To What Extent Was Gorbachev to Blame for the Collapse of the Ussr Essay Example
To What Extent was Gorbachev to blame for the Collapse of the USSR
Gorbachev was to blame for the collapse of the USSR for various reasons, mainly because of his two new policies, ‘Glasnost’ (New Freedom and Openness) and ‘Perestroika’ (Economic Restructuring). However, there were a few external factors which helped cause the collapse of the USSR, such as the effect Yeltsin had on Russia and how countries were growing tired of the whole communist system itself. Gorbachev's intention was to make the communist system work better by allowing people to have their say in how the system could be improved and to make the Soviet system of central planning of production more efficient. However, it just allowed people to openly criticize the system and soon people wanted to get rid of it.
Firstly, the Cold War created a crisis in the USSR. The arms race with the USA had become so expensive that Soviet living standards became worse as more money was spent on weapons. Soviet Farming was inefficient; there wasn’t enough food, so tonnes of grain had to be imported from the USA. The communist government was becoming more and more corrupt and was unable to meet demands of high living standards like the west for the Soviet people. The USSR had been at war with Afghanistan since 1979. The war was a complete disaster because it cost billions of dollars and 15 000 Soviet troops were killed. Already people ruled under Communism were beginning to feel uneasy.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 in the USSR and radically changed Soviet Policies. He became General Secretary of the Communist Party. He was more open to the west than previous leaders and offered a solution for the current situation. He introduced two major new policies, Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost meant New Freedom and Openness. In this policy the Soviet people won new rights. Firstly thousands of political prisoners were released, including the infamous Andrei Sakharov. People were told of the
Gorbachev was to blame for the collapse of the USSR for various reasons, mainly because of his two new policies, ‘Glasnost’ (New Freedom and Openness) and ‘Perestroika’ (Economic Restructuring). However, there were a few external factors which helped cause the collapse of the USSR, such as the effect Yeltsin had on Russia and how countries were growing tired of the whole communist system itself. Gorbachev's intention was to make the communist system work better by allowing people to have their say in how the system could be improved and to make the Soviet system of central planning of production more efficient. However, it just allowed people to openly criticize the system and soon people wanted to get rid of it.
Firstly, the Cold War created a crisis in the USSR. The arms race with the USA had become so expensive that Soviet living standards became worse as more money was spent on weapons. Soviet Farming was inefficient; there wasn’t enough food, so tonnes of grain had to be imported from the USA. The communist government was becoming more and more corrupt and was unable to meet demands of high living standards like the west for the Soviet people. The USSR had been at war with Afghanistan since 1979. The war was a complete disaster because it cost billions of dollars and 15 000 Soviet troops were killed. Already people ruled under Communism were beginning to feel uneasy.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 in the USSR and radically changed Soviet Policies. He became General Secretary of the Communist Party. He was more open to the west than previous leaders and offered a solution for the current situation. He introduced two major new policies, Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost meant New Freedom and Openness. In this policy the Soviet people won new rights. Firstly thousands of political prisoners were released, including the infamous Andrei Sakharov. People were told of the