CH2

Question 1

USSR

Answer 1

Union of Soviet Socialist Republic

Question 2

USSR came being into being after the ? what was the revolution inspired by?

Answer 2

• Russian Revolution in 1917 inspired by the ideals of socialism as opposed to capitalism a the need for an egalitarian society
• Biggest attempt in human history to abolish the institution of private property and consciously design a society based of principles of equality

Question 3

The makers of the soviet system gave primacy to?

Answer 3

the state and the institution of the party

Question 4

The Soviet political system centred around

Answer 4

the communist party, and no other pol party or opp was allowed.
the economy was planned and controlled by the state

Question 5

After the second world war?

Answer 5

• The east European countries that the Soviet army had liberated from the fascist forces came under the control of USSR.
• The political and the economic systems of all these countries were modelled after the USSR

Question 6

Socialist Bloc Second world

Answer 6

group of countries controlled by the USSR that the soviet army had liberated…….

Question 7

Warsaw Pact

Answer 7

A military alliance that held the countries of the second world or socialist bloc. The USSR was the leader of the bloc

Question 8

Economic progress of Soviet Union after ww2

Answer 8

Soviet economy was then more developed than the rest of the world except for the US
- It had
1 a complex communications network
2 vast energy resources including
= oil
= iron and steel
= machinery prod.
= transport sector that connected its remotest areas with efficiency
3 It had a domestic consumer industry that produced everything from pins to cars though their quality did not match that of the Western capitalist countries
4 The Soviet state ensured a
- minimum standard of living for all citizens
- government subsidised basic necessities including
= health
= education
= childcare
= and other welfare schemes
- no unemployment
- state ownership was the dominant form of ownership : land and productive assets were owned and controlled by the soviet state

Question 9

Soviet State became very

Answer 9

Bureaucratic and Authoritarian making life very difficult for its citizens
1 lack of democracy
2 absence of freedom of speech
these stifled people who often expressed their dissent in jokes and cartoons
Most institutions of the Soviet state needed reform
1 the one party system represented by the communist party of the soviet union had tight control over all institutions and was
- unaccountable to the people
- refused to recognise the urge of people in the 15 different republics that formed the soviet union to manage their own affairs including their cultural affairs.

Question 10

Russia in USSR

Answer 10

Although Russia was only 1 of the 15 republics of the USSR but in reality Russia dominated everything and people from other regions felt neglected and often sppressed

Question 11

Downfall of Soviet union before Gorbachev

Answer 11

1) The Soviet Union managed to match the US from time to time but at great cost
2) he soviet Union lagged behind the West in - technology and infrastructure for eg transport and power
most importantly in fulfilling the political or economic aspirations of citizens.
3) The Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979 weakened the system even further
4) Though wages continued to grow Productivity and Technology fell considerably behind that of the west
This led to shortages in all consumer goods
Food imports increased every year
the soviet economy was faltering in the late 1970s and became stagnant

Question 12

Mikhail Gorbachev

Answer 12

Had become the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985

Question 13

What were Mikhail Gorbachev’s aims

Answer 13

Sought to reform this system. Reforms were necessary to keep the USSR abreast of the information and technological revolutions taking place in the west.

Question 14

Aftermath of Gorbachev’s reforms (Before the Disintegration)

Answer 14

1) East European countries part of the Soviet bloc started to protest against their own governments and Soviet control.
2) Unlike in the past, Soviet Union under Gorbachev did not intervene when the disturbances occurred and the communist regimes collapsed one after another
3)These developments plus a rapidly escalating crisis within USSR hastened its disintegration.
4) Gorbachev initiated the policies of economic and political reform opposed by the leaders within the Communist Party and the democratisation within the country.
5) A COUP took place in 1991 was encouraged by the Communist Party hardliners
6) The people had tasted freedom by then and did not want the old style rule of the Communist Party
7) Boris Yelstin emerged as a national hero in opposing this Coup. He won a popular election in the Russian Republic which began to shake centralised control and power began to shift from the Soviet centre to the republics especially in the more Europeanised part of the Soviet Union which saw themselves as Sovereign States

Question 15

The Central Asian Republics before disintegration

Answer 15

The Central Asian Republics did not ask for independence and wanted to remain with the Soviet Federation.

