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Do not fill this in! === Soviet Union === {{Main|History of the Soviet Union}} [[File:Soviet Union - Russian SFSR (1936).svg|thumb|left|Location of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] (red) within the [[Soviet Union]] in 1936]] ====Command economy and Soviet society==== On 30 December 1922, Lenin and his aides [[Treaty on the Creation of the USSR|formed]] the [[Soviet Union]], by joining the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] into a single state with the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian]], [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasian]], and [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian]] republics.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Szporluk |first=Roman |title=Nationalities and the Russian Problem in the U.S.S.R.: an Historical Outline |jstor=24356607 |publisher=Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board |journal=[[Journal of International Affairs]] |volume=27 |number=1 |pages=22–40 |year=1973}}</ref> Eventually internal border changes and annexations during World War II created a union of [[republics of the Soviet Union|15 republics]]; the largest in size and population being the Russian SFSR, which dominated the union politically, culturally, and economically.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brzezinski |first=Zbigniew |title=The Soviet Union: World Power of a New Type |jstor=1174124 |doi=10.2307/1174124 |volume=35 |number=3 |year=1984 |pages=147–159 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science |publisher=[[The Academy of Political Science]]}}</ref> Following [[Death and state funeral of Vladimir Lenin|Lenin's death]] in 1924, a [[List of Troikas in the Soviet Union|troika]] was designated to take charge. Eventually [[Joseph Stalin]], the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of the Communist Party]], managed to suppress all opposition factions and consolidate power in his hands to become the country's dictator by the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Glassman |first=Leo M. |title=Stalin's Rise to Power |date=April 1931 |pages=73–77 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |jstor=45336496 |journal=[[Current History]] |volume=34 |number=1|doi=10.1525/curh.1931.34.1.73 |s2cid=248843930 }}</ref> [[Leon Trotsky]], the main proponent of [[world revolution]], was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Getty |first=J Arch. |title=Trotsky in Exile: The Founding of the Fourth International |jstor=151989 |pages=24–35 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=38 |number=1 |date=January 1986 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies)}}</ref> and Stalin's idea of [[Socialism in One Country]] became the official line.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/47659/1/Socialism%20in%20One%20Country%20Redacted.pdf |title=Socialism in One Country: A Study of Pragmatism and Ideology in the Soviet 1920s |publisher=[[University of Kent]] |last=Bensley |first=Michael |year=2014 |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626142120/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/47659/1/Socialism%20in%20One%20Country%20Redacted.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The continued internal struggle in the Bolshevik party culminated in the [[Great Purge]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kuromiya |first=Hirosaki |title=Accounting for the Great Terror |jstor=41051345 |publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag]] |journal=Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas |year=2005 |pages=86–101 |volume=53 |number=1}}</ref> ====Stalinism and violent modernization==== Under Stalin's leadership, the government launched a [[command economy]], [[Industrialization in the USSR|industrialisation of the largely rural country]], and [[Collectivization in the USSR|collectivisation]] of [[Agriculture in the USSR|its agriculture]]. During this period of rapid economic and social change, millions of people were sent to [[Gulag|penal labour camps]], including many political convicts for their suspected or real opposition to Stalin's rule;<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosefielde |first=Steven |title=An Assessment of the Sources and Uses of Gulag Forced Labour 1929–1956 |jstor=151474 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |pages=51–87 |volume=33 |number=1 |date=January 1981 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies)}}</ref> and millions were [[population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported and exiled]] to remote areas of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kreindler |first=Isabelle |title=The Soviet Deported Nationalities: A Summary and an Update |jstor=151700 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |volume=38 |number=3 |date=July 1986 |pages=387–405}}</ref> The transitional disorganisation of the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a drought,<ref>{{cite book | last=Zadoks | first=J.C. | title=On the political economy of plant disease epidemics: Capita selecta in historical epidemiology | publisher=Wageningen Academic Publishers | year=2008 | isbn=978-90-8686-653-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBLTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 | access-date=8 December 2022 | page=171 | archive-date=25 December 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225095407/https://books.google.com/books?id=EBLTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 | url-status=live }}</ref> led to the [[Soviet famine of 1932–1933]]; which killed up to 8.7 million, 3.3 million of them in the Russian SFSR.