To What Extent was Gorbachev to blame for the Collapse of the USSR Essay

Gorbachev is to blame for the Soviet Union's prostration on various occasions. Mainly because of his two new attitudes: Glasnost ("New Freedom and Openness") and Perestroika ("Economic Perestroika"). There were, however, several external factors that contributed to the prostration of the USSR: for example, the consequences that Yeltsin had for Russia, and the way the states were tired of the whole communist system as a whole. Gorbachev's goal was to make the communist system better, to give people a say in how the system could be improved and to make the Soviet system of cardinal production planning more efficient.

However, it simply allowed people to openly knock on the system, and soon people wanted to get rid of it.
First, the Cold War created a crisis in the USSR. The arms race with the U.S. became so expensive that Soviet living criteria deteriorated as more and more money was spent on weapons. Soviet agriculture was inefficient, lacking nutrients, so metric tons of grain had to be imported from the United States. The Communist government was becoming increasingly corrupt and could not impose high standards of living on the Soviet people like the West.

The USSR had been at war with Afghanistan since 1979. The war was a total disaster because it cost millions of dollars and 15,000 Soviet military personnel died. People, already governed under communism, began to feel uneasy. Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 in the USSR and radically changed Soviet policy, he became general secretary of the Communist Party. He was more intransigent to the West than the old leaders and offered a solution to the current state of affairs. He introduced two new policies.

Glasnost and Perestroika

Glasnost meant New Freedom and Openness. In this policy, the Soviet people won new rights.
The first 1,000 political prisoners, including the celebrated Andrei Sakharov, were released. People were told of the atrocities committed by Stalin's dictatorial authorities. The free address was allowed, and the military action was cancelled. Perestroika meant restructuring the economy, Gorbachev wanted to make the production system more efficient, but the corruption in the Soviet government was excessive. Therefore, he could not see through his programs, Gorbachev changed foreign policy.
In 1987 a disarmament pact called the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) was signed. The USSR and the U.S. agreed to withdraw all intermediate-range missiles from Europe within three years.
In 1988, Gorbachev announced immediate reductions in the stockpile of weapons and personnel of the Soviet armed forces. Gorbachev tried to do better with the West. He met with U.S. President Reagan several times, one of which was at the Geneva Summit in 1985.
In 1988. Gorbachev abandoned the Brezhnev doctrine. He told the UN that people in Eastern Europe now had a choice, and that the USSR no longer rode in command of them.

Gorbachev announced the complete withdrawal of the Soviet military from Afghanistan in 1988.
In 1978 the communist Afghan authorities made a pact with the USSR that allowed them to request military aid when they demanded it to fight the mujahedeen insurgents. In 1979 they requested armored vehicles and helicopters. it was approved. So they started requesting platoons. Now the USSR was hesitant to do so.
In July 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter funded the Afghan insurgents and allowed them to buy more and better weapons. In addition, the CIA carried out anti-communist propaganda on the ground.
In September - Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan. Hafizullah Amin came to power after President Taraki was shot. The Soviets considered this a destabilizing event and decided on December 27 to occupy Afghanistan to support the Communist authorities. This lasted nine years and was called Soviet Vietnam. The Soviet invasion cost them a lot of money. Gorbachev offered what he thought was a solution to the problem. The negative effects of communism can be highlighted by looking at the dominant conditions in Hungary and Germany.

After the war, the USSR helped put Rakosi the barbaric Stalinist at the head of Hungary. He was unpopular and in 1956 the people of Budapest protested against his authorities. The secret police were hunted down. Khrushchev allowed Grandma Nagy to go to the prime minister. After Austria declared itself an impersonal province in 1955. Nagy hoped that Hungary could do the same. In 1956. Nagy declared terminal communism there, retreating from the Warsaw Pact and retaining free elections. In response. Soviet armored vehicles invaded Hungary. 20,00 Hungarians were killed or wounded.

