The fall of the Soviet Union - The impact of the nationalist resurgence

Question 1

What does affirmative action mean?

Answer 1

Policies or programs that are intended to provide preferential treatment or support to historically disadvantaged or underrepresented groups

Question 2

What was a way in which nationalism was controlled before 1985?

Answer 2

economic benefits

Question 3

How were economic benefits were another way in which nationalism was controlled before 1985?

Answer 3

From 1953, economic planners targeted investment at the poorer regions of the Soviet Union

As these areas tended to be in the non-Russian republics, the investment led to an improvement in the standards of living for the majority of people in the 13 non-Russian republics.

Question 4

Under Brezhnev, why was the “social contract” was as important to managing the republics as it was to managing Russia?.

Answer 4

In return for obedience, lives were transformed as areas of Central Asia were urbanised and modernised

Educational investment was also higher in the non-Russian republics - it became easier for non-Russians to get university places

Question 5

Under Brezhnev, the system developed into…

Answer 5

what historian Terry Martin called an ”affirmative action empire.”

Question 6

Under Brezhnev, the government encouraged forms of…

Answer 6

national self-expression

Question 7

Under Brezhnev, the government encouraged forms of national self-expression - provide examples

Answer 7

Following 1964:
- Each of the republics had the right to introduce native education

• Increase in books and newspapers in non-Russian languages in the republics
• Brezhnev established new universities to educate non-Russian citizens of the Soviet Union
• Greater representation of Turkic people in the Central Committee and Politburo
• Folk art and music devoted to national culture were allowed in each of the republics

Question 8

Democratisation led to problems that Gorbachev…

Answer 8

had not foreseen

Question 9

How did Glasnost lead to the rise in nationalism?

Answer 9

• It exposed the ways in which Stalin’s government has persecuted non-Russian people

Allowed Soviet people to see the much better living standards of those living in the West with that compared to the Soviet Union

Question 10

Glasnost undermined the perception that…

Answer 10

the Soviet Union had benefited people in the republics

Question 11

Glasnost allowed nationalist groups to…

Answer 11

publish material that demanded greater autonomy

Question 12

Brezhnev doctrine

Answer 12

The Brezhnev Doctrine was a policy established by Leonid Brezhnev stating that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene militarily in any Warsaw Pact country to preserve communism and prevent the rise of alternative political systems

Question 13

An example of the Brezhnev Doctrine in action

Answer 13

The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, where Soviet forces were deployed to suppress political reforms and maintain communist control

Question 14

Gorbachev replaced the Brezhnev Doctrine with…

Answer 14

the Sinatra Doctrine which allowed a wave of democratization to surge through the Soviet Union

Question 15

Sinatra Doctrine

Answer 15

A retrospective policy introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev signalling a hands-off approach by the Soviet Union towards the internal affairs of Eastern European countries, allowing them to pursue their own paths of political and economic reforms

Question 16

By authorizing Poland and Hungary to liberalise,
Gorbachev exhibited to East Germans that…

Answer 16

emancipation would be condoned

Question 17

Peter Grieder develops that Gorbachev’s “prescient
warning” to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany that…

Answer 17

existence penalises those who come too
late led to dismissals of totalitarianism as it accepted that “life measured politics rather than politics measuring life.”

Question 18

How did increased democratisation lead to an increase in nationalism?

Answer 18

Further aided nationalist by giving them a chance to fight and win elections

Elections led to the first major nationalist challenge to the Soviet Union since 1921

Question 19

When did the newly elected parliament of Lithuania declared Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union?

Answer 19

In March 1990

Question 20

How did Gorbachev react to the declaration by the newly elected Lithuanian parliament?

Answer 20

Gorbachev claimed that the declaration was illegal and so imposed economic sanctions

Sanctions were lifted in the Summer, there was no resolution to the issue

Question 21

How did Yeltsin take the situation with Lithuania further?

Answer 21

Yeltsin took this further by insisting that in May 1990, that laws made by the Russian parliament were legally more superior to the Soviet laws

Yeltsin’s statement gave Russia a significant degree of independence from the Soviet Union

Question 22

Evidence that nationalism was on the rise in Russia was the re-emergence of…

Answer 22

The old Russian flag and the double headed eagle, the symbol of the old Russian monarchy

Both of which had been banned by the Soviet Government

Use of these symbols had shown that Yeltsin indicated that nationalists in Russia wanted to break away from the Soviet Union and create Russian Independence

Question 23

Evidence that nationalism was on the rise in Russia was the re-emergence of…

Answer 23

The old Russian flag and the double headed eagle, the symbol of the old Russian monarchy

Both of which had been banned by the Soviet Government

Use of these symbols had shown that Yeltsin indicated that nationalists in Russia wanted to break away from the Soviet Union and create Russian Independence

Question 24

In 1988, nationalist protests broke out in…

Answer 24

Karabagh, a region of Azerbaijan

Question 25

Why did nationalist protests break out in Karabagh, Azerbaijan?

Answer 25

Crisis was caused by Armenian nationalists living in Karabagh who wanted to unite with Armenia

Question 26

Azerbaijan - Soviet Authorities failed to…

Answer 26

contain the crisis and by the end of 1989, the Communist Party lost full control of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Question 27

What did the Tbilisi massacre demonstrate?

Answer 27

Demonstrated the limits of Gorbachev’s real power

Question 28

On the 9th April 1989, Georgian nationalists…

Answer 28

protested against the rights of the Abkhazian minority

Question 29

Tbilisi massacre

Answer 29

On this occasion, Soviet troops tried to restore peace by force

Question 30

Tbilisi massacre casualties

Answer 30

Soviet troops killed 19 Georgian protesters and wounded thousands more

Question 31

The killings as part of the Tbilisi massacre had two consequences:

Answer 31

Massacre led to concern amongst nationalists in all of the republics that the Soviet Government was prepared to use lethal force to stop nationalism

Government refused to take responsibility for the killings

Question 32

The Chernobyl disaster

Answer 32

Chernobyl was a catastrophic nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986 in Ukraine, resulting in a devastating release of radioactive material, significant environmental damage, and long-term health consequences

Question 33

How did Chernobyl lead to the fall of the USSR?

Answer 33

The Chernobyl disaster, by exposing the government’s mishandling of the crisis and highlighting the systemic flaws of the Soviet system, eroded public trust in the government and contributed to a growing sense of disillusionment and discontent that ultimately played a role in the collapse of the USSR

Question 34

In 1989, the State Committee for Environmental Protection published a report which acknowledged serious levels of pollution in ___ of the Soviet Union’s land

Answer 34

16%

Question 35

In June 1991, Russia took another step away from the Soviet Union, by…

Answer 35

electing Yeltsin

Question 36

Gorbachev and Yeltsin vote difference

Answer 36

Yeltsin with 57% of the votes, beating the Communist candidate, with 16%

Question 37

Gorbachev reached a provisional agreement in April 1991, called the…

Answer 37

9+1 agreement

Question 38

9+1 agreement

Answer 38

The 9+1 agreement which was designed to establish a federation of independent states with a single president

Question 39

The Coup,1991

Answer 39

The 1991 coup, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hard-line communist leaders to overthrow Soviet President Gorbachev and halt his reform policies, ultimately accelerating the disintegration of the Soviet Union

Question 40

Consequences of the coup

Answer 40

Gorbachev’s position was weakened - while Gorbachev was reinstated as President, his authority was gone

Yeltsin’s authority grew.
Emerged as defender of democracy - actions following the coup won him greater support.