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wolowyna |first=Oleh |date=October 2020 |title=A Demographic Framework for the 1932–1934 Famine in the Soviet Union |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]] |volume=23 |number=4 |pages=501–526 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2020.1834741 |s2cid=226316468}}</ref> The Soviet Union, ultimately, made the costly transformation from a largely agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse within a short span of time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosefielde |first=Steven |title=Excess Deaths and Industrialization: A Realist Theory of Stalinist Economic Development in the 1930s |jstor=260849 |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |year=1988 |volume=23 |number=2 |pages=277–289 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]]|doi=10.1177/002200948802300207 |pmid=11617302 |s2cid=26592600 }}</ref> ====World War II and United Nations==== {{main|Soviet Union in World War II}} [[File:RIAN archive 602161 Center of Stalingrad after liberation.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, ended in 1943 with a decisive Soviet victory against the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German army]].]] The Soviet Union entered [[World War II]] on 17 September 1939 with its [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invasion of Poland]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kornat |first=Marek |title=Choosing Not to Choose in 1939: Poland's Assessment of the Nazi-Soviet Pact |jstor=40647041 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=31 |number=4 |date=December 2009 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |pages=771–797|doi=10.1080/07075332.2009.9641172 |s2cid=155068339}}</ref> in accordance with a secret protocol within the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] with [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=The Soviet Decision for a Pact with Nazi Germany |jstor=152247 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=44 |number=1 |year=1992 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |pages=57–78}}</ref> The Soviet Union later [[Winter War|invaded Finland]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Spring |first=D. W. |title=The Soviet Decision for War against Finland, 30 November 1939 |jstor=152247 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=38 |number=2 |date=April 1986 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |pages=207–226}}</ref> and [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|occupied and annexed the Baltic states]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Saburova |first=Irina |title=The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |volume=14 |number=1 |pages=36–49 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |doi=10.2307/126075 |jstor=126075 |date=January 1955}}</ref> as well as [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|parts of Romania]].<ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Charles |title=The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture |date=1999 |publisher=[[Hoover Institution Press]] |url=https://archive.org/details/moldovansromania00king_0/page/n3/mode/2up |isbn= 978-0-817-99791-5}}</ref>{{rp|91–95}} On 22 June 1941, Germany [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stolfi |first=Russel H. S. |title=Barbarossa Revisited: A Critical Reappraisal of the Opening Stages of the Russo-German Campaign (June–December 1941) |jstor=1906049 |publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] |volume=54 |number=1 |pages=27–46 |journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]] |date=March 1982|doi=10.1086/244076 |s2cid=143690841 }}</ref> opening the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], the largest theater of World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=David |title=The Eastern Front Campaign: An Operational Level Analysis |publisher=Eschenburg Press |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-789-12193-3}}</ref>{{rp|7}} Eventually, some 5 million [[Red Army]] troops were captured by the Nazis;<ref>{{cite book |last=Chapoutot |first=Johann |title=The Law of Blood: Thinking and Acting as a Nazi |date=2018 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-66043-4}}</ref>{{rp|272}} the latter deliberately [[German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war|starved to death or otherwise killed]] 3.3 million Soviet [[Prisoner of war|POW]]s, and a vast number of civilians, as the "[[Hunger Plan]]" sought to fulfil [[Generalplan Ost]].<ref>{{cite book |last=D. Snyder |first=Timothy |location=New York |title=Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin |date=2010 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=978-0-465-00239-9}}</ref>{{rp|175–186}} Although the [[Wehrmacht]] had considerable early success, their attack was halted in the [[Battle of Moscow]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Assmann |first=Kurt |title=The Battle for Moscow, Turning Point of the War |jstor=20030251 |doi=10.2307/20030251 |volume=28 |number=2 |pages=309–326 |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]] |date=January 1950 |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref> Subsequently, the Germans were dealt major defeats first at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in the winter of 1942–1943,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clairmont |first=Frederic F. |title=Stalingrad: Hitler's Nemesis |jstor=4413752 |volume=38 |number=27 |pages=2819–2823 |date=July 2003 |journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]]}}</ref> and then in the [[Battle of Kursk]] in the summer of 1943.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mulligan |first=Timothy P. |title=Spies, Ciphers and 'Zitadelle': Intelligence and the Battle of Kursk, 1943 |jstor=260932 |pages=235–260 |volume=22 |number=2 |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |date=April 1987|doi=10.1177/002200948702200203 |s2cid=162709461}}</ref> Another German failure was the [[Siege of Leningrad]], in which the city was fully blockaded on land between 1941 and 1944 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and more than a million deaths, but never surrendered.