13-1 Decline of the Soviet Union

1970’s

• new leader= Leonid Brezhnev

• Wanted to keep Eastern Europe communist

– Brezhnev Doctrine – USSR is allowed to go in to any communist country to protect communism (like the Truman Doctrine, but for communism)

• This was a period of good relations between the US and the USSR (known as a détente)

• The Soviet gov’t was corrupt, farming was bad, and the regular people suffered

Tensions grow

• 1979 - Soviets invade Afghanistan

• The US saw this as the USSR trying to expand their territory and took action

– US boycotts (refuses to go to) the 1980 Olympics in Moscow

– No grain (wheat, oats, etc) will be shipped to the USSR

• In 1980, Reagan called the USSR an “evil empire” and began a new arms race, started building a new satellite defense system, and gave weapons and money to Afghanistan

A New Russia

• During the 1980’s problems get worse, and a reform movement begins

• 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is made leader, and begins to make changes

– Believed in radical reform that begins with perestroika (restructuring – changing the way the gov’t works to make things better)

• Created a new economic system where some business were owned by individual people, not the government

• Created a parliament elected by the people

• Allowed non-communist parties to exist

• Created new system of government with a president, and he became the first (and only) president of the Soviet Union

• Signed a treaty with the US, eliminating some long range nuclear weapons

• Stopped giving military support to Communist Eastern Europe

– This allowed these countries to overthrow their communist governments and become democratic

End of the Soviet Union

• One of the major problems was that within the USSR there were over a hundred languages spoken and almost as many nationalities, and many of these groups wanted their independence

• The old-school communists wanted things to stay as they were, and weren’t happy with Gorbachev

• In 1991, a group tries to take him out of power by arresting him, but he is freed by Boris Yeltsin

• Ukraine and Belarus get independence in December 1991, and the USSR ceases to exist

• Gorbachev resigns and Boris Yeltsin becomes the new president of Russia.

New Russia

• New problems:

– the new freer economy was having trouble

– Even though there was more stuff, it was hard to get

– A southern province, Chechnya, wanted independence, and Yeltsin wanted to keep it

– Former communist countries joined NATO

• 2000 – Vladimir Putin becomes president

– Started reforms to help the economy and budget

– Worked to make Russia part of the international economy

– Continued the fight to keep Chechnya