https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrnL8t9fDuk&ab_channel=BaZiKrus

WHERE THE SOVIET UNION IS AT…

• Brezhnev

• Politburo – ruling committee of

the Communist party

• Crushed all political

disagreement

• Censors decided what could

be published

• No freedom of religion or

worship

GORBACHEV MAKES CHANGES • Mikhail Gorbachev

• New ideas to fix Russian economy and society

• Glasnost – openness

• Allowed churches

• Freed dissidents

• Allowed publication of books by banned authors

• Reporters investigated problems

• Officials criticized

• Perestroika – economic restructuring

• Allowed managers to gain authority over farms and factories

• Small businesses allowed

GORBACHEV MOVES TOWARD DEMOCRACY

Democratization – gradual opening of political

system

Election of a new legislative body

People tended to chose lesser-known

candidates and reformers

Foreign Policy

Ronald Reagan (US) started spending

money on military

Led to an expensive arms race btw SU and

US

SU could not afford to keep up

Signed Intermediate-Range Nuclear

Forces (INF) Treaty

Banned nuclear missiles with ranges of 300 to

3,400 miles

REFORMING THE ECONOMY AND POLITICS

• W/ more freedom, satellite states wanted same

• Nationalist movements start

• Lithuania

• March 1990 - First challenger to Soviet rule

• To force it back, Gorbachev ordered economic blockade

• Gorbachev feared might set example for other countries

• Jan 1991 Soviet troops attacked unarmed civilians in the capital

• 14 were killed, hundreds were wounded

THE SOVIET UNION FACES TURMOIL

• Gorbachev in trouble

• W/ Lithuania and slow economy,

Gorbachev loses popularity

• Boris Yeltsin – member of Parliament and

former mayor of Moscow

• Criticized actions in Lithuania and pace

of reforms

• June 1991 Yeltsin elected president of

the RUSSIAN FEDERATION

• Hard-liners – conservatives who opposed

reform

• Argued SU lost role as the dominant force

in Eastern Europe

• Vowed to undo Gorbachev reforms

MORE TURMOIL

• August Coup

• Aug 18, 1991 hardliners detained Gorbachev

• Demanded his resignation as SOVIET PRESIDENT

• Tanks and armored vehicles rolled into Moscow

• Protestors gather at parliament, where Yeltsin had his office

• Aug 20 – hardliners ordered troops to attack but they refused

• Aug 21 – military withdrew forces from Moscow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrnL8t9fDuk&ab_channel=BaZiKrus

Tushino airfield in Russia – with Gorbachev allowing it, the Monsters of Rock concert

played on this airfield.

Bands:

AC/DC, Pantera, Black Crowes, Metallica

Official estimates have the crowd at 800,000 – 1 million people

Unofficially estimate have the crowd at 1.5 million people

FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION

• Coup sparked anger against

Communist party

• Gorbachev resigned

• Soviet parliament stopped

party activities

• Estonia and Latvia declared

independence

• Dec - all 15 republics

independent

• Yeltsin met with all leaders to

chart new course

• Formed the Commonwealth

of Independent States (CIS)

– loose federation of former

Soviet territories

• Dec 25, 1991 – Gorbachev

resigned as president of the

SU

• SU ceased to exist

RUSSIA UNDER BORIS YELTSIN

• Yeltsin’s problems

• “Shock Therapy” – abrupt shift to free market economics

• Lowered trade barriers, removed price controls, and ended subsidies to state-owned industries

• Lead to high prices

• Factories shut down – thousands of people out of work

• Led to a political crisis

• Legislators opposed policies by locking themselves in Parliament

• Yeltsin ordered building bombed – many killed, others surrendered

RUSSIA UNDER BORIS YELTSIN

• Chechnya Rebels

• Chechnya declared its independence

• Area of Muslims in SW Russia

• Yeltsin denied it and sent in troops

• Aug 1996 signed a cease-fire but it did not help

• 1999 fighting started again

• Yeltsin resigned

• Vladimir Putin named acting president

RUSSIA UNDER VLADIMIR PUTIN

• Putin and Chechnya

• Aggressively attacked rebels,

initially welcomed by Russians

• Brought violence to Moscow

• Chechen rebels seized the

Dubrovka theater in Moscow

and 150 people died in rescue

attempt

• War dragged on

• Today its relatively quiet, but

rebellion going on politically

RUSSIA UNDER VLADIMIR PUTIN

• Economic, Political, and Social

Problems

• Russia is moving to greater

participation in world trade

• Modernizing banks,

insurance, and tax codes

• Still suppressing freedom of

press and religion

The Berlin Wall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSplt7Z9Jo8&ab_channel=HistoryDocumentaryFilms