THE COLLAPSE OF THE

SOVIET UNION
By: Davon Burrell

The Russian civil war occurred because after

November 1917. many groups had formed that
opposed Lenin's Bolsheviks. The whites
represented all shades of anti-communist. The
whites joined together to try to bring down the
revolution.

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR 1917

The first Politburo was created in Russia by the Bolshevik Party

Central Committee on October 1917. In 1990 the Politburo was
enlarged and was separated to a certain degree from control
over the Soviet government. The seven members included
Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin.

CREATION OF THE POLITBURO

Stalin 5 Year Plans: -a series of Nationwide centralize economic

plans in the Soviet Union.

STALIN'S FIVER YEAR PLANS 1928

World War II: -the Soviet Union was attacked by Germany and
Romania which brought them into the War. Later they fought
along side Britain to invade and attack Iran as well as Germany.

WORLD WAR II 1939

Joe 1: First Lightening was used in

the Soviet Unions first nuclear weapon test. It was

later named the Joe-1 after Joseph Stalin by the United States.

JOE 1 1928

Hydrogen Bomb: A nuclear weapon design that uses the heat

generate by a fission bomb to compress and ignite a nuclear
fission stage. It was the first ready to use thermonuclear bomb
tested by the Soviet Union and was name Joe-4 (RDS-6s) .

HYDROGEN BOMB 1949

Warsaw Pact: A mutual defense treaty between eight communist

states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold
War. The founding treaty was established under the initiative of
the Soviet Union.

WARSAW PACT 1955

The first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union was the first to
launch it into an elliptical low Earth orbit.

SPUTNIK 1957

Laika and Sputnik 2: -the second spacecraft to be launched into

Earth orbit and the first to carry a living animal, a dog named
Laika.

LAIKA AND SPUTNIK 1957

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks/Treaty froze the number of

strategic ballistic missile launchers at existing levels and provided
for the addition of new Submarine-launched ballistic missile
launchers only after the same number of older intercontinental
ballistic missile and SLBM launchers have been dismantled.

SALT 1 1969

SALT 2: -a series of talks between the United States and the Soviet
negotiators which sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic
nuclear weapons.

SALT 2 1972

Soviet-Afghan War is part of the Cold War, it was fought between

Soviet-led Afghan forces against multinational insurgent groups
called the Mujahideen, mostly composed of 2 alliances.

SOVIET-AFGHAN WAR 1979

Glasnost is a policy that called for increased openness and

transparency in government institutions and activities in the
Soviet Union.

GLASNOST 1985

Voting Reforms by Gorbachev: -Gorbachev introduced 2 voting

reforms including Perestoika and Glastnost.

VOTING REFORM BY GORBACHEV

1987

Chernobyl Disaster is a catastrophic nuclear accident that

occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine which
was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the
Soviet Union.

CHERNOBYL DISASTER 1986

Perestoika is a political movement for reformation within the

communist party of the Soviet Union, widely associated with the
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his Glasnost policy reform.

PERESTOIKA 1986

Lithuania and Latvia Protests: -formed human chains along the

Baltic seacoast in anti-pollution protests demonstrating newly
awakened environmental awareness in the Soviet Union.

LITHUANIA AND LATVIA 1988

Fall of the Berlin Wall: -East Germans escaped through Hungary to

Austria, then Hungarians prevented any more East Germans to
come through but allowed those already there to come back.
The wall was later torn down because East Germans were
granted the freedom to pass through as they wanted.

FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL 1989

A barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that

completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany from
East Berlin.

BERLIN WALL 1989

Gorbachev Becomes Leader: -was elected as the first executive

president of the Soviet Union with 59% of the deputies votes.

GORBACHEV BECOMES LEADER 1990

Gorbachev stepped down due to the creation of the

Commonwealth of Independent States which led the Soviet
union to lose power and collapse.

GORBACHEV STEPS DOWN 1991

Boris Yeltsin Becomes President: -days after the collapse of the

Soviet Union, Yeltsin stepped in to completely dismantle socialism
and fully restore capitalism.

BORIS YELTSIN BECOMES PRESIDENT

1991

The Soviet Union collapsed because Gorbachev was the last person
to support the Soviet Union, when he resigned and Yeltsin stepped
into power he resolved that the Soviet Union be diminished and the
government agreed. No because the Soviet Union had been fought
about for a long time and eventually it was going to be ruled out. If
Yeltsin didnt do it someone else would have. The Soviet Union was
extremely controversial and had been argued over before.
Gorbachev was the last leader to support it so it just so happened
that it collapsed at that time. As Yeltsin stepped in, there was no
saving the Soviet Union because he had the government on his side.

CONCLUSION