The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was one of the most powerful nations of the 20th century. They were a communist nation that challenged the US. The Soviet Union consisted of 15 republics, the republics include Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. These republics would later become their own seperate countries at the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Rise of the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union came to be when Russia overthrew its centuries old Romanov Monarchy, which led to a civil war; after the civil war in 1921, the nation had become known as the Soviet Union (History.com). The Soviet Union became the world's first Marxist Communist nation (History.com). The Bolsheviks under Marxism took internationalism seriously ( Kenez 2006). The Bolsheviks established their government with a commissariat of nationalities, Joseph Stalin was selected as the Commissar (Kenez 2006).

World War II

Joseph Stalin signed the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany in August of 1939; this Pact was to prevent or postpone the outbreak of war between Germany and the Soviet Union ( Lee 1999). The agreement did not last long as Hitler invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 ( Lee 1999). In 1942, the first major success of the Soviet for was in the Battle for Moscow, which prevented the capture of the capital of the Soviet Union (Lee 1999).

The Cold War

the Cold War happened almost immediately after World War II in 1947 between the US and Soviet Union and the allies included ( Britannica 2022). The Soviet Union began to install left-wing governments in countries of Eastern Europe that had been liberated by the Red Army (Britannica 2022). The first major war was in Korea, Soviet Union supported the North, the US supported the South, the war lasted from 1950-1953 (Britannica 2022). The US and Soviet Union began to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles in Cuba, the US had set up missiles in Turkey (Britannica 2022).

the fall of the Soviet Union

During the 1960s and 1970s, the elite of the communist party rapidly gained wealth and power, while millions of citizens were facing starvation (History 2017). Soviet Union faced foreign attacks on the economy. In the 1980s, President Reagan isolated the Soviet Union from the rest of the world and drove oil prices to the lowest that they have ever been, that helped lose the hold on Eastern Europe (History 2017). Political revolutions in Poland led to more revolutions across Eastern Europe, which led to the toppling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ( History 2017). On December 25,1991; Gorbachev resigns, the Soviet Union ceases to exist on December 31, 1991 ( History 2017).

Leaders of the Soviet Union

There have been 8 leaders of the Soviet Union and each had their own impact on the Soviet Union in its rise to global power to its fall and disappearance. The first leader of the Soviet Union was Vladimir Lenin. The second leader of the Soviet Union was Joseph Stalin. The third leader was Georgy Malenkov. The fourth leader was Nikita Khrushchev. The fifth leader was Leonid Brezhnev. The sixth leader was Yuri Andropov. The seventh leader was Konstantin Chernenko. The final leader of the Soviet Union was Mikhail Gorbachev (Wikipedia 2022).

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

Vladimir Lenin is the architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Kenton 2022). Through violence, he established a Marxist socialism called communism in the former Russian Empire, communism attempted to impose a collective control over the means of production, redistrubute wealth, abolish the aristocracy, and to create a more equitable society for the masses (Kenton 2022). Lenin spent his adulthood campaigning for and leading revolutionary communism in Russia. This led to the October Revolution, this brought Lenin to power Kenton 2022). The Bolshevik regime under Lenin was signified by economic chaos and deprivation, there was a bloody civil war, massive famines among the rural working class, torture, and murder of people suspected or accused of dissent (Kenton 2022). Lenin had rose to power in 1917, when the czar had adbicated, this was the start of the Soviet revolution (Kenton 2022). Lenin and the Bolsheviks established the USSR on December 30, 1922, through a treaty with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian Federation ( Which would become the countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan). He suffered multiple strokes from 1922-1924, he died on January 21, 1924 (Kenton 2022).

Joseph Stalin (1878-1953)

Joseph Stalin took over as the leader of the USSR in 1922 and would rule until his death in 1953 (Hingley 2022). He ruled as a dictator for a quarter of a century and transformed the country into a major world power (Hingley 2022). During his reign, he exercised greater political power than any other figure in history (Hingley 2022). He helped Defeat Germany in World War II and extended Soviet control to include a part of Eastern Europe (Hingley 2022). He created a mighty military industrial complex and led the Soviet Union to the nuclear age (Hingley 2022). Stalin was one of the most successful of the supreme leaders during World War II (Hingley 2022). He had tried to form an anti-Hitler alliance with the west in 1939, when that had failed, he joined in a pact with Hitler, Stalin also suggested that Hitler should invade Poland to start World War II (Hingley 2022). In 1941, Stalin recognized the threat a growing German force posed to the Soviet Union (Hingley 2022). After the war, Stalin Seen the United States as its arch enemy, in the Soviet Union, the Marxist ideology was reasserted harshly (Hingley 2022). Stalin asserted the Soviet Union as a power that can compete with the US by becoming the second nation to create and successfully test Nuclear weapons (Hingley 2022).

