The%20Collapse%20of%20the%20Soviet%20Union

1
The Collapse of the Soviet Union

• And the world watched with wonder

2
Eastern Bloc
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
15 Republics Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia,
Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
7 Satellite Countries Bulgaria, Czech Republic,
East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
3
(No Transcript)
4
Was the Collapse Due to Force? No

• The Cold War cost more than 11 trillion. But the
  collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites
  was not a result of force.
• No NATO tank fired a shot.
• No bomb fell on the Kremlin.

5
A Home-Grown Insurgency

• A massive, home-grown insurgency, led by a number
  of different participants, contributed to the
  collapse
• Workers
• Dissident intellectuals
• Advocates of national self-determination
• Reformers

6
Polish Trade Union Solidarity

• The downfall began in 1980 when striking Polish
  workers organized Solidarity, an independent
  trade union of nearly 10 million members.
• Led by Lech Walesa, Solidarity was one of the
  first groups to defeat communism

7
Support from Catholic Church

• Solidarity, which had strong support from the
  powerful Polish Catholic Church, demonstrated how
  a working-class movement could offer an entire
  nation moral and political leadership.
• Walesa led the people of his nation toward a
  more democratic government

8
The Gorbachev Revolution

• Mikhail Gorbachev, who came to power in 1985 as
  the General Secretary of the Communist Party of
  the Soviet Union (CPSU), recognized that the
  Soviet Union could not remain politically and
  economically isolated and he encouraged many
  political changes.

9
Gorbachev's Five-Point Plan

• The key pieces to Gorbachev's policies to reform
  the Soviet Union politically and economically for
  the survival of the Soviet Union were the
  following
• Glasnost (openness) greater freedom of
  expression
• Perestroika (restructuring) decentralization
  of the Soviet economy with gradual market reforms
  
• Renunciation of the Brezhnev Doctrine (armed
  intervention where socialism was threatened) and
  the pursuit of arms control agreements
• Reform of the KGB (secret service)
• Reform of the Communist Party

10
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
11
Reagans Brandenburg Gate Speech

• President Ronald Reagan called upon Gorbachev to
  tear down the Berlin Wall "In the Communist
  world, we see failure, technological
  backwardness, declining standards... Even today,
  the Soviet Union cannot feed itself. The
  inescapable conclusion is that freedom is the
  victor. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek
  peace,if you seek prosperity for the Soviet
  Union, if you seek liberalization Come here to
  this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr.
  Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

12
President Reagan giving a speech at the Berlin
Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Federal Republic of
Germany. June 12, 1987
13
Wave of Demonstrations

• Beginning in September 1989 demonstrations shook
  Communist regimes undermining the authority of
  the Communist hard-liners who still clung to
  power in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

14
A tram is blocked by East German demonstrators in
the center of the city in October 1989. Their
banner reads 'Legalization of opposition
parties, free democratic elections, free press
and independent unions.'
15
The Wall Came Down

• Finally, on the night of November 9, 1989,
  ordinary Germans poured through the Berlin Wall.
• This act was symbolic of the end of Soviet
  domination in Eastern Europe

16
(No Transcript)
17
The Rise of Nationalism

• With the iron grip of the centralized Soviet
  state relaxed and the growing failure of the
  state to adequately feed and clothe its people,
  nationalism in the republics surged and
  separatist movements threatened the very
  existence of the Soviet Union.

Super Cute Protesters Moldova The hot, angry
face of nationalism - Apr 13, 2009
18
Events in Eastern Europe

• Communist governments in Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
  and Bulgaria either tumbled or underwent reform.
• The Communist dictatorship in Romania fell after
  a week of bloody street battles between ordinary
  citizens and police, who defended the old order
  to the bitter end.

19
Radical Change

• Radical change finally reached the Soviet
  heartland in August 1991, when thousands of
  Russian citizens poured into the streets to
  defeat a reactionary coup d'état.

20
Independent Republics

• The Communist party quickly collapsed, and the
  Soviet Union began the painful and uncertain
  process of reorganizing itself as a loose
  confederation of independent republics.

21
Nobel Peace Prize

• Gorbachev won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize. He
  brought a peaceful end to the cold war, and
  dramatic change to his country's economy, though
  not in the way he intended.

22
The End of the Cold War

• The Cold War was over, brought to a close not by
  the missiles and tanks of the principal
  participants, but by the collective courage and
  willpower of ordinary men and women.