Collapse of the

USSR
Eric Tavenra

Creation of the Politburo

The Creation of the Politburo was just before the November revolution,
however it had not received much power until Stalin came to power. He had
made the body of the government. With this, Stalin controlled everything. This
enforced the power of the USSR.

Russian Civil war

The Russian Civil war was a result of the Bolsheviks coming into power after
the November Revolution. The fighting was between the red
army and the white army. The red army overcame the whites,
and thus caused the birth of the USSR.

Stalins Five Year Plans

Stalin had put forth these plans in order to force his nation to industrialize. He
wanted to force his nation into the future. Stalin had succeeded in doing this
and had cause the nation to become very industrialized. This appeared to
strengthen the power of the USSR.

WWII
The USSR had faced off with germany in this conflict. The USSR had lost many
millions of people during the fighting, and thus would make the country weaker.
This also, however, opened up Russia to be allied with the other superpowers
and win the war.

Joe 1
The JOE-1 bomb was created by the soviets in response to the US having
used bombs on Japan. They were able to get all the blueprints for the original
bomb through a man named Klaus Fuchs. This allowed the nation to keep its
power.
http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/hbomb/page_09.shtml

Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact put the USSR in control of all of its satellite nations
militaries. This would allow Russia to gain more power over these nations and
hold them. The strengthened the nation as a whole because the satellites
would not be able to overthrow the communist governments as easily.

Sputnik
Sputnik was an unmanned satellite sent into space by the Russians in 1957.
This sent fear into many americans as they feared that Russia would be able to
send missiles with nuclear warheads to the US. This act increased the power of
the USSR even further because the fear of attack was enough to keep
everyone a bay for a small amount of time.

Laika and Sputnik 3

The Russians believed that animals must be sent to space before man would,
so they sent up a dog named Laika. This was the first living creature to be put
in space. This was followed by Sputnik 3 which was meant for mapping the
world, along with anilizing the atmosphere. The systems, however, had failed
and the Russian spacecraft was stuck in orbit doing nothing.

Hydrogen Bomb
The Hydrogen bomb that Russia had created was nicknamed the Tsar Bomb.
The bomb was tested in 1961 and was the only Hydrogen bomb that was
produced by the Russians.

Berlin Wall
The berlin was was constructed in 1961, and was there until its destruction in
1990. The wall was calimed to keep out the fascist elements from destroying
the will of the people. This however was false and they simply wanted to
keep everyone in the city. This did not go over well with any of the other
nations, and they wanted to help the people traped within the wall.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia
Russia, using its allies in the Warsaw Pact, invaded Czechoslovakia, in order
to stop the converting of the nation to a more western nation. A few hundred
people were injured in this invasion, and a little more than 100 were killed. This
prevented the westernization of the government in this nation.

SALT 1
SALT 1 were talks between the USSR and the USA in order to limit the amount
of missile that the nations had. The talks were simply that, because the result of
this was that the amount of anti missile systems were reduced.

SALT 2
SALT 2 were talks again between the US and the USSR. This one limited the
production of new missiles and warheads. The agreement only lasted 7 year
because the US had accused the USSR of violating the agreement.

Soviet-Afghan war
The Soviet-Afghan war began because the afghan government called on the
USSR for troops, and the fighting that ensued was the result of other countries
backing the opposition of the USSR. Almost every country that wasnt
communist looked down upon the USSR for this.

Gorbachev becomes leader

The soviet union was in dire need of a new leader, and it was a debate over 2
different possible leaders, and Gorbachev won. He had put in place many
reforms that had slowly began to destroy the nation as a whole.

Glasnost
Glasnost allowed the openness of all the people in the USSR. This allowed
people freedom without fear of the government coming after them. Not as much
media and art was regulated by the government after this.

perestroika
The Perestroika was the introduction of capitalism back into Russia. People
were able to gain things and own shops once this was put in place. this was not
meant to destroy communism, but it took it closer to the pit of no return.

Chernobyl
Chernobyl was an event in which a nuclear power plant had a meltdown, and
made much of the area around it unlivable. This was the world powerplant
meltdown in history.

voting reforms
The Voting reforms of Russia had allowed different parties to run for
government. This was one of the final nails in the coffin of the USSR. This was
the end of the strict communist rule.

Free Elections
Free elections in many of the Russian satellite nations had begun to happen.
The communist party was losing power all over the world that they had built up
over the year.

Fall of the Berlin wall

The berlin wall had separated the nation for a long time. The wall was finally
gone when the soviet union had been crippled. This lead the way for the nation
itself to end its communism.

Lithuania and Latvia Protests

Protests in Lithuania had cause the USSR to take extreme action. They sent in
troops in order to make an example of Lithuania. This killed 14 and wounded
many hundreds.

Gorbachev steps down

After Lithuania, Gorbachev was not seen fit to be leader anymore, and
therefore was kicked out. He would no longer lead the nation and thus was the
true end of the soviet union.

Boris Yeltsin becomes President

After Gorbachev stepped down, a meeting was held in order to find the new
leader of the nation. Yeltsin was the one chosen. He was the first to not be a
communist leader that was in power.

opinion
The Collapse of the soviet union was in fact inevitable. this was due to the fact
that none of the leaders cared for the lives of the people. They would
completely disregard them. This would slowly kill the nation from the inside.
Also other nation disliked what was going on in the nation, and wanted to put a
stop to it.

"Of Russian Origin: Politburo." Politburo Russiapedia Of Russian Origin. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
<http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/politburo/>.
"The Soviet Atomic Bomb." Soviet Breakthrough: "Joe I" Soviet Nuclear Test. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
.
<http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/hbomb/page_09.shtml>.
"Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941." Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
<http%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2FEBchecked%2Ftopic%2F648813%2FWorld-WarII%2F53552%2FInvasion-of-the-Soviet-Union-1941>.

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