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Krypton |first=Constantin |title=The Siege of Leningrad |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |volume=13 |number=4 |pages=255–265 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |doi=10.2307/125859 |jstor=125859 |date=January 1955}}</ref> Soviet forces steamrolled through Eastern and Central Europe in 1944–1945 and [[Battle of Berlin|captured Berlin]] in May 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/soviet-victory-battle-berlin-finished-nazi-germany |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320151932/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/soviet-victory-battle-berlin-finished-nazi-germany |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2021 |title=The Soviet victory in the Battle of Berlin finished Nazi Germany |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |first1=Neil |last1=Kagan |first2=Stephen |last2=Hyslop |date=7 May 2020 |access-date=29 May 2021}}</ref> In August 1945, the Red Army [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]] and [[Soviet–Japanese War|ousted the Japanese]] from Northeast Asia, contributing to the Allied victory over Japan.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Morton|first=Louis|title=Soviet Intervention in the War with Japan|volume=40|number=4|date=July 1962|pages=653–662|publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]]|journal=[[Foreign Affairs]]|doi=10.2307/20029588|jstor=20029588}}</ref> The 1941–1945 period of World War II is known in Russia as the [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-s-monumental-tribute-to-the-great-patriotic-war-/30599462.html |title=Russia's Monumental Tributes To The 'Great Patriotic War' |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |date=8 May 2020 |access-date=29 May 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331102407/https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-s-monumental-tribute-to-the-great-patriotic-war-/30599462.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Soviet Union, along with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the Big Four of Allied powers in World War II, and later became the [[Four Policemen]], which was the foundation of the [[United Nations Security Council]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaddis|first=John Lewis|author-link=John Lewis Gaddis|title=The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947|url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesorig0000gadd|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|date=1972|location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-12239-9}}</ref>{{rp|27}} During the war, [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|Soviet civilian and military death were about 26–27 million]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ellman |first1=Michael |last2=Maksudov |first2=S. |author1-link=Michael Ellman |title=Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: A Note |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]] |year=1994 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=671–680 |doi=10.1080/09668139408412190 |pmid=12288331 |jstor=152934}}</ref> accounting for about half of all [[World War II casualties]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cumins |first=Keith |title=Cataclysm: The War on the Eastern Front 1941–45 |publisher=Helion and Company |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-907-67723-6}}</ref>{{rp|295}} The [[Economy of the Soviet Union|Soviet economy]] and infrastructure suffered massive devastation, which caused the [[Soviet famine of 1946–1947]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Harrison |first=Mark |date=14 April 2010 |title=The Soviet Union after 1945: Economic Recovery and Political Repression |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/mharrison/public/pp2011postprint.pdf |website=[[University of Warwick]] |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=21 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021204316/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/mharrison/public/pp2011postprint.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, at the expense of a large sacrifice, the Soviet Union emerged as a global superpower.<ref name="Reiman-2016">{{cite book |last=Reiman |first=Michael |title=About Russia, Its Revolutions, Its Development and Its Present |chapter=The USSR as the New World Superpower |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2t4dn7.14 |date=2016 |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]] |pages=169–176 |jstor=j.ctv2t4dn7.14 |isbn=978-3-631-67136-8 |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051631/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2t4dn7.14 |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Superpower and Cold War==== [[File:Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W).jpg|thumb|The "[[Grand Alliance (World War II)|Big Three]]" at the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945, [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]]] After World War II, according to the [[Potsdam Conference]], the [[Red Army]] occupied parts of Eastern and Central Europe, including [[East Germany]] and the eastern regions of [[Austria]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Wills |first=Matthew |url=https://daily.jstor.org/potsdam-origins-cold-war/ |title=Potsdam and the Origins of the Cold War |work=[[JSTOR]] Daily |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=28 January 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051631/https://daily.jstor.org/potsdam-origins-cold-war/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Dependent communist governments were installed in the [[Eastern Bloc]] satellite states.