World Cultures 11

Unit II: Russia

Name: Austin Gaber

Date 4/21/15

Block: 2nd block

Read the article entitled The Collapse of the Soviet Union and answer the questions below
thoroughly and thoughtfully.
Indentify/define each of the following: [remember to answer fully]
a. Politburo The ruling committee of the communist party.
b. Soviet hard-liners Conservatives who opposed reform.
c. coup A quick takedown of a certain leader or group to gain control and power of the
area.
d. CIS A loose federation of former soviet territories.
e. shock therapy an abrupt shift to free market economies.

1. Identify and define two early changes that Gorbachev made? How were these changes
different from previous Soviet leaders?
Allowed churches to open and allowed books to be published by recently banned authors. This
was different because he is being more open and allowing things while previous leaders always
tried to contain everything.
2. Why would it be ineffective for the central government to decide what should be produced
all over the country?
Because then everybody would be producing the same thing and not increase their pay.
3. Explain Gorbachevs third reform and how it would help to move the country toward
democracy.
His third reform was called democratization and what it did was gradually open the political
system. This meant that people could now vote for a new legislative body without having to pick
candidates that were handpicked from the communist party.
4. What was the INF Treaty? Why did Gorbachev agree to sign it? What effect do you think
this Treaty had on the Cold War?
Intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty and it banned nuclear missiles with ranges from 300
to 3,400 miles. Gorbachev agreed to sign it because he knew the Soviet Union couldnt keep up
in the arms race now and didnt want to go to war and get nuked if that happened. The treaty
had an effect on the cold war because there were nukes closer than 300 miles to America at
one point.
5. What effect did Gorbachevs reforms have on Russian ethnic minorities?
The effect that it had on the minorities was that they began to call for freedom. Also, as
reforms loosened central reform, people began demanding self-rule and religious freedom.
6. Which satellite nation was first to defy Gorbachev? How did Gorbachev respond?
Lithuania and Gorbachev responded by sending in the soviet troops. They killed 14 and wounded
hundreds of unarmed civilians.
7. What was Boris Yeltsins position in Soviet government? Why did he oppose Gorbachev?
He was a Member of Parliament and former mayor of Moscow. He opposed Gorbachev because
the lack of economic progress Gorbachev was making and the slow reform pace.

8. What name was given to the older communist members in parliament? What opinion did they
have regarding both Gorbachev and Yeltsin? Explain your answer.
Hard liners. They were furious that Gorbachev had given up the Soviet Unions role as the
dominant force in Eastern Europe. They also feared Gorbachevs and Yeltsins power.
9. What was the August Coup? Who orchestrated it?
The august coup was when the hardliners who orchestrated it drove up with the army to
Gorbachevs beach home demanding him to resign as president and went into Moscow with tanks
trying to force the people to go back to the way things were.
10. What were the most important reasons for the failure of the Coup?
When the hardliners demanded troops to attack the parliament building in Moscow, the troops
refused and left Moscow the next day.
11. How did the 15 soviet Republics respond to the failed Coup?
They all declared their independence in response.
12. When Gorbachev stepped down as president, who became the next president?
Boris Yeltsin was the next president of the federation.
13. What was the new name of the Soviet Union after this coup?
The new name was the commonwealth of independent states.
14. What was Yeltsin attempting to do by forming the CIS? What effect would it have on the
traditional Soviet Union?
He was attempting to give the new states freedom and the effect on the traditional Soviet
Union would be bad because the traditional Soviet Union was used to having everyone share
everything.
15. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin was faced with economic issues. What did
he do to attempt to solve these issues? Did it work? Why or why not?
He implemented shock therapy which was a way to lower trade barriers, remove price controls
and end subsidies to state-owned industries. This did not work because prices went way up and
inflation rate soared 800 percent.
16. When Yeltsin stepped down, a new leader was elected. What are some of the problems
that faced this new leader, Vladimir Putin?
Some of the problems was the war with Chechnya and economic, social and political problems.
17. What was the Chechnya issue? How did Putin deal with it? Was he able to end this issue
for the new Federation? Explain.
The issue was that they fought for their independence and what Putin did was say he would take
out 80,000 troops but didnt and Chechnya took over a theatre in Moscow and 150 people died.
The war ended eventually but not during the beginning of his rule.
18. In what ways were the policies of Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin similar?
Some policies that were similar between these three men were that they all wanted/favored a
market economy. Also, they all had problems during their rule and each one wanted to fix the
new Russia that was once the U.S.S.R