Term Paper on "USSR Why Did the U.S.S.R. Succeed"

Term Paper 3 pages (1254 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

USSR

Why did the U.S.S.R. succeed in building its "empire" from 1945 to 1990?

It was one the immediate results of the Second world war that a sort of 'historical division' between the East and the Western parts of Europe came into being. This was the time in history that a 'polarization' of the societies on both sides of the so called 'Iron Curtain' took place, and this meant that both the sides started to develop in completely different ways from each other. In the year 1989 and onwards, a new period of transition started, and this was when several aspects of life such as family life, gender relations, and biographical orientations and so on became affected in completely unexpected ways. (Biographies and the Division of Europe)

One must remember the fact that Adolph Hitler in Germany had always harbored a strong hatred for Russian Communists, and this made it inevitable that a War of great scale would take place between the two countries, and this was exactly what happened. However, Stalin, the Great Russian leader, made sure that he would be able to make certain territorial gains for himself during this period, and when in the year 1939 Germany and the U.S.S.R. signed a secret non-aggression pact dividing up Poland, the Soviets took it upon themselves to invade Eastern Poland. In the same year, USSR invaded Finland as well, and eventually Finland had no other option than to surrender. Soon afterwards, USSR invaded the Baltic states, and in the year 1941, USSR and Japan signed a 'neutrality pact', but in the same year, when Germany invaded Russia, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Finland took this chance to declare war on Russia as well, and the war continued until the year 1943 when more than 90,000 German troops at Stalingrad surrendered to the Soviets. Later the same year, Stalin met Roosevelt and Churchill, and it was decided that while the Western Allies would invade France from the West, the U.S.S.R. would invade the Eastern side. It was over the next few years that the U.S.S.R. would capture Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Yugoslavia, Warsaw, Vienna, and Berlin, and after Hitler committed suicide, Stalin broke his non-aggression pact with Japan, and invaded Japan held Manchuria. Although several thousands of people in the Soviet Union died as a result of the War, the U.S.S.R.'s armed forces remained as powerful as ever even after the end, and this was the beginning of the Cold War. (World War II in the Soviet Union)

One must remember that it was the U.S.A. And the U.S.S.R. that emerged as the super powers after the Second World War and these two powers became bitter enemies and rivals. They began the Arms Race, and as the U.S.S.R. began to advance further into Eastern Europe, in its empire building activities, the U.S.A. started to become alarmed. This was the time of the Marshall Plan, which was created to pledge assistance to Europe to aid in post war recovery efforts, and the U.S.S.R. copied the Marshall Plan and labeled it Comecon, that is, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, to provide economic aid to the Soviet Bloc in Eastern Europe. (Olson, 178)

Why did the U.S.S.R. collapse in 1991 despite Gorbachev's reforms?

Gorbachev the Russian leader attempted to bring in a set of reforms to improve the state of affairs in the country. It must be noted that despite these reforms, USSR collapsed in the year 1991. Why did it happen, and what were the primary causes? (Russia, the Gorbachev Reforms) there can be no doubt that endings are extremely fascinating to the human psyche, and perhaps this is the reason why the collapse of the Soviet Union has generated so much interest through the years, especially after Gorbachev made… READ MORE

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