19.

3 The Collapse of the Soviet Union

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Looking Back at the Collapse
• Important
– Ended the 46 year Cold War
• Positive
– Freed hundreds of millions
• Recent
– 1991
• Surprising
– Ask your parents
 Objectives for Today
• Identify:
– Gorbachev
– Glasnost
– Perestroika
• Understand:
– Historical Context
– Impact
 Background
• By the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Soviet
Union was stagnating badly
• Communism didn’t provide an incentive
to work
• Political repression prohibited self-
criticism
 Mikhail Gorbachev
• Rose to power in 1985 at the age of 54
– Following the death of three “old guard”
leaders in three years
• Set out to save communism/Soviet
Union by reforming it
What were Gorbachev’s Two
Key Reforms?
 Glasnost = Openness
• Reporters allowed to criticize officials
• Political prisoners released
• Banned authors allowed to publish
• Churches allowed to open
 Perestroika =
Economic Restructuring
• Managers of farms and factories given
some decision making power
• Allowed (small) private businesses
 Results
• Glasnost shined a light on system’s
shortcomings, especially its corruption
• But Perestroika failed to fix economy
• Thus, both contributed to the collapse of
a superpower
 Critical Thinking
• What else could Gorbachev have done?
• Why did China’s reforms propel it to
economic superpower status?
 Connections to Today
Does the US need more “openness” and
“economic restructuring”?
 19.3 Summary
• Gorbachev sought to save the Soviet
Union from its stagnation by reforming it
• Glasnost = Openness
• Perestroika = Economic Restructuring
• Result = Push toward collapse of USSR
 QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.