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Period: to
Nikita Khrushchev
was a politician who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1964 - Khrushchev is replaced as first secretary of the Communist Party by Leonid Brezhnev; Aleksey Kosygin becomes prime minister. -
Period: to
Leonid Brezhnev
as the General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in duration. During Brezhnev's rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically. -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1968 - Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia to stem a trend towards liberalisation; "Brezhnev doctrine" enunciated, giving communist countries the right to intervene in other communist states whose policies threatened the international communist movement. -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1969 - Soviet and Chinese troops clash across the border. -
Domestic problems faced by Brezhnev
Economic stagnation – standard of living began to decline beginning in 1970.Crop failures in 1972 lead to food shortages. From 1964-1982 over 25% of the Soviet GNP was spent on military growth to compete with the US .Socialist centralized economic planning (command economy) was NOT meeting the needs of ordinary citizens (guns vs. butter) -
Foreign Policies
The Great October Revolution of 1917 created a new type of state—the Soviet socialist state—and thereby initiated Soviet foreign policy, which is fundamentally different from the foreign policy of all exploiter states. Guided by the principles of Soviet foreign policy established by V. I. Lenin, the Communist Party takes into account specific international circumstances and establishes, primarily at its congresses, the basic outlines of foreign policy. -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1972 - Soviet Union and US sign SALT-1 arms control agreement, heralding the start of detente -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1974 - Soviet Union agrees to ease its emigration policy in return for most-favoured-nation trade status with the US. -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1977 - Brezhnev elected president under new constitution. -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1979 - Soviet Union and US sign SALT-2 agreement; Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, formally ending the period of detente with the West. -
Important events of Brezhnev Era.
1980 - Kosygin is replaced as prime minister by Nikolay Tikhonov; Kosygin dies. -
Entr´acte Andropov and Chernenko
Brezhnev died in November 1982, leaving behind an aged, stagnant political leadership. The politburo was laden with his contemporaries and it was generally felt that the status quo would continue with the appointment of a new Soviet leader. Politically, Andropov tried to remove Brezhnev’s followers (and Chernenko’s supporters) and replace them with a new group of nomenklatura loyal to Andropov and more likely to promote changes needed in the stagnant Soviet system. -
Demokratizatsiya
It was a slogan introduced by General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in January 1987 calling for the infusion of "democratic" elements into the Soviet Union's single-party government. Gorbachev's Demokratizatsiya meant the introduction of multi-candidate - not multiparty - elections for local Communist Party (CPSU) and Soviets. In this way, he hoped to rejuvenate the party with progressive personnel who would carry out his institutional and policy reforms. -
Period: to
Glasnot
It was a political policy introduced
by Mikhail Gorbachev in in the
Soviet Union that allowed for criticism
of past Soviet practices. It was created
so that there would be more openness
and government transparency, intended
to reduce corruption. -
Period: to
Perestroika
It was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s, widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system. -
Chernobyl Disaster
It was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Pripyat, then located in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. -
Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader of the Soviet Communist Party who initiated changes known as 'perestroika' and 'glasnost' which melted the rigid Soviet system and liberated 15 republics of the Soviet Union to become independent states, thus ending the existence of the USSR in December 1991.