Was the Soviet Union

Destined to Fall?
Nikki Cheng Y10Hope

How does a country fall? The Cold War was

one of the most memorable war, taken place
just briefly after the second world war back in
1947. Unlike other wars, it is a political war
between the two major powers, the US and the
USSR, also known as the Soviet Union. The
major powers had been fighting for a long
period of time, and it was known that the fall of
the soviet marked the end of the power
Photo 1 - Collapse of the soviet union,
struggle between the two countries. It was
Source: Sue Ann Kime and Paul stich,
noticed before that the foundation of the soviet
Global history, N & N published.
gradually perished from the inside before the collapse
back in 1991, so was the Soviet destined to fall? Or
can it be prevented and live on till modern day? In this article, I will discuss the major events which
led to the fall, the importance of this the dissolution, and conclude whether the soviet was destined
to fall.

What are the signs of the fall?

Even before the fall, there were many signs that the
Soviet Union was just not meant to live on, back in late
1980s, although the Soviet looks like it was still holding
on and had recovered any damage they receive from war
with Afghanistan, but underneath the strong facade, they
were actually falling apart from the inner parts.

During the 1960s and 1970s, there was an increase in

prosperity within the party, but instead of investing it in the
public, they spend the wealth on luxuries rather than
necessities, they imported expensive cars, and dined on
fine cuisine. Back then, millions of citizens were dying
from starvation, but the Politburo disregard the citizens, Photo 2 - Distorted Soviet Union Flag
which created loathing within their hearts, and they Source: The Diplomat
refused to follow the countrys belief. Finally, in the 1980s,
when the inner part of the Soviet started to collapse, the
citizens did not help to slow down the fall, and instead, rebel.

Moreover, the soviet is composed of 15 states, which shared different languages and cultures,
when the different regime clash together, it would cause incompatibility within each other. In
addition, the Russians also abused their power and tyrannise the minor states, and the lesser can
only endure. In 1989, the former soviet accomplice began to pull away from the soviet, which
caused the main power to slowly diminish.
Major events

Back in 1985, the Mikhail Gorbachev executed a new system, perestroika and glasnost.
Perestroika can be translated into restructure, which is the practice of refining the economical
system by increasing labour efficiency, and glasnost is to introduce freedom of speech. With
these two newly preformed system, the Soviet will steadily moved towards a combination between
a communist capitalist system. The two systems was to save the country from its impending doom,
but it did quite the opposite. With this establishment, the public saw this as weakness within the
government, and abused the power given to them to rebel against the government.

Although it might seem as if Gorbachev was the reason of the Soviets downfall, but this isnt the
case. As mentioned above, there was an economy downfall, and the cause of the decline was due
to Stalin. Back when Stalin was ruling the Soviet, he ordered a considerable number of supplies
and shipped them out, he also focused his attention on military growth, which reduced the amount
of money spent on public facilities, and did not managed to supply the citizens needs. When
Gorbachev took over the country, there was already a massive economy downfall, since the higher
ups was not abled to supply their citizens with their necessities, such as clothing and food. This
eventually caused the people to revolute against the government as they found him incompetent.

In brief, it can be concluded that the decline started with the change of system. The radical reform
was too sudden for the citizens, and they saw the changes the new government did as
vulnerableness within the country. Gorbachev was not able to control the citizens, and thus ended
the soviet rule.

Was the Soviet Union destined to fall?

In summary, was the soviet fall inevitable? Many historians have input their
thoughts into this debatable question, for example, Winston Churchill. He
made a speech on this topic, and concluded that the Soviet would fall
because of their ideology, as quoted, communism "fundamentally opposed to
the needs and dictates of the human heart, and of human nature itself. If the fault
was already there at the start, then how could the fall be prevented?

Another example for this case is an academic paper written by Andrei Amalrik Will the soviet union
survive until 1984. Amalrik commented back in 1970s that the Soviet would eventually crumble
due to the internal pressure, he drew this conclusion because the government was losing ability to
maintain control. He also predicted that the citizens in due course will become restless, as the
Soviet would not be able to supply the citizens.

In addition, a significant point was that Gorbachev lose his authority. Although Gorbachev did not
have any ill intentions when he implemented the perestroika and glasnost system, the citizens saw
this as the government being weak. Once the leader lose power, the country is done for, which was
another reason why the soviet failed.

However, there were a few methods the USSR can implement to prevent their demise. Previously
said, Stalin invested a copious amount into the military, roughly 25% of the countrys total income
was spent towards the military, which was what eventually led to the economy downturn. If they
were to invest more in the public, then the people would be satisfied and wont rebel.
 All in all, the demise of the Soviet Union is inevitable, there were too many mishaps; the foundation
was unstable because of their political system, and their inability to provide the citizens needs also
started to shake the inner part of the country. The combination of disruption caused by the failure
of providing citizens needs, the government losing control along with the US constant attacks
would slowly break the state. Therefore it can come to the conclusion that the Soviet Union was
destined to fall.

Sources:

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