Soviet Union (USSR)

They tried to avoid war with Germany by agreeing to some of its demands .

The Soviet Union became an Allied country when it was invaded by Germany on June 22, 1941. Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December 11, 1941; three days after the US declaration of war against their ally Japan. However, the Soviet Union did not move against Japan until near the end of the war, and only then because the US required it in return for Soviet territorial demands in Eastern Europe.

The economy of the Soviet Union was falling behind that of other major industrialized nations.
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The Cuban missle crisis. The Soviest began moving Intercontinential Ballastic Missiles(ICBMs) into Cuba. These ICBM's could hit major cities in US within 30 minutes. When USAF planes detected these missiles, President Kennedy ordered an embargo around the island and prepared to stop any Russian ship. AIr Force SAC bases were placed on DEFCON 1---war was imminent. Any confrontation with a Russian ship could have resulted in sinking of the ship and all-out war.

nikita khrushchev

vadimir lenin

Nikita Khrushchev

Germany wanted to ensure its military was free to invade Poland. The USSR, for its part, annexed the western side of Poland and the Baltic countries.

The Non-Agression pact was between Hitler's Reich and Stalin's Russia. The pact was signed when Hitler and Stalin did a joint invasion of Poland. The pact basically stated that the Russians would not attack the Germans and vice versa. Also stated in this pact was the agreement that the Russians gained all of the countries natural resources, and the Germans collected all the Jew's and the econemy was to be split between the two countries. However the Russians and the Germans had a falling out during the peace time and a little Russian and German blood was spilled so the countries signed a second Non-agressin pact which was also brokewn when Hitler decided to push the Russians out of Poland and attack the Russian homland.

1922

Formally created by the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republics, including Transcaucasia SSR (which would be sub-divided later for administrative purposes).

When the communists first came to power in the Russia the state was in a pitiful state, i.e. hardly industrialized, little roads education and healthcare etc. A major problem was how to industrialize and industrialize quickly.

Another was food shortages, collectivization in the soviet union led to a huge reduction in food production and the country went through many famines as a result.

Technology was also an issue although the Soviet Union was a super power after the second world war they struggled with production and creating some items most famously jeans.

Along with this the threat of capitalism and simply trying to keep up with the US in terms of economic development and technological advances e.g. the space race.

As the Soviet Union expanded a serious issue was trying to incorporate many different nations with different languages and cultures into one country. Many countries had uprising and revolts due to nationalism.

Finally the last major issue was with their economy. Oil provided a huge amount of money into the soviet economy. With a number of devastating drops in oil prices led to in-balances/shortfalls in the countries finances and this caused vast debts. look at the theory of resource curse, as with the Soviet union having so much oil, it led to an increase in corruption and red tape.

Not at all, it was not the result of a trivial personalty clash. Stalin was an evil, brutal and dangerous dictator bent on violent aggression towards the free world (a brutal sppression of his own people). Stalin will forever be remembered as one of the world's most evil leaders (right up there with Hitler). Also the Cold War continued after Stalin died in 1953, and Truman left office in 1953. This is because the Soviets continued most of Stalin's international & military policies after his death. US President Reagan was correct when he called the Soviet Union an "evil empire".

Very harsh because it was isolated and there was no outside contact. Your family might lived on the other side so you coudn't see them. Christmas no presents from family in the other side.

It would have indicated or promoted a collapse of the Soviet Union.

Because the communist style of economic socialism was unsustainable. It had no real incentives to reward the productive worker or the enterprising business builder. To the contrary, the Soviet styled economy rewared mediocrity and sloth. Unfortunately, the USA is going down the same dead end as did the USSR. The reason for this, is the real controllers of the nations (certainly not the presidents), but those in charge behind the scenes, like the broad economics of socialism because it allows them easier access to plunder the wealth of nations. The USSR was systematically hollowed-out, leaving only a shell of its former self. We see the same thing in America. Most all large manufacturing companies have fled, leaving the USA a pathetic service economy. Nothing is produced. Untold billions are skimmed in churning scams. America, sadly, is in the bloated Elvis stage, ready for a massive heartattack while sitting on the can. But we have football to distract us, thank God!

"Mutually assured destruction." Both sides of the cold war had the ability to destroy the earth several times over. That certainly seems like a good reason to fear your enemy.

Strategic nuclear missiles were aimed to most large cities in the US, as well as in the USSR.

Also the mobilised military forces of the Warsaw pact was much larger then that of NATO.

The lack of openness in the communist empire made it difficult to know what was really going on, and their people could easily be manipulated with false information about the rest of the world.

The USSR was ruled by leaders, whose behaviour could be difficult to predict.

The Russians showed that they were ready to use armed force to stop any democratic reforms, e.g. in Hungary 1956 and Czechoslovakia 1968.

Soviet supported anti-US governments and guerilla groups in America with counsellors and weapons.

Soviet supported communist takeovers or revolutions around the world, while USA were resisting such, e.g. in Vietnam. Spread of socialism would reduce US worldwide influence.

Soviet began stationing missiles on Cuba.

USA discovered many people spying for the Soviet powers.

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In 1991, as a result of Gorbachev's reforms anti-communist factions fought the government and republics slipped away. So, in essence, the country was dying. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Boris Yeltsin, a strong anti-communist took power. The last president was Putin, and now it is Medvedev.

Russia was easily the largest at over 17,000,000 sq km. Second largest was Kazakhstan at a little over 2,717,000 sq km. Third largest was the Ukraine at a little over 603,000 sq km.

The original members of the Soviet Politburo were all members of the former Bolshevik Party. The members of the Politburo when it was created in 1919 were Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Stalin and Bukharin.

The Soviet Union hoped to expand its sphere of influence in the Middle East. The Soviets knew that because of Islam, communism would never take hold there. However, with that said, they sought influence there and wanted to remove Western influence.

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The Soviet Planned economy was centrally controlled from Moscow and essentially dictates to various industries- Produce so many million tons of steel , etc. There was nothing resembling competitve pricing ( as is so common with automobiles in the Us), or name-brand advertising.Moscow pulled the strings and controlled all actions- economy wise. There was, give them their due, a certain security in this system, and a safeguard against shortages caused by, say price Gouging, as we would say in the West. Generally these drives took the form of Five-Year Plans- but there were also 7 Year plans for improving specific industries- a 7 year plan for Mass transportation, for example.