USSR Why Did the U.S.S.R.

USSR

Why did the U.S.S.R. succeed in building its "empire" from 1945 to 1990?

It was one the immediate results of the Second world war that a sort of 'historical division' between the East and the Western parts of Europe came into being. This was the time in history that a 'polarization' of the societies on both sides of the so called 'Iron Curtain' took place, and this meant that both the sides started to develop in completely different ways from each other. In the year 1989 and onwards, a new period of transition started, and this was when several aspects of life such as family life, gender relations, and biographical orientations and so on became affected in completely unexpected ways. (Biographies and the Division of Europe)

One must remember the fact that Adolph Hitler in Germany had always harbored a strong hatred for Russian Communists, and this made it inevitable that a War of great scale would take place between the two countries, and this was exactly what happened. However, Stalin, the Great Russian leader, made sure that he would be able to make certain territorial gains for himself during this period, and when in the year 1939 Germany and the U.S.S.R. signed a secret non-aggression pact dividing up Poland, the Soviets took it upon themselves to invade Eastern Poland. In the same year, USSR invaded Finland as well, and eventually Finland had no other option than to surrender. Soon afterwards, USSR invaded the Baltic states, and in the year 1941, USSR and Japan signed a 'neutrality pact', but in the same year, when Germany invaded Russia, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland took this chance to declare war on Russia as well, and the war continued until the year 1943 when more than 90,000 German troops at Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviets. Later the same year, Stalin met Roosevelt and Churchill, and it was decided that while the Western Allies would invade France from the West, the U.S.S.R. would invade the Eastern side. It was over the next few years that the U.S.S.R. would capture Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Yugoslavia, Warsaw, Vienna, and Berlin, and after Hitler committed suicide, Stalin broke his non-aggression pact with Japan, and invaded Japan held Manchuria. Although several thousands of people in the Soviet Union died as a result of the War, the U.S.S.R.'s armed forces remained as powerful as ever even after the end, and this was the beginning of the Cold War. (World War II in the Soviet Union)

One must remember that it was the U.S.A. And the U.S.S.R. that emerged as the super powers after the Second World War and these two powers became bitter enemies and rivals. They began the Arms Race, and as the U.S.S.R. began to advance further into Eastern Europe, in its empire building activities, the U.S.A. started to become alarmed. This was the time of the Marshall Plan, which was created to pledge assistance to Europe to aid in post war recovery efforts, and the U.S.S.R. copied the Marshall Plan and labeled it Comecon, that is, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, to provide economic aid to the Soviet Bloc in Eastern Europe. (Olson, 178)

Why did the U.S.S.R. collapse in 1991 despite Gorbachev's reforms?

Gorbachev the Russian leader attempted to bring in a set of reforms to improve the state of affairs in the country. It must be noted that despite these reforms, USSR collapsed in the year 1991. Why did it happen, and what were the primary causes? (Russia, the Gorbachev Reforms) there can be no doubt that endings are extremely fascinating to the human psyche, and perhaps this is the reason why the collapse of the Soviet Union has generated so much interest through the years, especially after Gorbachev made such bold and concerted efforts to rescue Soviet socialism from the changes that were threatening to destroy it completely. (Strayer, 126)

For the Soviet Union, the period of time during and immediately after the Second World War was in reality, yet another cruel landmark in the numerous wars, revolutions and crises which had been influencing and destroying the country since the year 1905, and when in the year 1985 Gorbachev took over the administration and management of the country, the people of the Soviet Union hoped for some form of relief from the years of oppression that they had been subjected to under various leaders, including Stalin, Khrushchev who denounced Stalin and caused communists to defect from the party in large numbers, Brezhnev, under whose rule the Soviet government gradually changed from a personal dictatorship to oligarchy, Sakharov, who helped create the world's first Soviet H. bomb, Chernenko, Andropov, and several others. (Lecture 16: 1989: The Walls Came Tumbling Down)

Gorbachev was an individual and a leader who was keenly aware of all the problems that his country was facing at the present time, and when in April 1986 a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded, causing major damage to people and to property, he went public and admitted the true facts of the accident, despite extensive media cover up operations. The able leader also coined two terms 'perestroika' meaning restructuring, and 'glasnost' meaning openness, and it was his hope that these two principles would help transform the Soviet Union into a democracy. However, all was not well in his country, and Gorbachev entered into a bitter rivalry with Boris Yeltsin, who stated publicly that reforms was brining about disunity. Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Beylorussians, and Armenians all demanded independence, and inter-ethnic rivalry became a major problem, and when in 1990 Russia declared its independence under Yeltsin, things had come to a head. Gorbachev admitted that he would be interested and willing to create a new federal union of Soviet sovereign republics, but remained against the idea of dissolving the Soviet Union. (Lecture 16: 1989: The Walls Came Tumbling Down)