power for nearly half the country's population. Stalin now had the responsibility of dealing with Ukrainians, Georgians, Byelorussians, Tadzhiks, Buriats, and Yakuts.…