Nagy was arrested and shot dead. Kadar became the chief handler and ensured loyalty to the USSR. Western states did not help the USSR, it was Khrushchev's first step to demonstrate that he was brutal.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961. In 1949. Stalin put an end to the Berlin Wall. Two new provinces were formed: East Germany (Democratic Republic) and West Germany (Federal Republic). Since 1961, more than two and a half million people fled to West Germany. The Communist authorities in East Germany were worried and therefore created a 30-mile barrier wall across the Berlin metropolis.
It was fortified with wire and machine gun firing stations and separated East and West Berlin. Anyone who tried to leave East Berlin was shot, so residents of West Berlin were now separated from friends and family.
The riots continued. This clip with Poland. Solidarity played a big role in 1980 when the people of Poland rose up. "Solidarity" was led by Lech Walesa, and it demanded the right to strike and to be consulted on all major issues affecting their lives and working conditions. Solidarity began after the Communist authorities decided to raise monetary values because of the foreign debt in Poland's economic system.
It was an anti-communist social movement, which by 1981 had attracted nine million members. It was especially strong because of the support of the Catholic Church. In 1981, General Jaruzelski seized the state and declared martial law. Solidarity was banned and the nutritional monetary values were raised by 40 percent. In 1989, however, free elections were held in Poland, and Solidarity won. This was now possible thanks to Glasnost. Glasnost helped the Eastern European states to really turn away from communism. it had a really negative effect on Gorbachev. The Cold War was finally over.

Communism fell across Eastern Europe in 1989. Hungary opened its border with Austria in May. Poland held free elections in June. Solidarity won, and new non-Communist authorities came to power. Many East Germans crossed Austria and entered West Germany, and in November the Berlin Wall was torn down. In 1990 Germany was reunited. Anti-Communist presentations took the topographic point in Czechoslovakia, and the Communist authorities collapsed in December. In December, a revolution began in Romania against a brutal and corrupt government with dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and he was executed on Christmas Day 24 hours a day.

The Warsaw Pact ended in 1991. Communism was rejected in the USSR. Major nationalities in the Soviet Union demanded independence, particularly the Baltic democracies. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Gorbachev tried to prevent the rise of patriotism in the Baltic democracies by military force. but little by little he began to lose control. An anti-communist president of Russia was elected in 1991. Boris Yeltsin was an opposition to Gorbachev and became influential and popular. He demanded a terminal domination of communism and the division of the USSR. This led to the crisis of 1991.

The old communist leaders feared reform, so they decided to get rid of Gorbachev; this was an attempted putsch in 1991. A military group tried to capture Gorbachev, but Yeltsin rallied the Russian people to challenge him, and ground troops supported him. the putsch failed. The Soviet democracies soon became independent, and the USSR was no more. Gorbachev lost power and was forced to leave the country. Communism in Russia was dead. There were various factors that contributed to the prostration of the USSR, but I believe that Gorbachev was primarily to blame for his new Glasnost policy.

Glasnost allowed people to keep a free address. Gorbachev believed it would help restore the communist system, but as an alternative, he destroyed the system by allowing people to openly bang on about it. People could now see the difference between their lifestyle and that of the West, especially during the uncensored Olympics. Communism no longer offered good working conditions. Soviet youth were forbidden to watch certain movies, listen to certain music, or listen to Western radio stations. People in the republics were tired of being told what to do in Russia; they wanted to regulate themselves.

Glasnost allowed them to knock and protest. In the end, it gave them independence, and fraternity deteriorated. The 1991 coup attempt provoked the terminal Soviet Union. Yeltsin rallied the Russian people to challenge with the support of ground troops.The putsch failed, the Soviet republics became independent, and the USSR ceased to exist. In addition, Yeltsin had a great influence on the Russian people, forcing them to reject communism. Gorbachev allowed the people to turn their backs on communism, which eventually led to the prostration of the USSR.

Cite this Page

To What Extent was Gorbachev to blame for the Collapse of the USSR Essay. (2017, Jul 10). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/to-what-extent-was-gorbachev-to-blame-for-the-collapse-of-the-ussr-essay/

copy to clipboard