russian and soviet policy final exam

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Viktor Yushchenko

Pro-Western Ukrainian president elected after the Orange Revolution (2004). His presidency symbolized Ukraine's shift toward Europe, alarming Russia.

Viktor Yanukovich

Pro-Russian Ukrainian politician; his 2010 presidency marked a turn back toward Moscow, until the 2014 Maidan uprising. His ouster led to Crimea’s annexation.

Orange Revolution

A 2004 pro-democracy movement protesting election fraud favoring Yanukovich. Russia opposed it as Western interference in its sphere of influence

Managed/Sovereign Democracy

Russian political system under Putin where democratic institutions exist but are tightly controlled. It justifies limited political pluralism and suppresses opposition in the name of sovereignty.

Kievan Rus

A medieval Slavic state considered a precursor to both Russia and Ukraine. Russia uses it to assert historical claims over Ukrainian territory.

Khazars

A Turkic people with whom early Russians had contact. Mentioned in national narratives to portray Russia’s civilizational defense against non-Slavic outsiders.

Steppe

Vast grasslands that historically served as invasion routes. Shaped Russia’s perception of security and need for buffer zone

Golden Horde

Mongol khanate that ruled parts of Russia for centuries. Influenced Russian state structure and centralized autocracy.

Versailles Treaty

Ended WWI; excluded the USSR, which fed Soviet resentment and paranoia about Western hostility.

Rapallo Treaty (1922)

Secret German-Soviet agreement that re-established diplomatic ties and military cooperation, circumventing Versailles.

Mein Kampf

Hitler's ideological blueprint for expansion eastward (Lebensraum). Justified Nazi aggression that would eventually target the USSR.

Munich Agreement (1938)

Western appeasement of Hitler; USSR cited it to justify the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as necessary self-protection.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

1939 non-aggression agreement dividing Eastern Europe. Allowed Soviet expansion into the Baltics and parts of Poland/Finland, key to “defensive expansion.”

Marshall Plan

US economic aid to rebuild Europe. USSR rejected it, seeing it as a threat to Soviet influence.

Atlantic Charter (1941)

Set Allied war aims; USSR was wary of its liberal ideals threatening Soviet control in Eastern Europe.

Winston Churchill

British PM; key wartime ally but also critic of Soviet expansion, notably in his “Iron Curtain” speech.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

US President during WWII; believed in cooperation with Stalin but underestimated Soviet ambitions

Battle of Stalingrad

Turning point in WWII; symbolized Soviet resilience and justified postwar claims of superpower status.

Polish Home Army

Anti-Nazi Polish resistance loyal to the exiled government. USSR distrusted and eventually undermined them.

Warsaw Uprising (1944)

Soviet army halted outside Warsaw while Nazis crushed the uprising. Soviets used it to weaken Polish non-communist forces.

Lend-Lease

US military aid to the USSR during WWII. Strengthened Soviet war effort but did not curb Soviet postwar ambitions.

Dardanelles

Strategic strait; Soviets wanted control during and after WWII, prompting tensions with the West.

Potsdam

1945 summit; disputes over Eastern Europe emerged, laying foundations for the Cold War.

Reparations

USSR demanded extensive reparations, especially from Germany, to rebuild and weaken Western-aligned powers.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet military alliance countering NATO. Used to justify interventions in Eastern Bloc states (e.g., Hungary, Czechoslovakia).

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader after Stalin; initiated “peaceful coexistence” and de-Stalinization but maintained Cold War tensions.

Leonid Brezhnev

Oversaw détente but also reaffirmed control through the Brezhnev Doctrine (e.g., Czechoslovakia 1968).

Twentieth Party Congress (1956)

Khrushchev's “Secret Speech” denounced Stalin; aimed at reform, but triggered unrest in Eastern Europe.

Peaceful coexistence

Khrushchev's policy of competing with the West without war. Replaced Stalin’s confrontation with strategic diplomacy.

Hungarian Revolution

Uprising crushed by Soviet troops; showed limits of Soviet tolerance for Eastern Bloc autonomy.

Prague Spring (1968)

Czechoslovak liberalization crushed by Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. Reinforced need for ideological control.

Cuban Missile Crisis

High-stakes confrontation with the US; highlighted Soviet willingness to project power globally but also vulnerability.

New Thinking

Gorbachev’s foreign policy shift toward cooperation, interdependence, and mutual security.

Perestroika

Economic restructuring policy that aimed to modernize but weakened central control and contributed to Soviet collapse.

Boris Yeltsin

First Russian president; promoted liberal reforms but saw growing chaos, setting stage for authoritarian retrenchment.

Vladimir Putin

Current president; reasserted state control and pursued an aggressive foreign policy to restore Russian prestige.

“Peace, Land, and Bread”

Lenin’s revolutionary slogan; represents Bolshevik promise that justified radical foreign policy and withdrawal from WWI.

Brest-Litovsk

Treaty ending Russian involvement in WWI; seen as a humiliating loss but tactically necessary by the Bolsheviks.

Lebensraum

Nazi concept of eastern expansion. USSR used it to justify its own territorial acquisitions as preemptive defense.

Sudetenland

Region given to Hitler in Munich Agreement; USSR cites it to argue that appeasement led to WWII.

June 22, 1941

Nazi Germany invades USSR. Known as Operation Barbarossa, it became the central trauma shaping Soviet defense doctrine.

Yalta

1945 meeting where Allied leaders discussed postwar Europe. USSR secured a free hand in Eastern Europe.