Darren Delaney

The Russian civil war was fought from November of 1917

to 1922. The Red Army and White Army were the two
groups fighting. The Red Army was Bolsheviks army and
the White Army was anti-Bolshevik. The war wasnt even
close as the Red Army dominated the war. This basically
formed the Soviet Union. The Russian empire broke up and
many nations were listed as sovereign states. What was
left became known as the Soviet Union.

The politburo was a decision making body of the

communist party that was established in late 1917. It was
created for continuous and flexible leadership in any
uprising. Original members consisted of Lenin, Trotsky,
Stalin, and 4 others. This helped the Soviet Union because
it had complete control over all of the Soviet Government.

This was a plan to boost the economy is the Soviet Union.

The economy was a lot further down then it should have
been and it really needed to get back up. These goals were
not logically possible but they were set. Even though the
goals were not reached in the end, the improvement in
economy was unbelievable. Stalins five year plans had a
great effect on the soviet union and brought the economy
back up to good numbers.

The Soviet Union played a big part in this war. In the

beginning though they had a non-aggression pact with
Germany. For a while, the Soviet Union and Germany got
along great. They had somewhere to invade; they divided
the land and both took separate parts of the area. There
were rumors of a German attack but Stalin did not want to
believe any of that. Until 1941 when Germany began an
attack against them. This was a mutual event for the Soviet
Union. They were able to defeat Germany and gain other
allies which is all great. However, they lost about 20
million men in the fighting.

This was a nuclear bomb that the Soviet Union tested. It

was the first one they had ever tested. It got the name Joe
1 from the U.S to symbolize Joseph Stalin. This bomb
turned out to be a lot worse then they had expected. They
put together a fake little town with buildings, bridges, and
animals. However, this little town didnt stand a chance
against the bomb. The whole area was completely
destroyed. This was a good thing for the Soviet Union
because it showed them and others what they are capable
of and the damage they can do.

The hydrogen bomb was a bomb that the US tested after

the Soviet Union dropped their Joe 1 bomb. The hydrogen
bomb was a thermonuclear bomb and 1,000 times more
powerful then a normal nuclear bomb. This hurt the Soviet
Union because they fell back in the nuclear arms race.
Although they released a nuclear bomb first, the US had
one much more powerful and therefore were seen as
stronger.

This pact was a defense treaty between 8 communist states

during the time of the Cold War. All of these states were
located in central or eastern Europe. This pact was brought
about by the Soviets want to keep control over the military
of Central and Eastern Europe. For this reason, the Warsaw
pact benefitted the Soviet Union.

Sputnik was a satellite launched into earth orbit by the

Soviet Union in 1957. It was the first to do so. It was a low
orbit and could be seen from earth for all to see. This
benefitted the Soviet Union because it surprised the
Americans and like the bomb, showed what they were
capable of. This also sparked the Space race.

Laika was a dog and was the first dog to orbit the earth.
Laika orbited in Sputnik 2 also launched by the Soviet
Union. Many people believed that humans would not be
able to survive the climate of this trip so people believed
the only way to test was send animals out. Laika died
within hours from overheating but she was not expected to
make it through the trip. This helped the Soviet Union
because it showed they were continuing to make
improvements and had the drive to keep trying.

The Berlin Wall was constructed by the German

Democratic Republic, or GDR. This was built to completely
cut off West Berlin from East Germany and Berlin. It was a
complete concrete wall with guard towers, anti-vehicle
trenches, and other defenses. This kind of helped the Soviet
Union because many people in the east fled to the Soviet
Union. This helped because they gained more popularity
and citizens.

On a night in August of 1968 the Soviet Union and most of

its allies from the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia.
They did this because they wanted to stop the leaders
liberalization reforms. They were able to put a stop to these
reforms and strengthen the Communist Party in
Czechoslovakia. This helped the Soviet Union because they
were able to go in with strong troops and prove their point.

This was the talks and agreements between the U.S. and
the Soviet Union on the topic of armament control. Salt
stands for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. The first one
was agreed on in 1969 and was an anti-missile treaty. This
didnt have much of an effect on the Soviet Union but it did
benefit them a little. They benefitted because they were
seen as a superpower and making positive moves.