Question 16

In December 1991

Answer 16

Under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin Russia, Ukraine and Belarus three major republics of the USSR declared that the Soviet Union was disbanded. The Communist Party was banned. Capitalism and democracy were adopted as the bases for the post - Soviet republics.
The declaration on the disintegration of the USSR and the formation of the Commonwealth of the Independent States came as a surprise to the other republic, especially to the Central Asian ones.

Question 17

CIS

Answer 17

Commonwealth of Independent States came as a surprise to other republics, especially the Central Asian Ones. The exclusion of these republics was an issue that was quickly solved by making the 3 major republics the founding members of the CIS

Question 18

Russia after the disintegration

Answer 18

1) was now accepted as the successor state of the Soviet Union
2) It inherited the Soviet seat in the UNSC
3) It accepted all the international treaties and commitments of the Soviet Union
4) It took over as the only nuclear state of the post soviet space and carried out some nuclear disarmament measures with the US
The old Soviet state was thus dead and buried

Question 19

Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate?

Answer 19

1) Internal weaknesses of Soviet political and economic institutions which failed to meet the aspirations of the people were responsible for the collapse of the system
2) Economic stagnation for many years led to severe consumer shortages and a large section Soviet society began to doubt and question the system and to do so openly
3) The Soviet economy used much of its resources in maintaining a nuclear and military arsenal and the development of its satellite states in Eastern Europe and within the Soviet System (the 5 central east Asian republics) led to a huge economic burden that the system could not cope with
4) At the same time ordinary citizens became more knowledgable about the economic advance of the West they could see the disparities between their system and the systems of the West
5) After years of being told that Soviety system, was better than the Western Capitalism the reality of its backwardness came as a pol and psychological shock.
6) The Soviet Union had become stagnant in an administrative and political sense as well
7) Ordinary people were alienated by the
1) Slow and stifling administration
2) Rampant Corruption
3) The inability of the system to correct mistakes it had made
4)The unwillingness to allow more openness in the government
5) The centralisation of authority in a vast land
8) Worse still, the party bureaucrats gained more privileges than the ordinary citizen
9) People did not identify with the system and with the rulers, and the government increasingly lost popular backing.

Question 20

What did Gorbachev promise?

Answer 20

He promised to deal with problems faced by the USSR
He promised to reform the economy, catch up with the West, and loosed the administrative system

Question 21

Why did the Soviet Union collapse in spite of Gorbachev’s accurate diagnosis of the problem and his attempt to implement reforms

Answer 21

1) The most basic answer seems to be that when Gorbachev carried out his reforms and loosened the system he set in motion forces and expectations few could have predicted and became virtually impossible to control
2) There were sections of Soviet Society which felt that Gorbachev should have moved faster and were disappointed and impatient with his methods they did not benefit in the way that they had hoped or they benefited too slowl6y
3) Others, especially members of the Communist Party and those who were served by the system, took exactly the opposite view
they felt that their power and privileges were eroding and Gorbachev was moving too quickly
4) In this ‘tug of war’ Gorbachev lost support on all sides and divided public opinion
5) Even those who were with him became disillusioned as they felt that he did not adequately defend his own policies

Question 22

What was the final and most immediate cause for the disintegration of the USSR

Answer 22

The rise of nationalism and the desire for sovereignty within various republics including Russia and the Baltic Republics (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) Ukraine, Georgia and others.

Question 23

Another view for disintegration of USSR

Answer 23

Nationalist urges and feelings were very much at work throughout the history of the Soviet Union and that whether or not the reforms had occurred there would have been internal struggle within the Soviet Union
This is a what - if history but it is not an unreasonable view given the size and diversity of the Soviet Union and its growing internal problems
Others think that Gorbachev’s reforms speeded up and increased nationalist dissatisfaction to the point that the government and rulers and could not control it
Ironically, during the cold war many thought that nationalist unrest would be strongest in the Central Asian Republics given their ethnic and religious differences with the rest of the Soviet Union and their economic backwardness
However as things turned out, nationalist dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union was the strongest in the more “ European “ and prosperous part - in Russia and the Baltic areas as well as Ukraine and Georgia
Ordinary people here felt alienated from the Central Asians and from each other and concluded also that they were paying too high an economic price to keep the more backward areas within the Soviet Union