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bunce |first=Valerie |title=The Empire Strikes Back: The Evolution of the Eastern Bloc from a Soviet Asset to a Soviet Liability |jstor=2706633 |journal=[[International Organization]] |volume=39 |number=1 |year=1985 |pages=1–46 |publisher=The [[MIT Press]]|doi=10.1017/S0020818300004859 |s2cid=154309589 |doi-access=free }}</ref> After becoming the world's second [[Russia and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear power]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Holloway |first=David |title=Entering the Nuclear Arms Race: The Soviet Decision to Build the Atomic Bomb, 1939–1945 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |volume=11 |number=2 |date=May 1981 |pages=159–197 |journal=[[Social Studies of Science]]|doi=10.1177/030631278101100201 |s2cid=145715873}}</ref> the Soviet Union established the [[Warsaw Pact]] alliance,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wolfe |first=Thomas W. |title=The Warsaw Pact in Evolution |date=May 1966 |volume=22 |number=5 |pages=191–198 |publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs ([[Chatham House]]) |journal=[[The World Today (magazine)|The World Today]] |jstor=40393859}}</ref> and entered into a struggle for global dominance, known as the [[Cold War]], with the rivalling United States and [[NATO]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wagg |first1=Stephen |last2=Andrews |first2=David |title=East Plays West: Sport and the Cold War |year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-24167-5 |page=11}}</ref> ====Khrushchev Thaw reforms and economic development==== After [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|Stalin's death]] in 1953 and a short period of [[Collective leadership|collective rule]], the new leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] denounced [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Stalin]] and launched the policy of [[de-Stalinization]], releasing many political prisoners from the [[Gulag]] labour camps.<ref>{{cite book |first=Polly |last=Jones |title=The Dilemmas of De-Stalinization: Negotiating Cultural and Social Change in the Khrushchev Era |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-28347-7 |pages=2–4}}</ref> The general easement of repressive policies became known later as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reid |first=Susan E. |year=1997 |title=Destalinization and Taste, 1953–1963 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |jstor=1316131 |volume=10 |number=2 |pages=177–201 |journal=[[Journal of Design History]]|doi=10.1093/jdh/10.2.177 }}</ref> At the same time, Cold War tensions reached its peak when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the United States [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter missiles]] in Turkey and Soviet [[Cuban Missile Crisis|missiles in Cuba]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fuelling |first=Cody |url=https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=issr |title=To the Brink: Turkish and Cuban Missiles during the Height of the Cold War |journal=International Social Science Review |publisher=[[University of North Georgia]] |volume=93 |number=1 |access-date=28 May 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313053405/https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=issr |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial [[satellite]], ''[[Sputnik 1]]'', thus starting the [[Space Age]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ussr-launches-sputnik/ |title=USSR Launches Sputnik |date=7 July 2021 |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606045341/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ussr-launches-sputnik/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Russian [[cosmonaut]] [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first human to orbit the Earth, aboard the ''[[Vostok 1]]'' crewed spacecraft on [[Cosmonautics Day|12 April 1961]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210409-yuri-gagarin-the-spaceman-who-came-in-from-the-cold |title=Yuri Gagarin: the spaceman who came in from the cold |last=Dowling |first=Stephen |date=12 April 2021 |access-date=15 January 2022 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051631/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210409-yuri-gagarin-the-spaceman-who-came-in-from-the-cold |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Period of developed socialism or Era of Stagnation==== Following the ousting of Khrushchev in 1964, another period of [[Collectivity of leadership|collective rule]] ensued, until [[Leonid Brezhnev]] became the leader. The era of the 1970s and the early 1980s was later designated as the [[Era of Stagnation]]. The 1965 [[Kosygin reform]] aimed for partial [[decentralisation]] of the [[Soviet economy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kontorovich |first=Vladimir |title=Lessons of the 1965 Soviet Economic Reform |jstor=151112 |date=April 1988 |pages=308–316 |volume=40 |number=2 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]}}</ref> In 1979, after a [[Saur Revolution|communist-led revolution]] in Afghanistan, Soviet forces invaded the country, ultimately starting the [[Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Westad |first=Odd Arne |title=Prelude to Invasion: The Soviet Union and the Afghan Communists, 1978–1979 |jstor=40106851 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |volume=16 |number=1 |date=February 1994 |pages=49–69 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|doi=10.1080/07075332.1994.9640668 }}</ref> In May 1988, the [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviets started to withdraw from Afghanistan]], due to international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerrilla warfare, and a lack of support by Soviet citizens.