Khruschev, brezhnev and gorbachev

De-Stalinization

Departure from Stalin's oppressive regime, reducing reliance on terror, releasing political prisoners, and dismantling the Gulag camp system.

Anti-religious Campaign

Targeted orthodox church and religious institutions, leading to persecution, closures, and limitations on religious practices.

Virgin Lands Scheme

Introduced by Khrushchev to improve agriculture, merging collective farms into state farms, providing fixed wages, and decentralizing the agricultural system.

Agricultural Failures

Issues with pricing, productivity, and government initiatives under Khrushchev, leading to protests, inefficiencies, and challenges in planning.

Cultural "Thaw"

Relaxed censorship, flourishing arts, advances in science, and increased personal freedoms, but dissent was met with arrests.

Coexistence with the West

Advocated peaceful coexistence, highlighted by the Cuban Missile Crisis, aiming to reduce nuclear confrontation.

Sino-Soviet Split

Ideological differences and territorial disputes led to a significant realignment in global communist movements.

Economic Stagnation

Characterized by declining growth rates, prioritization of heavy industry over consumer goods, and bureaucratic inefficiencies during the Brezhnev era.

Growing Dissent

Limited to urban intelligentsia, dissenters faced repression, exile, or imprisonment, with dissent growing through human rights activism and nationalist unrest.

Gerontocracy

Brezhnev's tendency to retain aging officials, leading to an aged party bureaucracy, corruption, and growing cynicism towards communist rule.

Baikal-Amur Railway (BAM)

A 3000 km railway linking eastern Siberia and the Pacific, constructed to improve transportation and connectivity.

Living Standards Improvement

By 1980, most Soviet families had a refrigerator (86%) and a TV (74%), with wage increases and welfare benefits extended to rural workers.

Economic Failures under Brezhnev

Industrial output growth slowed, GNP growth rates declined, and the USSR fell behind the West in technology.

Brezhnev Doctrine

Justified Soviet intervention in Eastern Bloc countries to maintain communist rule, leading to dominance but also resistance.

Perestroika

Gorbachev's restructuring policy aimed to revitalize the Soviet economy through market-like reforms and increased efficiency.

Glasnost

Gorbachev's policy of openness and free expression, loosening censorship and promoting public dialogue.

Chernobyl Disaster

The 1986 nuclear accident in Ukraine highlighted the need for transparency and radical reform in Gorbachev's government.

Economic Challenges under Gorbachev

Reforms led to inflation, deficits, and resistance, impacting living standards and economic stability.

Political Perestroika

Gorbachev's political reforms aimed at democratising the Soviet system, removing party privileges, and promoting transparency.

Nationalism and Independence Movements

Glasnost and perestroika fueled nationalist movements in the Baltic States and Soviet republics, challenging Soviet authority.

Glasnost

Gorbachev's policy of openness that allowed for increased transparency and freedom of expression in the Soviet Union.

Perestroika

Gorbachev's economic restructuring policy aimed at revitalizing the Soviet economy through decentralization and market-like reforms.

Economic Stagnation

The significant stagnation, inefficiencies, and lack of technological advancement in the Soviet Union's economy by the 1980s.

Nationalist Movements

Rise in nationalist movements within various Soviet republics due to the loosening of central control, leading to claims of sovereignty and independence.

August 1991 Coup Attempt

Hardline members of the Communist Party's failed attempt to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and restore the old order, leading to the acceleration of the Soviet Union's disintegration.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Formalized on December 26, 1991, leading to the emergence of 15 independent republics, with Russia being the largest.

Economic Challenges

Industrial production decline, resistance from managers and party officials, high defense spending, falling oil prices, inflation, and social unrest leading to strikes and demands for reforms.

Nationalist Movements in USSR

Tensions in Kazakhstan, Baltic states' declarations of ownership and independence, and Gorbachev's deployment of troops into the Baltic republics in response to nationalist sentiments.