U.S.S.R.

Rise and Fall of a Nation

Vladimir Lenin (1917 – 1924)

• N.E.P. (New Economic Policy)

• Some elements of capitalism

Josef Stalin (1924 – 1953)

• Five Year Plans to rebuild industry

• Great Purge to imprison or kill political dissidents

Nikita Khrushchev (1953 – 1964)

• De-Stalinization- freed many political prisoners

• Eased censorship

• “We will bury you!”

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missile Crisis

Berlin Wall

Sputnik (1957) add

• 1st artificial satellite to orbit earth

• Starts Space Race

Berlin Wall (1961)

• Divided West & East Berlin

• Fell in 1989

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

• U.S.S.R. tried to smuggle weapons into Cuba.

• U.S. imposed a naval blockade.

• U.S.S.R. backs down.

Leonid Brezhnev (1964 – 1982)

• Suppressed dissidents

• Critics were imprisoned in insane asylums.

Détente (1970’s)

• Easing of tensions a “thaw” in the Cold War

• SALT- Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (I & II)

Brezhnev Doctrine

• U.S.S.R. had the right to prevent its satellite countries from rejecting communism.

• What made Brezhnev so mad????

• The Czechoslovakians ….

The Prague Spring (1968)

• Czechoslovakian President Alexandr Dubcek announced a new form of democratic communism.

• For four months they enjoyed freedom of speech and less state controls.

What did the U.S.S.R. do?

• 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded

• Czechoslovakia.

• They didn’t fight back, but stood in front of the tanks & put flowers in the soldiers hair.

• Dubcek was arrested and sent to Moscow.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/155500.stm

Invasion of Afghanistan (1979 - 1988)

• Drained Soviet economy.

• Low morale.

• Ended détente

• The USSR’s Vietnam

US helped Taliban resistance fighters with guns and equipment

Mikhail Gorbachev(1985 – 1991)

• Signed arms treaty with the U.S.

• Pulled troops out of Afghanistan

Glasnost

• Openness

• Ended censorship

Perestroika

• Restructuring of the government & the economy.

Nationalities

• Freedom movement in Eastern Europe

• Conflicts between pro-communist & pro-democratic groups

• Minority revolts and civil conflicts

Effects of the Fall

• Formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

• Loss of role as world superpower

• End of the Cold War

• Economic hardships

Boris Yeltsin (1991 – 2000) elected President of democratic Russia

• Reduced nuclear stock piles

• Unemployment increased

• Prices increased

• Criminals & gang activity big problems

Chechnya Revolt (1994 - 1996)

• Chechnya is a province with a Muslim majority.

• They wanted their autonomy from Russia.

• 21 month guerilla and civil war.

• Russia withdrew troops but did not grant total independence.

Vladimir Putin (2000 – 2008)

• Tough on dissidents• Ex-KGB• Current President and was PM

Dmitry Medvedev (2008 – present)

• Hand-picked by Putin.

• Working to reform the government ?!?

• Invasion of Georgia (Aug.2008)

“We will buy you” -Medvedev

R.I.P.Soviet Union

• DEFEAT THE NAZIS• LENIN• 1917 – 1991• STALIN• FIRST IN SPACE

(SPUTNIK)• LEADERSHIP OF

GORBACHEV• ONE OF TWO

SUPERPOWERS

• GLASNOST• GORBACHEV• PERESTROIKA• FIRST COMMUNIST

NATION• 15 INDEPENDENT

STATES