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Rise and Fall of the Soviet
Union
Russian Revolution
• Russia entered WWI in 1914. It was a costly war.
• The people began to revolt against Czar Nicholas II
– Troops sent to quiet the people- Instead they joined them.
– Eventually they overthrew Czar Nicholas II.
Russian Revolution
• November 1917, Lenin ceased control of the govt.
• He signed a peace treaty with Germany.
• Lenin wanted a communist government, where people would
share the work equally and share in the rewards equally.
• Communism was supposed to bring equality to all.
Civil War
• War broke out.
– Reds- Supported Lenin and Communism (Bolsheviks)
– Whites- Combined groups who opposed Communism.
• The war lasted 3 years and killed millions of people.
• The Reds won.
Civil War
• In 1922, Lenin created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.)
or The Soviet Union.
• Communism was the new government and economic structure.
– People collectively own the land and equally share in rewards. (In theory)
• He placed people in jail who opposed his ideas.
Stalin’s Dictatorship
• Following Lenin’s death Josef Stalin took control of The USSR (Stalin
means steel)
• Stalin was a dictator- leader with absolute power.
• Developed the Five Year Plan
– Government controlled all aspects of life
– Ordered factories to be built (Not for consumer goods)
– Government determined what to produce, how to produce it, and who would get it.
(Command Economy)
Stalin’s Dictatorship
• Developed collective farms– Government owned, employed large number of workers, and often
farmers did not receive enough food to feed their own families
• Used Secret Police to catch citizens he could not trust.
World War II
• 1939, Soviet Union and Germany agreed to not fight each other.
• 2 years later, German troops invaded the Soviet Union
• The Germans were defeated by the Soviets along with the weather and the
determination of the people.
• By 1945, the Soviets had pushed the Germans back to Berlin.
World War II
• During this war, the US, UK, and USSR worked together to defeat the Axis
Powers
• Following the war, their differences divided them
– Eastern Europe was mostly communist
– Western Europe had either constitutional monarchies or
democracies
The Cold War
• Following WWII, the US and the Soviet Union were known as
superpowers.
• There was much tension between these 2 countries from 1945-1991.
This period was called the Cold War.
• 2 things caused this tension
– Soviets refused to leave the Eastern European countries they had freed during
WWII.
– The Soviets tried to expand communism throughout Europe and the world.
Collapse of an Empire
• During the Cold War Soviet Union focused on heavy industry,
not on consumer goods.
• Propaganda- art, music, literature, news, etc.-all must support
communism.
– Leo Tolstoy- writer
– Tchaikovsky- musician
– Vassily Kadinsky- painter
Collapse of An Empire
• People did not want the government controlling every part of their
lives.
• Mikhail Gorbachev began to give people freedoms.
– Glasnost- freedom of speech, openness
– Perestroika- economic restructuring such as private owned
businesses.
• In 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart.
Tchaikovsky
music
Leo Tolstoy
• “Everyone thinks of changing the world,
but no one thinks of changing himself.”
• Let us forgive each other - only then will
we live in peace
• The vocation of every man and woman is
to serve other people.”
•
“If you want to be happy, be.”
Kadinsky