Decline of the Soviet Union

The Brezhnev Era• Alexi Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev

replaced Nikita Khrushchev when he was removed from office in 1964

• Brezhnev emerged as the dominant leader in the 1970s

• He was not interested in any reforms and believed that Eastern Europe needed to remain in Soviet control

• Brezhnev Doctrine Soviet Union has the right to intervene if communism was threatened in another communist state

The Brezhnev Era• Brezhnev benefitted from détente (a relaxation of

tensions and improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union

• In the 1970s, the two superpowers signed SALT (strategic arms limitation treaty) I and II and the Ballistic Missile Treaty, which limited nuclear arms

• With the feeling of being more secure, Soviet leaders relaxed their authoritarian rule and allowed more access to Western music, dress, and art

• However, dissidents (people who spoke out against the regime) were still suppressed

The Brezhnev Era• In his economics policies, Brezhnev continued to

emphasize heavy industry• However, two problems weakened the Soviet economy:

– The central government was a huge, complex, but inefficient bureaucracy that led to indifference

– Many collective farmers preferred working their own small private plots to laboring the collective work brigades

• By the 1970s, the Communist ruling class become complacent and corrupt

• Party and state leaders, army leaders, and secret police (KGB), enjoyed a high standard of living

• However, Brezhnev did not want to tamper with the party leadership and state bureaucracy

The Cold War Intensifies• By the 1970s, détente allowed U.S. grain and consumer

goods to be sold to the Soviet Union• However, détente collapsed in 1979 when the Soviet

Union invaded Afghanistan• The Soviet Union wanted to restore a pro-Soviet regime

in Afghanistan and the U.S. viewed it as an act of expansion

• To show his disapproval, president Jimmy Carter canceled U.S. participation in the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow

• He also placed an embargo on the shipment of U.S. gain to the Soviets

The Cold War Intensifies

• Relations worsened when Ronald Reagan became president

• He called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and began a military buildup and a new arms race

• Regan also gave military aid to the Afghan rebels, helping to maintain a war that the Soviet Union could not win

Gorbachev and Perestroika• By 1980, the Soviet Union had a declining economy, a rise in

infant mortality rates, a dramatic surge in alcoholism, and poor working conditions

• A small group of reformers emerged and, eventually, Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen as leader in March 1985

• Perestroika restructuring of the Soviet system– At first, this meant restructuring the economy– Gorbachev wanted a market economy that was more responsive to

consumers– It would have limited free enterprise so that some businesses would

be privately owned and operated– However, he realized that this would not work in the established

political system

Gorbachev and Perestroika• Glasnost a policy of perestroika that encouraged

Soviet citizens and officials to discuss openly the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet Union

• At the 1988 Communist Party conference, Gorbachev set up a new Soviet parliament of elected members, the Congress of People’s Deputies

• It met in 1989, the first such meeting in the country since 1918

• He then created a new state presidency– Under the old system, the most important position was the

first secretary of the Communist Party

End of the Cold War• Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power in the 1980s

brought about a drastic end to the Cold War• His “new thinking” – his willingness to rethink

Soviet foreign policy – led to many changes• Gorbachev made an agreement with the

United States in 1987, the Intermediate Range INF Treaty– Eliminated intermediate range nuclear weapons– Both superpowers wanted to slow down the arms

race

End of the Cold War• Gorbachev stopped giving Soviet military support to

Communist governments in Eastern Europe• This led to the potential of overthrowing those

governments• A mostly peaceful revolutionary movement swept

through Eastern Europe in 1989• The reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990,

was a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War• In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved• The long rivalry between the superpowers was over

End of the Soviet Union• The Soviet Union included 92 ethnic groups and

112 languages• As Gorbachev relaxed the control of the Soviet

Union, old ethnic tensions grew• Nationalist movements began throughout the

former republics of the Soviet Union• The conservative leaders of the traditional Soviet

institutions – the army, government, KGB, and military industries – were worried that the breakup of the Soviet Union would end their privileges

End of the Soviet Union

• On August 19, 1991, a group of these conservative leaders arrested Gorbachev and tried to seize power

• The attempt failed when the new president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, along with thousands of Russians, resisted the rebel forces in Moscow

• The Soviet Republics eventually moved towards full independence

• Ukraine voted for independence on December 1, 1991 and Belarus did the same weeks later

Russia Under Yeltsin• Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991

and he turned over his responsibilities to Boris Yeltsin, the new president of Russia

• Yeltsin was committed to introducing a free market economy as quickly as possible

• Economic hardships and social disarray were made worse by a rise in organized crime

Russia Under Yeltsin• Yeltsin also faced a problem in

Chechnya, a province in the south that wanted to secede from Russia and become independent

• Yeltsin used brutal force against the Chechens to keep the province as part of Russia

• Yeltsin also dealt with former Soviet satellite states, like Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, who wanted to join NATO

Russia Under Putin• At the end of 1999, Yeltsin resigned and

was replaced by Vladimir Putin, who was elected president in 2000

• Putin, a former KGB officer, was widely seen as someone who wanted to keep a tight rein on government power

• In July 2001, Putin launched reforms to boost growth and budget revenues

• The reforms included the free sale and purchase of land and tax cuts

Russia Under Putin• Putin also applied for Russia’s admission to

the World Trade Organization and worked out a special partnership with the European Union

• Despite the changes, the business climate remained somewhat uncertain, and this stifled foreign investment

• Since Putin’s reforms, Russia experienced a budget surplus and a growing economy

• Much of this growth is due to oil and gas exports

Russia Under Putin• Russia often uses its supplies of oil and gas as a

political lever to wield power over former Soviet states and to influence world energy prices

• A trans-Siberian oil pipeline, which was completed in 2009, had Asia more dependent on Russian oil

• Chechnya and terrorism also continues to be a problem for Russia

• In 2002, Chechen terrorists took about 600 Russian hostage in a Moscow theater

• Between 2002-2004, terrorist attacks in Russia killed an estimated 500 people

A New Russia• Russia still faces problems like rising alcoholism, criminal

activities, and a decline of the traditional family system• In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev became president of Russia• Putin could not run for reelection because of limit’s in

Russia’s constitution• Many question the validity of the 2008 presidential

because few opposition candidates participated • Putin became prime minister and it is unclear how much

power they share• In 2012, Putin became president of Russia once again