General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev was very different place than the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. While these leader faced similar problems, their methods of repairing the Soviet Union differed greatly. While Gorbachev was open to change Brezhnev was very conservative and unwilling to reform. Brezhnev remained in power for eighteen year, but its was Gorbachev that completely changed the landscape of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union under both Gorbachev and Brezhnev faced debilitating problems causing these leader to take drastically different methods of reform, eventually culminating in the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The fundamental problem that was facing these two leaders of the Soviet Union stemmed from a stagnant economy. The lack of capital incentives for factories and farms caused poor production of goods and a shortage of goods for consumers. This spilled into daily life with workers not making enough money and the lack of available goods causing business to make less money. In farming the lack of incentives created a system where farmers did not produce enough crop for the country. Brezhnev and Gorbachev went about fixing these problems very differently. Brezhnev a conservative Soviet didn’t do much to reform the system. In farming he raised the price of crops and offered a few…

After Joseph Stalin found out his son tried to shoot himself, he complained to his son saying, “He can’t even shoot.” Other than Joseph saying heartless things to his son, he was also one of the main causes of his son ‘death. Apparently, when Joseph’s son was captured by the Germans, Joseph refused to trade for their German general causing his son to die. Other than his son who suffered abuse from Joseph, his wife did suffer as well. In the early 1900s, Stalin and his wife were caught…

The Soviet Union hit the peak of its domestic prosperity in the early 1970s, but by the late 1970s things started to decline. Economic growth declined throughout the late 70s and into the mid 80s. Furthermore, The arms race and the large military investment that the Soviet Union was involved in, contributed to a stagnating economy. In addition, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in 1979, was devastating to the super power. The loss in Afghanistan was embarrassing and costly for the USSR. Based…

town of Gori, Georgia. Stalin father was a shoemaker and abuser. The author Karl Marx was being read secretly reading by Joseph Stalin during the seminary. His interested was in the work of German social thinker named “Communist Manifesto” in the revolutionary movement against the Russian monarchy. Stalin became an underground political protester in labor demonstrations and strikes. The First central Committee of the Bolshevik party was Stalin who was recommended by Lenin. Pursuing this further,…

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev takes place as general secretary of the Communist Party. His reforms included perestroika and glasnost, or restructuring and openness. In 1986, a nuclear power station exploded, leaving radioactive material in its wake. In 1988, Gorbachev replaces the current president. In 1989, Soviet communist governments begin to disintegrate and in East Germany, a series of mass rallies lead to the Berlin Wall falling on November 9. After 1989, Gorbachev’s position in the Soviet…

He believed that economic change could rejuvenate the Soviet System, which Gorbachev introduced social and economic reforms in the Soviet Union that granted more political freedom while rebuilding the economy. As changes began to occur in the Soviet Union, Communist leaders in Eastern Europe were forced to consider these reforms in their own countries. Gorbachev and his belief that Communist governments everywhere needed to pursue towards these similar changes. For the East European Communist…

Georgia. Joseph Stalin was a former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He was well known as the leader of the Soviet Union, which was allied with the United States to crush Hitler and his army. While leader of the Soviet Union and dictator, Stalin transforms Russia from a peasant society to a global superpower. He had also killed many in this process, the human cost was staggering. Twice as many people were executed in Stalin’s…

the Soviet Union was primarily caused by the pressures of the arms race during the Cold War. After reading Kotkin 's book Armageddon Averted it is clear that the internal changes that were going on inside the Soviet Union were far more influential in the collapse of the Soviet Union than in any external pressures brought on by the Reagan era arms buildup. The internal changes that were going on in the Soviet Union during this time that contributed to the collapse were the reform movement…

The Soviet Union, or USSR, had its roots in the early 1900s and has had multiple leaders. Each leader of the USSR had their own policies and legacies, which set themselves apart from one another. One of these leaders was Leonid Brezhnev, who was the successor of Nikita Khrushchev. Brezhnev rule was defined by his domestic policies, stagnation, and relations with the US. Although he brought much power and prestige to the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev’s legacy is mostly remembered by his rule…

by driving tractors at the local machine station (Biography, 2015). Gorbachev’s young life and upbringing was that of a communist country. He graduated from high school with a silver medal in 1950. He then continued his academics at the Moscow University, which was the premier school in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev graduated in 1955 from the university with a law degree (Biography, 2015). Gorbachev’s political career began while still in high school where became a candidate member of the…