The new Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, did not reinstate the terror of the Stalin years; however, he sought to strengthen the role of the party bureaucracy and the KGB and encouraged the further clampdown on reform in the satellite states. In 1968, disaffection with this step backward led to the emergence of a reform movement in Czechoslovakia. The main goal of this “Prague Spring” was to bring about a more humanistic socialism within certain limits, such as keeping the nation within the Soviet Bloc. With this, he suppressed the revolution. The “Brezhnev Doctrine” that year proclaimed the Soviet right to intervene in the name of “proletarian internationalism” in any Communist country to protect “socialism” against “internal or external forces”
…show more content…
The Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact in 1955 to establish and enforce military ties with its satellite states and the COMECON to link their economies; however, tensions arose, economic crisis ensued, and the communist bloc collapsed. Gorbachev led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, as his radical reforms and liberties encouraged revolutions in the future for freedom and change. The economy had worsened and production was in steep decline. Gorbachev’s attempts at fixing the economy remained virtually unchanged and thus, failed. The Brezhnev Doctrine worsened the tensions created by the issues of the Cold War, and the division made by the Iron Curtain in Europe allowed the economy to continue deteriorating. Solidarity’s early struggle in Poland and Gorbachev’s liberalization in the Soviet Union made it possible for revolutionary changes in central and Eastern Europe. Gorbachev accepted the end of the Communist regimes imposed by Stalin after the Second World War. The groundwork for change had been prepared and growing since contacts with the West during the years of détente, the Helsinki accords, the Solidarity, and the dissidents. However, Gorbachev’s signal that the Soviets would not intervene outside their own borders made it easy for a chain of revolutionary events to ensue, toppling one regime after another in a domino effect. Produce was low, there was a scarcity of investment capital that prevented the growth of new industries, East Germany’s goods were scarce, and people demanded for human rights. Because of Gorbachev and previous tension, the decline of Communism was made reality, lifting the Iron Curtain and thus, leading to the fall of the Soviet
The Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact in 1955 to establish and enforce military ties with its satellite states and the COMECON to link their economies; however, tensions arose, economic crisis ensued, and the communist bloc collapsed. Gorbachev led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, as his radical reforms and liberties encouraged revolutions in the future for freedom and change. The economy had worsened and production was in steep decline. Gorbachev’s attempts at fixing the economy remained virtually unchanged and thus, failed. The Brezhnev Doctrine worsened the tensions created by the issues of the Cold War, and the division made by the Iron Curtain in Europe allowed the economy to continue deteriorating. Solidarity’s early struggle in Poland and Gorbachev’s liberalization in the Soviet Union made it possible for revolutionary changes in central and Eastern Europe. Gorbachev accepted the end of the Communist regimes imposed by Stalin after the Second World War. The groundwork for change had been prepared and growing since contacts with the West during the years of détente, the Helsinki accords, the Solidarity, and the dissidents. However, Gorbachev’s signal that the Soviets would not intervene outside their own borders made it easy for a chain of revolutionary events to ensue, toppling one regime after another in a domino effect. Produce was low, there was a scarcity of investment capital that prevented the growth of new industries, East Germany’s goods were scarce, and people demanded for human rights. Because of Gorbachev and previous tension, the decline of Communism was made reality, lifting the Iron Curtain and thus, leading to the fall of the Soviet