Salt II was another agreement that came about in 1979. It

was an agreement but the U.S chose to not be a part of this
because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The U.S later
withdrew from the Salt II in 1986.

This was a war fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces

and multi-national insurgent groups. The war lasted 9
years and started in December of 1979. This helped the
Soviet Union because they were able to again, show their
strength and have most people flee from Afghanistan.

In 1985 it became clear to Gorbachev that the economy was

struggling and needed change. The first reform he put in
was an anti-alcohol campaign. This campaign raised the
prices of alcohol and restricted the sales. The country lost a
ton of money due to this but it did show signs of change.
This benefitted the Soviet Union because it showed they
were making change and headed in the right direction.

This was a policy for economic reconstruction that came

about in march 1986. Its main thing was finding a useful
way to raise economic and social progress. This was a
positive moment for the Soviet Union because it sparked
many changes and turned out to be the first of many. They
were all to benefit the area so the Perestroika had a great
impact on the Soviet Union.

Glasnost was a policy that gave the Soviet people a lot

more freedom then they already had. The first thing they
had was more freedom of speech. That wasnt all though,
Glasnost also made control over the press a lot less
controlled and freed many people from prisons and
dissidents. The most impactful reform however was the
Law on Cooperatives. This brought great change to the
Soviet Union. It allowed people to privately own
businesses for the first time in a while.

This was a nuclear accident in April of 1986. It took place at

the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. However,
in 1986 Ukraine was under control by the Soviet Union.
This explosion caused a huge fire and between the two,
many radioactive particles were spread about in the
Western USSR and Europe. This hurt the Soviet Union very
bad. Not only did they fail at this nuclear bomb, it was the
worst nuclear accident in history. It cost the Soviet Union
about 18 billion dollars and deaths as a result are still being
accounted for.

This is referring to the Baltic Way or Baltic Chain. This was

an event where about 2 million people joined hands to
make a human chain across the republics of the Soviet
Union. This all took place because they wanted global
attention by having a common desire for freedom. This
hurt the Soviet Union because the people gained
recognition from all over the world for their independence.
These people weren't moving for anything either. After 7
years of protesting, Lithuania became the first Soviet Union
Republic to declare independence.

Before the wall came down, 3.5 million East Germans

crossed the border. About 5,000 went over the wall. 200
give or take about 60 people were killed in the wall
hopping. However, the people that made it across were
then able to go into West Germany and Western Europe.
This hurt the Soviet Union because the Soviet government
was erased from this area. This caused many people to
celebrate by chipping away at the wall until the summer of
1990 when the government used big equipment to get rid
of what was left.

Gorbachev was the General Secretary from 1985-1991 and

the president of the Soviet Union from 1990-1991.
Gorbachev did a lot for the Soviet Union however his time
in office was so short he didnt accomplish much in there.
He didnt hurt the Soviet Union but he was in office until
the end of existence of the Soviet Union.

These countries believed that elections would be a good

way to elect leaders. Gorbachev announced he was pulling
troops from these areas and Hungary took it as great news
but wanted political parties. The people in Poland also
wanted candidates in upcoming elections. When
Gorbachev declared they were free to determine their
future, they went to free elections. This hurt the Soviet
Union because they lost power over these countries
because they now had their own leadership.

Gorbachev stepped down in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet

Union. This hurt the Soviet Union because it was no longer
existent and now just Russia. Although he had a great run
and accomplished some great things, he had to come down
with the Soviet Union.

Boris Yeltsin was the first president of the Russian

Federation and took power after Gorbachev. Yeltsin was a
Gorbachev supporter but when he stepped down, Yeltsin
won by a very popular vote to take power. He was in office
from 1991-1999 and changed many of the ways the Soviet
Union did things.

The Soviet Union fell because Gorbachev resigned and they were
losing control. Many countries were gaining their own freedom
and the Soviet Union no longer had control over them.
In my opinion, I do not believe the Soviet Union could have
survived. They could have made it but not anything like they
were. Many of the countries either had or were fighting for their
freedom and the Soviet Union was just losing control. They
would not have survived having no control. Also, Yeltsin
wanted to change things around and get away from Soviet ways
so after Gorbachev resigned, it would have been hard to keep
the Soviet Union up and strong.