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Leonid Brezhnev Dies
Leonid Brezhnev was the leader of Russia. He died and then a few other leaders died quickly after him. He had state ownership of land and then housing and food was provided to people. He spent too much on military. The government decided what to produce and how much to produce. They also decided the prices. They didn't produce the right things and then economy got really bad. -
Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev started Glasnost which means that people were told the true history of Russia and the people were given some freedom of speech. This caused problems because some people wanted him to tell the truth faster and other people thought the truth shouldn't be told. He also tried Perestroika. This means that prople were now able to own businesses instead of just the government. The old system collapsed before the new one had time to begin working. There was rationing and shortages. -
Gorbachev Started the Anti-Alcohol Campaign
A lot of people in Russia were alcoholics. Gorbachev thought it would help the economy because if people weren't drunk they could work harder. The price of alcohol was increased and it was harder to buy alcohol. People still wanted alcohol and they bought it from the Russian mob instead of by the state. The state lost about 100 billion rubles. This is about three billions in U.S. dollars. This hurt the economy in Russia. -
Revolution in Poland and Europe
Gorbachev thought that if he had better relationships with the world that the economy would get better. Russia pulled its troops out of Afghanistan and the Warsaw Pact in Europe. This caused alliances with Europe to crumble. Poland potested to get freer elections, the Berlin Wall fell down, and a revolution in Chezlosovakia overthrew the communist government. This made people in the Soviet republics think that they could protest also. The people in Russia were tired of the bad economy. -
The Baltic Countries Break Off From the Soviet Union
Half the adult population of the Baltics formed a human chain stretching the entire length of the Lithuania, Latvia, and Astonia. They were protesting against being ruled by the Soviet Union. Soviet troops were sent in and there were economic sanctions but it didn't work. These countries broke off from the Soviet Union. This made people in other countries in the Soviet Union think that they could have protests also. -
New Union Treaty was Supposed to be Signed
Russia was becoming more divided on politics. Gorbachev decided to sign a treaty to convert Russia into a federation of independent republics with a common presient, foreign policy, and military. The asian republics thought it would help their economy. Others didn't like it because the communist party would still have control over their economy and social life. Gorbachev was put on house arrest and the treaty wasn't signed. People started following Bos Yeltsin who wanted Russia to break up. -
Coup in Red Square
Boris Yeltsin was leading people to get full power over their federations. Some people didn't want change to happent oo fast or it could hurt the economy. They started a coup. Many people in large cities and republics were against the coup. The coup collapsed after a few days, but most people weren't listening to Gorbachev's commands anymore. -
European Energy Charter is Signed
Between August and December 10, ten other republics declared their independence because they were afraid of another coup. Gorbachev was having a hard time influencing people outside of Moscow and Yelstin was gaining control. On December 17, 28 European countries, the three Baltic states, and 9 of the 12 remaining republics signed the European Energy Charter. They became independent. Gorbachev resigned on Dec 25 and Yelstin became Presient.
