Why Did The Soviet Union Colla Essay

, Research Paper

WHY DID THE SOVIET UNION COLLAPSE

The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR are probably the most significant events of our lifetime so far. The causes for the collapse of the Soviet Union consist of a combination of internal and external factors. Briefly, the external factors consist of the rivalry and eventual arms race between the United States and the USSR, which almost led to nuclear war. The Cold War triggered conflicts in different parts of the world; in other words the rivalry between the United States and the USSR went on a global level although there had never been a direct confrontation between the two superpowers. The internal factors are based on structural unstableness in the economy, especially concerning rigid central planning. The essay shall commence with the external factors, thus the role the United States played in the collapse of the multi-ethnic entity. A brief summary of what the situation was like after the Second World War shall be presented. This will be done to set the historical context in which certain events triggered off the stockpiling of arms between the two superpowers. A set of affairs which would drastically decrease the Soviet economy as it is still trying to reconstruct it to this day.

The United States and Soviet Union s rivalry officially began in 1945. But friction had actually been present ever since the beginning of the First World War. Diplomatic efforts to lesson the tension had never been thoroughly dealt with because the past conflicts never drastically threatened the international system. At the closing of the Second World War, the victorious powers such as England and France had suffered great economic loss. At this time, the United States economy was very prosperous. With 6% of the world’s population, the U.S. had 48% of the radios, 46% of the electricity supplies, and U.S. companies controlled 59% of the world’s known oil reserves. During the period between 1928-1978, the Soviet economy grew rapidly to become a major superpower. However, the Soviet economy was based solely in one field, that of heavy industry. It will be shown later on in this essay how this concentration only in one field would create a setback which would have tragic results for the Soviet economy. After the Second World War, the two main actors in world politics who had opposing ideologies, one being communist the other supporting liberal internationalism, found themselves facing each other. Immediately, a feeling of tension grew as the two superpowers stood in stark contrast to one another. The Americans felt it necessary to expand the notion of self-determination in order to eliminate colonialism and also to re-establish the balance of power. The Soviet Union on the other hand proved uninterested in liberal internationalism as a promising political regime. In 1945 at the Conference of Yalta, the three leading political figures, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin attempt to re-organise the globe on the basis of cooperation. Germany was demilitarised and split up into four zones, which were to be occupied by the victorious powers. At the Conference of Potsdam, which took place the same year, the atmosphere had already grown more intense. The USSR resented Truman for terminating the financial support. He saw this as hypocrisy after the Conference in Yalta. In 1947 Truman stated, It must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. The viewpoints enshrined in the Truman doctrine and the policy of containment (the American political strategy for resisting perceived Soviet expansion) represented the American standpoint of the time. But what emphasised the tension and thus colossal military build-up on the part of the Soviet Union was that the Americans became obsessed with the idea of supporting Western Europe from Soviet expansion. Some began to think that the Korean War, for example, was a mere distraction so that the Soviets could concentrate on communist expansion in Western Europe. During the mid 1940s the Cold War between the two superpowers and their allies was focused in Europe where both sides had their most important interests. Although the United States hesitated to involve themselves, as the notion of Containment follows, both superpowers wanted to make their political ideologies the dominant ones hence the feelings of antagonism intensified dramatically.

The Soviet economy consisted of a Socialist Shortage Economy. This system discouraged production efficiency, increase in output quality and technological innovation. With the intensification of tension, conflicts started breaking out in different parts of the globe. Many of the origins of these confrontations lay in the context of the Cold War. The Vietnam War was a prime example. Vietnam consisted of France’s far eastern empire ever since 1861. Ho Chi Minh was based in the north where there was the Chinese government implemented during the conference of Potsdam. Ho Chi decided to take advantage of the Russian support which of course would encourage communist rule. War broke out between North Vietnam and South Vietnam where the French attempted to dominate and were furthermore supported by the Americans and the British. The confrontation, which began in 1946 and ended in 1954, represented the re-occurring theme of the Cold War. In fact, the Americans had