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Daley |first=Tad |title=Afghanistan and Gorbachev's Global Foreign Policy |jstor=2644534 |doi=10.2307/2644534 |journal=[[Asian Survey]] |volume=29 |number=5 |date=May 1989 |pages=496–513 |publisher=[[University of California Press]]}}</ref> [[File:President Reagan meeting with Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev at Hofdi House during the Reykjavik Summit Iceland.jpg|thumb|[[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in one-to-one discussions with [[Ronald Reagan]] in the [[Reykjavík Summit]], 1986]] ====Perestroika, democratization and Russian sovereignty==== From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], who sought to enact liberal reforms in the Soviet system, introduced the policies of ''[[glasnost]]'' (openness) and ''[[perestroika]]'' (restructuring) in an attempt to end the [[Era of Stagnation|period of economic stagnation]] and to [[Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)|democratise the government]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=McForan |first=D. W. J. |title=Glasnost, Democracy, and Perestroika |jstor=41881835 |journal= International Social Science Review |volume=63 |year=1988 |number=4 |pages=165–174 |publisher=[[Pi Gamma Mu]]}}</ref> This, however, led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements across the country.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Beissinger |first=Mark R. |url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mbeissinger/files/beissinger.ceh_.article.pdf |title=Nationalism and the Collapse of Soviet Communism |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |journal=[[Contemporary European History]] |volume=18 |number=3 |pages=331–347 |date=August 2009 |doi=10.1017/S0960777309005074 |access-date=25 June 2021 |jstor=40542830 |s2cid=46642309 |archive-date=24 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224060339/https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mbeissinger/files/beissinger.ceh_.article.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the world's second-largest, but during its final years, it went into a crisis.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shleifer |first1=Andrei |last2=Vishny |first2=Robert W. |title=Reversing the Soviet Economic Collapse |year=1991 |pages=341–360 |journal=[[Brookings Papers on Economic Activity]] |publisher=[[Brookings Institution]] |volume=1991 |number=2 |doi=10.2307/2534597 |jstor=2534597 |s2cid=153551739 |url=http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30723290/1991b_bpea_shleifer_vishny.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331081228/https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30723290/1991b_bpea_shleifer_vishny.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over as the [[Baltic states]] chose to secede from the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dahlburg |first1=John-Thor |last2=Marshall |first2=Tyler |title=Independence for Baltic States: Freedom: Moscow formally recognizes Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, ending half a century of control. Soviets to begin talks soon on new relationships with the three nations |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1530-story.html |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=7 September 1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603043522/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1530-story.html?_amp=true |archive-date=3 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 17 March, a [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum]] was held, in which the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet Union into a [[Union of Sovereign States|renewed federation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-19-mn-494-story.html |title=Vote Backs Gorbachev but Not Convincingly: Soviet Union: His plan to preserve federal unity is supported—but so is Yeltsin's for a Russian presidency. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |first=Michael |last=Parks |date=19 March 1991 |access-date=30 May 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331100735/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-19-mn-494-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 1991, [[Boris Yeltsin]] became the first directly elected [[President of Russia|president]] in Russian history when he was [[1991 Russian presidential election|elected]] president of the Russian SFSR.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/06/14/yeltsin-elected-president-of-russia/8b0dc76b-752c-4e28-a525-45ba6120ff24/ |title=Yeltsin Elected President of Russia |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |first=David |last=Remnick |date=14 June 1991 |access-date=6 June 2021 |archive-date=30 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130025538/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/06/14/yeltsin-elected-president-of-russia/8b0dc76b-752c-4e28-a525-45ba6120ff24/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1991, [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|a coup d'état attempt]] by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gibson |first=James L. |title=Mass Opposition to the Soviet Putsch of August 1991: Collective Action, Rational Choice, and Democratic Values in the Former Soviet Union |journal=The American Political Science Review |publisher=[[American Political Science Association]] |date=September 1997 |volume=97 |number=3 |pages=671–684 |doi=10.2307/2952082 |jstor=2952082|s2cid=145141360 }}</ref> On 25 December 1991, following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], along with contemporary Russia, fourteen other [[post-Soviet states]] emerged.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-union-collapse-timeline/31487661.html |title=The Undoing Of The U.S.S.R.: How It Happened |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |last=Foltynova |first=Kristyna |date=1 October 2021 |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-date=13 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413175407/https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-union-collapse-timeline/31487661.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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