The Fall of the Soviet Union
TheCold Warultimately get the Soviet Union down , but it took nearly half a century to accomplish this goal . In 1945 , around the end of World War II , the Soviet Union and United States waged this war of threatening words and fear . The Cold War was a top business organization on the international affaire front . From communism opponents ' perspective , its purpose was to contain communism and avoid nuclear engagement . But the Soviet Union propose to spread communism to the United States , if not the rest of the man [ source : History.com ] .
These two powerhouses disagreed over political , ethnic and economic thing . The United States begin develop retributory weapons , should the need to use them rise . These weapons were called theStrategic Triadand included prospicient - image bombers , submarinesand land - basedmissiles . This led to the firstnuclear limb race , during which the two governments stockpiled as many atomic weapon system as they could so as to keep the other government in assembly line . fortuitously , atomic warfare was avoided , in big part due to the scare manoeuvre of the Cold War [ reservoir : Pifer ] .
In the 1950s , the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in thespace backwash . Both countries wanted to be the first in distance for myriad reasons , especially because their defense and military capabilities stood to gain from a successful space program . The space airstream was fueled by the ever - intensifying rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union . The Soviet Union win that contest by launch thesatelliteSputnik into orbit Oct. 4 , 1957 . But the U.S. was the first country to successfully set down on the moon in 1969 [ source : Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum ] .
The tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was n’t just restricted to the atomic arms subspecies and outer space slipstream . Many Cold War - colligate crises erupt over the year , including the Korean and Vietnam wars , theBay of PigsInvasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis .
The Soviet Union ’s arms race , place race and continued support of the communist regime ( all of which cost a circle of money ) resulted in a stagnant economy with virtually no growth . When Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed to the presidency of the Communist Party in 1985 , he became an counselor of modification . Gorbachev laid his goals out : restore the long - lagging economy and quicken economic development . He also advocated a policy he calledglasnost(“openness " ) to allow more exemption of face and freedom of information in the country .
He worked with President Ronald Reagan and the United States governing to come to terminus with the arms and policy disagreements that had intensify over the years . Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union improved rapidly . In 1989 , the Berlin Wall ( which had divide East and West Germany ) fell , signifying the end of communism in East Germany . The communistic politics in Czechoslovakia , Romania and Bulgaria also fall in December 1989 , without any Soviet intervention to shore them up . The Cold War was in effect over [ generator : Encyclopedia Britannica ] .
In 1990 , Russia elected Boris Yeltsin to the presidency . The Soviet Union officially came to an end in 1991 and dissever into republics ( a scheme of government in which an elect official lead ): Armenia , Azerbaijan , Belarus , Estonia , Georgia , Kazakhstan , Kyrgystan , Latvia , Lithuania , Moldova , Russian Federation , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Ukraine and Uzbekistan . These republics are self - govern , rather than ruled by the Soviet Union [ source : U.S.-Russia Relations ] . When Yeltsin resigned in 1999 , he key Vladimir Putin performing chairwoman .
Since then , Putin has work the country for more than 20 year , mostly as President of the United States but also as prime minister . In 2021 , he signed a law that allows him to serve two more six - year terms as president , thus changing Russia ’s constitution [ reference : Odynova ] . He has shown increasingly authoritarian leading , cracking down severely on political opponents and protesters . In 2005 , he declared the collapse of the Soviet empire " was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century " and a " genuine tragedy " for the Russian people [ source : Associated Press ] . His invasion of Ukraine in 2022 isseen by someas a first step at reclaiming that empire .
