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Ukraine's Independence
After Vladimir Lenin and his radical Bolsheviks rose to power in November, Ukraine—like its fellow former Russian property, Finland, declared its independence in January 1918. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
A stunning series of events between 1989 and 1991 that led to the fall of communist regimes in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Glasnost and Perestroika: To reform the distraught Soviet Union, the democratization of the Communist Party was promoted through Party Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of “perestroika” and “glasnost.” Perestroika refers to the reconstruction of the political and economic system established by the Communist Party. The term Glasnost means “openness” and was the -
NATO Expansion and Rising Tensions
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. Tensions in Turkey and the ongoing Civil War in Greece caused the U.S to become more involved in European Affairs and the protection of the Western Nations. -
Russo-Georgian War
Russia launched the war against Georgia in August 2008 for highly valued strategic and geopolitical objectives, which included the prevention of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from enlarging. It attempted to show the weakness of both the European Union and NATO at the time. -
Russian Annexation of Crimea
On March 1, 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin dispatched troops to Crimea, saying there was a "need to protect ethnic Russians and Russian citizens from extremist ultranationalist." This was referring to the anti-government protesters in Kiev. By March 3, Russia was reportedly in control of Crimea.
