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