Transcript Collapse of Soviet Union and End of the Cold War

Collapse of the Soviet
Union and End of the
Cold War
Lee Carter
2/13/2009
Cold War: Difference of economic
ideas
 Soviet
Union:
 Communist:
Command economy:
government control of business and
production
 United
States:
 Market
economy: capitalism; people start
businesses and produce what they want
Cold War: Difference of government
ideas

Soviet Union


Autocracy: The leader has all the power. The
people had no power, no ability to vote for
leaders. No free speech to disagree.
United States
 Democracy:
people vote for leaders. The
people have all the power, and can disagree
with and protest the government
Superpowers’ influence…
 Each
one was spreading its ideas to
its allies…
 Soviets:
led Warsaw pact:
communists, autocracies
 United States: led NATO:
democracies, market economies
(basically)
Why did the Soviet Union collapse?
 Economic
problems:
 Spent
too much money on weapons
 People did not have what they
needed
 New
leaders saw these problems,
and tried to change…
Why did the Soviet Union collapse?
 1980s
leaders (Gorbachev) tried to
allow some freedoms:
 Glasnost:
people could disagree with
government
 Perestroika: allowed some freedom
to start businesses
Videos…
 Cover
the efforts that were made to
avoid collapse (already talked about)
 The collapse
 And effects of the collapse of the
Soviet Union (not there yet)
Good ideas…what was the problem?
 If
people have no freedom or power,
and you give them a little, they want a
lot…
 People
of the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe pushed for complete freedom
 1989: Eastern European countries and
East Germany overthrew communist
governments
 Germany
reunited as one country
Collapse of the Soviet Union
 15
countries had made up Soviet
Union
 1991: All 15 declare independence,
elect democratic governments
 No
longer communist.
 Mixed economies: people can start
businesses and earn money how they
wish
How did the Cold War end?
 Rivalry
between U.S. and Soviet
Union…democracy and capitalism vs.
autocracy and communism
 Ended
when Soviet Union collapsed:
communism just wasn’t working, and the
people got tired of it…
Multiflow map…
 Collapse
 End
of Soviet Union led to…
of Cold War
 Democracy in Eastern Europe
 German reunification