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The Collapse of The Soviet Union

Background Information:

The Soviet Union was a great nation. It was a formidable enemy of the U.S. The Soviet Union was led by Mikhail Gorbachev. The people of the Soviet Union didn’t like the government since the government made strict laws. Gorbachev wanted to make more freedom of speech and government transparency so he instituted Glasnost. He also wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union to make it more modern and improve the economy so he instituted Perestroika.

Thesis:

The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, is commonly remembered in the U.S. as the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union. In reality, Soviet / Russian politics behind the "Iron Curtain" are the true reasons for the collapse of the communist lead empire of the Soviet Union.

Theme:

The Soviet Union collapsed because of the failed debate between the people and the government. The people of the U.S. think that the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell because of the Berlin Wall but the Soviet Union fell because of Soviet/Russian politics. The politics behind the “Iron Curtain” destroyed the communist empire of the Soviet Union.

Evidence #1

The Soviet Union collapsed after their economy started to fall apart. People start to rebel and say that they want independence. In response, Gorbachev gives the people a bit of independence through Glasnost and Perestroika policies. After he instituted these policies, the nationalist parties seized the opportunity to protest and gather more people against the government. 

The policies upset the hardliners who didn’t like change. The hardliners sent Gorbachev under house arrest, the stated reason being his “Inability for health reasons'' to lead as president. The Soviet Union military moved for Moscow, after which they found themselves and their citizens building barricades so that they could protect the Russian Parliament. When Gorbachev was free, he traveled to Minsk where he then met up with Belarus and Ukraine which they stated to separate from the Soviet Union and become independent states with an agreement. After them came more which also separated and made the bad economy be pointed out. Back in Moscow, Gorbachev was falling in rank while Boris Yelstin was rising and he had control of both the Parliament and the KGB. Gorbachev had no choice but to resign as president which he did on Christmas day of 1991. The Soviet Union had fallen, the bad economy led to the falling of Gorbachev's power which in turn led to the falling of the Soviet Union and with a speech from Gorbachev before he resigned.

Evidence #2:

 The Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan, they took the treaty away and now they started the cold war. The Soviet Union and the U.S. were trying to show who’s stronger not in fighting but politically, economically, and scientifically. The Union didn’t want to give up the countries they had acquired during the war and so they started spreading out comunist all over the place. The U.S. didn’t like this move so they tried to stop communism from reaching everywhere by starting the Cold War. The Soviet took the side communist countries, cities, towns while the U.S. took the side of the people who were against communism to fight against it. The Soviet Union and the U.S. started making nuclear weapons to fight against each other with. The economy of the Soviet was going down by the second which was threatening, so Gorbachiv tried to improve the economy. The people of the Soviet and the U.S. were thinking that the  Soviet and the U.S. were going to start a nuclear war.

Evidence #3

When Gorbachev made the glasnost policy he became open to critism from the entire Soviet apparatus. With the policy of perestroika Gorbachev was restructuring the Soviet Union but didn't do anything to the bureaucratic Buildings. This gave the people the chance to push Gorbachev and the Communist Party Of The Soviet Union, the people of the Soviet Union didn't think that this was going to do anything good for them. No one like these policies which Gorbachev created so they put him under house arrest. Yeltsin was was put in the place of Gorbachev, when Gorbachev came out of house arrest he went to a meeting where Ukraine and Belarus left the Soviet Union. After that point, Gorbachev resigned and Yeltsin became president but that didn't last for long as more and more countries left the Soviet Union making it collapse.

Conclusion:

The Soviet Union was a powerful nation but because of its actions its economy fell and then the Soviet Union. The Soviet fought wars that others put against them and they made their own wars and battles. They didn’t pay much attention to other things that were happening in their nation like the economy. Gorbachev noticed it and tried to fix it but it was too late because people were leaving the Soviet Union to make themselves greater and bigger.