The Fall of the Soviet Union

By gymbabe528
  • Period: to

    Fall of the Soviet Union

  • Joseph Stalin dies and Nikita Khrushchev rises

    On March 5, 1953, the Soviets leader, Joseph Stalin, died and Nikita Khrushchev becomes the dominant leader.

  • Destalinization

    Khrushchev publicly denounced Stalin, his speech signaled the beginning of destalinization. Destalinization was Nikita Khrushchev's policy of eliminating all memory of Joseph Stalin and his proograms in the Soviet Union.

  • Hungarians Protest

    The Hungarian army joined proteseters to overthrow Hungary's Soviet-controlled government. " From the youngest child to the oldest man, no one qwants communism", announced by a popular and liberal Hungarian and communist leader, Imre Nagy.

  • Imre Nagy

    After his announcement, Imre Nagy formed a new government in Hugary. Nagy promised free elections and demanded that Soviet troops leave Hungary.

  • Ivasion of Hungary

    After Nagy's outburst, the Soviets decided to do something about the protesting. So, in September, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest, Hungary's capital, and replaced the Hungarian government with Pro-Soviet leaders and eventually executed Nagy.

  • Leonid Brezhnev

    Khrushchev lost prestige due to the Cuban Missile Crisis and in 1964 he was removed from power and Leonid Brezhnev took his place. Brezhnev strickly enforced laws to limit freedom of speech and worship.

  • Brezhnev's Policies

    Brezhnev had the government control what could be published and clamped down on anyone who dared to protest against the government. He would not tolerate dissent from eastern Europe either. His policies were put to test in 1968.

  • Czech Invasion

    At the time Bruzhnev's policiese were put to the test, the Czech communist leader had a period of reform known as the Prague Spring. It was the time when Czechoslovakia's capital bloomed with new ideas. The prague spring , however, did not survive the summer. On August 20, armed forces from the Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia. Brezhnev justified this invasion by claiming the Soviet right to prevent its satellite nations from rejecting communism.

  • The U.S. Embraces Detente

    As it tried to heal its wounds, the United States began backing away from its policies of direct confrontation with the Soviet Union. Detente replaced brinkmanship. Detente grew out of a philosophy known as realpolitik. Nixons new policy represented a dramatic personal reversal as well as a political shift for the country.

  • Nixon Visits the Superpowers

    Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China after WWII. Three months after visiting Beijing in 1972, Nixon made history again by becoming the first American President to visit the Soviet Union.

  • SALT I

    After SALT Nixon and Brezhnev signed the SALT I treaty. It was a five year agreement to limit the number of intercontinental ballistic and submarine launched missiles each country could have. In 1975, thirty three nations joined the U.S. and S.U. in signing a commitment to detente and cooperation, the Heisinski Accords.

  • Ayatollah Khomeini

    The U.S. realized Shah was unpopular so they gave him money to modernize Iran. He built massive skyscrapers while people lived in poverty. This made people dislike Shah even more and soon the people began supporting an Islamic leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. Shah fled and Khomeini took over. Khomeini was opposed to any U.S. influence in Iran and in 1979 a group of Iranian revoluttionaries took over the U.S. embassy and they took more than 60 Americans hostage.

  • Secular and Shah Pahlavi

    Secular is a nonreligiouss government. Many new independent countries struggled to decide if their government should be religious or not. Shah embraced a western style of government and had many alliances. Many Iranians did not agree with this and didnt support Shah.

  • Detente cools

    President Carter's concern over harsh treatment of Soviet Protestors threatened to prevent a second round of SALT negotiations. In June 1979, Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II pact. When Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December, the U.S. congress refused to ratify SALT II. Tensions continued to mount as increasing numbers of European and Asian countries began building nuclear arsenals.

  • Soviet Influence in Afghanistan

    Afghanistan tried to maintain their independence from the Soviet Union, but overtime their influence was increasing. In the 1970's a muslim revolution toppled the communist regime in Aghanistan. In 1979 the Soviets invaded Afghanistan hoping to restore communism.

  • Mujahideen

    The Soviets thought they could quickly restore commmunism and leave, but the mujahideen fought hard using guerilla tactics. the U.S. provided the mujahideen with weapons to fight against the Soviets.

  • Poland

    The Polish government at first refused to recognized the union but as its popularity increased, they gave into their demands making Walesa a national hero. The government tried to crack down the movement but was unsuccessful. The government crackdown on solidarity made people more unhappy and defient. The solidarity was legalized and a democratic election was held.Lech Walesa of the solidarity party became the first democratically elected president of Poland.

  • Ronald Reagan Abanndons Detente

    Reagan continued his country's retreat from detente. In 1983 Reagan announced a program - the strategic defense initiative - to protect USA of enemy missiles. The program called Star Wars, was never put into effect. tensions increased as U.S. activities pushed the two countries even farther from detente. A transfer of power in the Soviet Union, in 1985, brought a new policy toward the U.S. and the beginning of a final thaw in the Cold War.

  • Mikihail Gorbachev

    Gorbachev was a part of the politburo debate and his supporters praised his youth, energy and political skills. He became the new general secretary. At 54, Mikhail was the youngest leader since Stalin.

  • Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost

    Mikhail came to power after Bruzhnev. In 1985 he introduced a policy, Glasnost. Glasnost simply meant "openess" and it allowed soviet citizens to talk about ways to improve their society. It also brought remarkable changes. some of the changes were that the government allowed churches to open, it released dissidents from prison, it allowed publications of books, and it allowed people to open small business' of their own.

  • Perestroika

    Perestroika was economic restructuring. It made changes to revive the Soviet economy. Managers gained greater authority over their farms and factories and people were allowed to open small private business'.

  • Hungary

    Hungarian leaders made reforms to the communist system that allow private investment and small stock market. An election was held and the communists were voted out. A socialist party formed an alliance and continued to make changes to Hungary's government and economy.

  • Boris Yeltsin

    Yeltsin denounced Gorbachev's actions. As Gorbachev was losing popularity with the people Yeltsin was gaining their support. Gorbachev faced oppositions from two sides. Yeltsin, who believed he was too harsh and the hard-liners, conservatives who opposed the reforms Gorbachev had made.

  • August Coup

    Yeltsin climbed atop a tank and made a speech - he demanded that soldiers stop being used to intimidate their own people and to let Gorbachev have a chance to speak. The Hard-liners ordered the soldiers to attack after Yeltsin's speech but they refused. This takeover attempt became known as the August Coup, and resulted in the fall of the Soviet Union

  • Hard-liners Take action

    August 18th, 1991 a group of hard-liners detained Gorbachev in his summer home to get him to resign. They sent in tanks with soldier to intimidate Gorbachev and the people. However, the people were not intimidated by the tanks and didn't want the freedoms that Gorbachev gave them to be taken away.