7 Trace the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. How important was Gobachev in transforming the political and economic atmosphere of the Soviet Union? Why did he fail? How did things change under Boris Yeltsin? What problems still

Running Head : THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM

The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

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The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union Everything started when Eastern Europeans grew tired of the restrictive communist government they were in and started wanting to have a democratic government similar to that of western countries . From 1956 until the final downfall of the soviets , there were various strikes and revolutions that served as calls for a democratic government

The series of revolutions

that contributed to the final downfall of communism started on November 9 , 1959 with the collapse of the Berlin wall . The East Germans were motivated to get into a revolution and call for reforms because many of their neighboring countries such as Hungary and Poland started getting it . There were various revolutions occurring throughout Europe . In Czechoslovakia , the communist rule has been overthrown and control has been transferred to the playwright Vaclav Havel due to his movement which was to be known as the Velvet Revolution . Communist rule in various countries such as Romania Bulgaria , and Albania were also being removed from power . These various revolutions throughout Europe contributed to the final fall of communism there . Since the communism there depended on soviet military support the Soviet Union also fell with it . The Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev was then forced to concede his rule to Boris Yeltsin

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev was a Soviet leader who recognized that the Soviet Union had political and economic problems and that it needed to be reformed

First , it was the urgent need to revitalize the Soviet economy--and by doing so restore the people 's faith in the renewability of the socialist system as a whole--that led Gorbachev to undertake a fundamental reappraisal of the country 's security requirements and to press for far-reaching reforms in the armed forces and in military doctrine (Blacker , 1993 ,

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These reforms were necessary for the continued existence of the Soviet Union . Perestroika (restructuring ) meaning decentralization of the Soviet economy with gradual market reforms ' and glasnost (openness meaning greater freedom of expression ' were his two major reforms (Brainard , 2003

However , this policy of glasnost failed him because when the people started getting more freedom , they became comfortable and became insistent with their demands to the government . As for his market reforms , it failed to meet the people 's increasing demands . This caused to people to revolt even more . All these contributed to the further deterioration of the Soviet Union

The Changes Under Boris Yeltzin

Boris Yeltsin was the first elected president of the new government in Russia . The major change he brought about in his regime was to bring about more restrictions to his people : He dissolved the council of federation , the press was even more limited , the independence of the court was restricted , etc . He may be the new ruler of the supposedly better Russian government but still , he was seen to be ineffective...