Georgy Malenkov (1901-1988)

Georgy Malenkov became the leader of the Soviet Union shortly after the death of Stalin (Wikipedia.com). on March 7, Malenkov appeared on the top of the secretariat, thus confirming that he had succeeded Stalin as the most powerful person in the Soviet Union, he had to resign from the secretariat a week later (Wikipedia.com). Malenkov stayed in the office of rhe premier for 2 years, although Malenkov was a Stalinist, he expressed an oppsition to research and development of nuclear weapons, he inagurated an international peace campaign to stop the production and use of nuclear weapons (Wikipedia.com). Malenkov was forced to resign in 1955 after he came under attack for abuse of power and his close connection to Beria who had been executed as a traitor on December 1953 (Wikipedia.com).

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)

Nikita Khrushchev became the premier of the Soviet Union shortly after Stalin's death (Biography.com 2014). Khrushchev held a "sectet speech" in 1956, in this speech he discussed Stalin's crimes to the public for the first time, he created the idea of de-Stalinization (Biography.com 2014). Khrushchev had visited the west and tried to brand reform communism (Biography.com 2014). Khrushchev was one of the primary players in the Cuban Missile Crisis and oversaw the building of the Berlin Wall (Biography 2014). After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev used his political skills to prevent other people that posed as a threat to him rising to power (Biography.com 2014). Relations between the Soviet Union and the United States cooled off after a U-2 spy plane was downed in 1960 (Biograohy.com 2014). Relations worsened between the two nations with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by the US and the building of the Berlin Wall (Biography.com 2014). In early 1962, Khrushchev had a plan to place missiles in Cuba because US had placed missiles in Turkey and Italy, the conflict ended when the US agreed to pull their missiles from Turkey and Italy (Biography.com 2014).

Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982)

Leonid Brezhnev had become a full member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1931 (Brittanica.com 2021). His career flourished under Stalin, by 1939 he had become secretary of the regional party committee of Dnepropetrovsk during WWII (Brittanica.com 2021). Brezhnev served as a political commissar in the Red Army, he had advanced in rank until he had become the major general in 1943, and had become the head of the political commissars on the Ukrainian front (Brittanica.com 2021). when Khrushchev came to power, he appointed Brezhnev as the second secretary of the Kazakhstan Communist Party in 1954 (Brittanica.com 2021). Brezhnev became the first secretary of the CPSU, he was a part of a collective leadership with Aleksey Kosygin, where Brezhnev would emerge as the dominant figure (Brittanica.com 2021). He led the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 to try to place a Communist government in Afghanistan (Brittanica.com 2021).

Yuri Andropov (1914-1984)

Yuri Andropov was the leader of the KGB ( Soviet Secret Committee) from 1967-1982 (Brittanica.com 2022). He also served as the leader of the country as the general secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee from 1982 until his death in 1984 (Brittanica.com 2022). Andropov began to position himself to take over as Leonin Brezhnev's health began to decline by resigning from the KGB in 1982 (Brittanica.com 2022). Andropov was selected by the Communist Party Central Committee to succeed Brezhnev as the leader, he consolidated his power by becoming the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on June 16, 1983 (Brittanica.com 2022). He became ill in November of 1983, he accomplished very little during his time in office (Brittanica.com 2022).

Konstantin Chernenko (1911-1985)

Konstantin Chernenko led the Soviet Union from Februrary 1984 until his death in 1985 (Brittanica.com 2022). Chernenko was a full member of the Central Committee from 1971 and was a member of the Politburo from 197 (Brittanica.com 2022). Chernenko would travel with Brezhnev and he was considered his aide, confidant, and some people seen Chernenko as Brezhnev's heir apparent (Brittanica.com 2022). After the death of Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko was unable to gain a majority from party factions behind his candidacy, he would lose to Yuri Andropov (Brittanica.com 2022). Chernenko would succeed Andropov after his death and would become the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on Februrary 13, 1984 (Brittanica.com 2022). A couple months after he became the general secretary, Chernenko became the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, his health began to deteriorate rapidly after gain office and would often miss official meetings (Brittanica.com 2022).

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-)

Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Union, he became the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985 and would serve as the President of the Soviet Union from 1990-1991 (Brittanica.com 2022). Mikhail Gorbachev made efforts to democratize the politcal system of the Soviet Union and would decentralize his economy which led to the collapse of Communism and ultimately led to the breakup of the Soviet Union (Brittanica.com 2022). Gorbachev became a member of the Cental Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1971, he became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1979 and became a full member in 1980 (Brittanica.com 2022). When Andropov and Chernenko died, Gorbachev was the likely successor, when Chernenko died in 1985, the Politburo elected him as the general secretary of the CPSU (Brittanica.com 2022). Gorbachev had cultivated better relations and trade with developed nations in the West and East, US President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement in 1987, the agreement was to destroy all intermediate ranged nuclear tipped balistic missiles (Brittanica.com 2022). Gorbachev became a big intiator in the end of the Cold War, he would reunify East and West Germany (Brittanica.com 2022). On December 25,1991 Gorbachev had resigned from the presidency of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union would cease to exist shortly after (Brittanica.com 2022).