How Did Stalin Impact The Soviet Union

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Communism in the Soviet Union was greatly feared throughout the rest of Europe. From its beginnings in Lenin to the end of it when the Soviet Union fell and Boris Yeltsin became the government leader in Russia, the Red Scare ran throughout not only Europe but the whole world. Lenin was the first to come up with the Communist party, and it was enhanced by Stalin. Stalin became a totalitarian dictator of Russia, and used fear and terror in the Communist Party to enforce their ophilisoihpies. After Stalin’s death, many leaders of the Soviet Union followed, and a few made a great impact to the fall of the Soviet Union and communism. First after Stalin was Nikita Khrushchev, who had followed Stalin and supported some of his actions. Once …show more content…
Gorbachev focused on the policies of Glasnost, Perestroika, democratization. Gorbachev started a new era in Russia of Soviet government as well as life. His main two slogans were Glasnost, which meant openness, and Perestroika, which meant restructuring. In a speech explaining Perestroika, he said “we have a sound material foundation, a wealth of experience and a broad world outlook with which to perfect our society…” (Packet 8). Both policies of Glasnost and Perestroika were able to be applied to everyday life, and helped Gorbachev rise to an even greater power in the Soviet Union. In a document written by William Mandel, he explains Glasnost in action and writes “our conscious as citizens will not permit this anymore” (Packet 12). The document goes on to explain a conversation between organizers, explaining how they are open to many things, and expresses Glasnost under Gorbachev. Secondly, Gorbachev “called for new political thinking, setting new perspectives for his country’s role in global politics’ (Packet 8). Through this, he also explained his foreign policy. He established friendly relationships with other western leaders, which made his policy greatly successful. He had some issues with domestic problems through. He began to stir up tensions in the Soviet Party, and public opinion soon began to divide. The Soviet state was threatened by national minorities, and Gorbachev saw that. He resigned from his leadership in the Soviet Union oi 1991, and it soon destroyed itself. Once the Soviet Union fell, a new leader needed to take out

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