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Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khruschev became Premier of the Soviet Union after Stalin's death in 1953 and in 1956 he started a process called "de-Stalinization". He was in power until 1964. -
Leonid Brezhnev
After removing Khrushchev from power, he became the leader from 1964 until his death in 1982. His tenure as leader was marked by the beginning of an era of economic and social stagnation in the Soviet Union. -
Background to the Brezhnev Era.
-Nikita was never as powerful as Stalin.
-Nikita regime was plagued with the domestic problems.
-In 1964, Nikita was removed from power.
-In 1964, Leonid Brezhnev becomes the leader. -
Domestic problems: Economic stagnation / Dissent / Political stagnation.
The Era of Stagnation was a period in which the economy stopped growing, which lead to Soviet dissidents to disagree with certain features in the embodiment of Soviet ideology. As a result, his political career began to fall and stagnate. -
Brezhnev Doctrine
The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet foreign policy which called for the use of Warsaw Pact troops to intervene in any Eastern Bloc nation which was seen to compromise communist rule and Soviet domination. -
Détente
USA and USSR agreed to limit the number of anti-ballistic missiles they would produce in the future. -
Revolution and Dissent
The USSR was taking an active role in Africa. There were Marxist groups in Angola (MPLA) and Mozambique (Frelimo) which seemed to confirm Soviet commitment to Marxist Revolution.
As this happened, the solidarity movement rose in Poland to create labor and political unions -
Afghanistan
In 1978 the Afghan army seized power and executed the president and prime minister, so the Marxist PDPA was put in power under the governance of Nur Muhhammad Taraki (President of DRA). Rebel forces called Mujahideen (that were the largest group consisted of pro-religious force and was a loosely-organized coalition of popple who opposed the restrictiven, socialist nature of the regime) began to oppose the marxist PDPA -
Entr'acte: Andropov and Chernenko
Brezhnev died in November 1982 and Andropov replaced him. Andropov tried to remove Brezhnev’s followers and replace them with a new group of nomenklatura loyal to Andropov and more likely to promote changes needed in the stagnant Soviet system. After Andropov's death in 1984, Chernenko, his greatest rival, was elected General Secretary. Chernenko represented a return to the policies of the late Brezhnev era. -
Gorbachev
After Cherneko's death, Gorbachev was appointed General Secretary and head of the Soviet Union.
His efforts to democratize his country’s political system and decentralize its economy led to the downfall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. -
Glasnost
Glasnost was a policy introduced by Gorbachev that called for increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union. -
Perestroika
Perestroika, program instituted in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s to restructure Soviet economic and political policy. -
Chernobyl Disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident. It occurred in the No.4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, in what was then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union -
Demokratizatsiya
Demokratizatsiya was a slogan introduced by Gorbachev in January 1987 calling for the infusion of "democratic" elements into the Soviet Union's single-party government. -
Foregin policies
-The USSR engaged in a policy of non-intervention in the Warsaw Pact countries.
-The USSR made the decision to whitdraw from Afghanistan.
-The USSR improved their relationship with the USA.
-The USSR agreed to reduce their stockpile of nuclear arms.
