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Flashcards in Chapt 9 Deck (34)
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1
Q

An industrial Powerhouse

A
  • With massive effort and another 5-year plan, the USSR had dramatically recovered by 1950
  • Growth, however, was in the heavy industry and military might, not for consumers
  • Thermonuclear weapons, MIG fighter jets, Sputnik, but no houses
2
Q

Stalin

A
  • continued his brutal campaign and by the 1950’s controlled 9 mill in Serbia using the KGB
  • Punished even close associates who were loyal in his mania
3
Q

The Rise and Fall of Nikita Khrushchev

A
  • Was tough and willing to compromise (as in Cuba)
  • “We will crush you, but lets talk about it”
  • Tried to revive the Russian economy by loosening government controls on it.
  • Tried to fix the Russian agricultural sector to be self-sufficient by opening up new lands and encouraging profit
  • Had to deal with the Communist Party, who did not like these ideas.
  • However the slow growth of agriculture and military spending slowed the economic growth of the USSR by 50% in 1964
4
Q

Destalinization

A

Failures in foreign policy led to his removal (by VOTE) in 1964

5
Q

The Brezhnev Years, 1964-1982

A
  • Had to deal with the same issues as the man he overthrew, party politics and pressure from the bureaucracy, military and KGB
  • He was not reform-minded and actually enjoyed the pleasures of office and “capitalist” wealth
6
Q

A Controlled Society

A
  • Reincorporated the control of the country to the government
  • Cut back on freedom of press/speech and was repressive until Gorbachev, with the state controlling all news
  • Not much different from when the tsar was in power, so accepted
7
Q

A Stagnant Economy

A
  • Under Brezhnev the economy declined to 3-4% growth in the 70s
  • Grain production increases also stopped in the 70s
  • The real cause was a lack of initiative for hard work in the form of higher pay
8
Q

Soviet production was about ½ as much as in capitalist systems

A
  • There was no competition and therefore no need for good quality; just a quota for the month.
  • Led to poor goods at the end of the month and a lack of goods altogether.
  • Many took to illegal “capitalist” jobs for pay under the table or to producing goods and selling them on their own
  • This accounted for maybe 1/3 of the economy
9
Q

Technology

A

also suffered and only in military was it comparable to the West, also from lack of competition and with the best scientists going into military production/development

10
Q

even with oil

A

, the USSR may have had the most, could not get in in frozen Siberia and ship it out

11
Q

aging leadership

A

Brezhnev and the Politburo feared change and change did not come from him or his successors until Gorbachev in 1985

12
Q

USSR installed puppet communist governments

A
  • in Eastern Europe to buffer against the West and to take advantage of them
  • the same type of industrial military plans as the USSR and fell behind.
  • same brutal tactics of control
13
Q

Berlin 1953

A

revolts in E. Berlin

14
Q

Poland 1956

A
  • unrest
  • Poles elected a more compromise leader Wadyslaw Gomulka, but under Soviet influence he was allowed to reform internally, but still remained a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact
  • Relaxed religious restrictions and ended forced collectivization of farms
15
Q

The Hungarian Uprising

A

Policies of Hungarian Communist Rakosi were brutal

16
Q

New leader Nagy

A
  • tried to take the same approach as in Poland; reform and remain loyal
  • He had the Soviet’s troops withdraw.
  • There was talk about the United States intervening, because they kept advocating E. European countries to throw off the USSR.
  • However Eisenhower was not able to assist.
  • When he agreed to free elections the USSR put troops back into Hungary
  • He fled and was replaced with a Pro-USSR leader and Nagy was arrested and executed
17
Q

Czechoslovakia

A

remained under Communist rule through Stalin’s handpicked leader Novotny until 1968

18
Q

Alexander Dubcek

A
  • Socialism with a human face with relaxation on freedom of speech, travel and press
  • Relaxed economic restrictions and control on society
  • Whole thing called the Prague Spring
19
Q

Prague Spring

A
  • Warsaw Pact members participated to suppress reform, along with the USSR, in August 1968 when some Czech’s wanted a withdrawal from Warsaw pact
  • Replaced by hard core Communist Husak
  • Brezhnev Doctrine: “… we believe that a decisive rebuff of the anti- Communist forces … [is] not only your task but ours as well.”
  • Justified intervention and future intervention for communism
20
Q

Walter Ulbricht

A
  • Made E. Germany a faithful satellite of USSR, but lagged behind its Western partner
  • Many left East Germany for the better West (maybe 3 million or 1/5 of the population)
21
Q

Eric Honecker

A
  • Hard-line communist-ruled for 18 years and built E Germany into the best USSR satellite.
  • Used Stasi, secret police, to have the most authoritarian regime that had the biggest police state
22
Q

Berlin Wall 1963

A

walled of E. Berlin from West

23
Q

Communism is supposed to be…

A
  • equal

- didnt happen in USSR

24
Q

Cultural Expression

A
  • Boris Pasternak wrote Doctor Zhivago
  • It criticized the Bolshevik Revolution and he won the Nobel Prize but wasn’t allowed to accept it because of that
  • Alexander Solzhenitsyn won N. Prize in 1970 for pointing out crimes of Soviet Russia and was expelled.
  • Less strict in E. Europe, but not much
25
Q

Social Changed in E. Europe

A
  • Industrialization and standard of living did improve, though not compared to West
  • Less agriculture, more income and consumer goods
  • Social mobility and education also increased to take new technology jobs
  • Marxist dream NOT a reality
26
Q

Women in the Soviet BLoc

A
  • Women did not have it as well as in the West
  • Women had no power in politics
  • More jobs, but for less money and no leadership and still mothers at home (double shift),
  • housing shortages
27
Q

Perestroika: restructuring the economy

A

Free market and private property on a limited basis, but needed to change society too

28
Q

Glasnost

A

-openness to discuss issues and problems
-News was more open and culture allowed, including western in nature and openness in religion
-Elections, the release of dissenters from prison and a Soviet parliament convened in 1989 (1st since 1918)
-Gorbachev allowed other parties in 1990
He became president in March 1990

29
Q

Eastern Europe

A

From Soviet Satellites to Sovereign Nations

30
Q

The Republics secede

A
  • Lithuania led the way in March 1990

- Many had no power even under Tsar.

31
Q

Ukraine declares independence

A

1991 and 14 other republics followed

32
Q

Dec. 25, 1991

A
  • Russia declared the USSR done and Gorbachev resigned

- USSR was done

33
Q

The New Russia: From Empire to Nation

A
  • Yeltsin tried to turn Russia into a democratic capitalist nation
  • Corruption and inequality and crime increased
  • The Putin Era took over in 1999 and has tried to strengthen Russia and himself. (Former KGB agent)
34
Q

Russia under the New Tsar

A

Has bypassed Russian constitution and kept power, switching from President to Prime Minister and back to the president.