Political and Economic Policies of Joseph Stalin and Mikhail Gorbachev

Political and Economic Policies of Joseph Stalin and Mikhail Gorbachev

Define:1. Totalitarianism: describes a government that takes total,

centralized control over every aspect of public and private life.

2. Communism: an economic system in which all the means of production are owned by the people, private property does not exists and all goods and services are shared equally.

Picture/Symbol of communism:

Define:1. Totalitarianism: describes a government that takes total,

centralized control over every aspect of public and private life.

2. Communism: an economic system in which all the means of production are owned by the people, private property does not exists and all goods and services are shared equally.

Picture/Symbol of communism:

Cold War: CausesList the causes and create symbolic image:1. Two superpowers face off (US and USSR)

2. Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference showed differing goals for the US and USSR. The USSR or Soviet Union takes over Eastern Europe. The Iron Curtain divides Western and Eastern Europe.

3. Containment: policy of the US to block Soviet influence and spread of communism

4. Marshall Plan: The assistance program for Western Europe. The US Congress spent over 12 billion to provide food, machines and other materials for construction in Western Europe.

5. Rival Alliances – NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) led by the US and the Warsaw Pact (led by the USSR)

6. Brinksmanship and Nuclear Threat – ICBM missiles

Characteristics: Communist General Secretary of the Union of the

Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) Dangerous, ruthless, Totalitarian dictator Launched the Great Purges and

collectivization of agriculture where millions of Russians will die

Used indoctrination and Propaganda to control the people.

StalinStalin

Stalin

Economic Policies:Economic Policies:

- - Five year plan of industrializationFive year plan of industrialization

-- Collectivization of agricultural-- Collectivization of agricultural

-- Rapid Industrialization-- Rapid Industrialization

Political Policies:Political Policies:-- Great Purges (killing millions)-- Great Purges (killing millions)

-- Police Terror-- Police Terror

-- Indoctrination & Propaganda-- Indoctrination & Propaganda

-- Censorship-- Censorship

GorbachevGorbachevPolitical policies:Political policies:

-Democratization-Democratization

-Diplomacy over Force-Diplomacy over Force

-Glasnost (openness)-Glasnost (openness)

-Relaxed Censorship-Relaxed Censorship

Economic Policies:Economic Policies:

-Perestroika (economic restructuring)-Perestroika (economic restructuring)

-Free Enterprise-Free Enterprise

-Emphasis of consumer goods-Emphasis of consumer goods

Similarities: Stalin & GorbachevSimilarities: Stalin & GorbachevList and create symbolic images:List and create symbolic images:

TotalitarianismTotalitarianism Police TerrorPolice Terror Creation of Economic PoliciesCreation of Economic Policies Heavy IndustryHeavy Industry

Cold War Around the World1. War in Korea Causes: (1950-1953)1. Korean crossed the 38th

parallel and attacked the South

2. The United Nations intervened and pushed the North Koreans back

3. The Chinese intervened when the UN troops went too far north.

4. 1953 a cease fire was signed

Effects/Aftermath:

1. Korea remained a divided nation

2. Kim Jong Il became the dictator of North Korea and are opposed to unification

3. The South has a democratically elected government

4. The United States still has troops in the South

War in VietnamRoad to War/Causes:1. In the early 1900s, France

controlled most of the resource-rich Southeast Asia

2. Nationalist independence movements began to develop and nationalist Ho Chi Minh turned to the Communists for help

3. After WW2, the French did not grant Vietnam independence as the nationalists hoped.

War Breaks Out:

1. Vietnamese nationalists and communists joined to defeat the French armies

2. French controlled the cities but the communists has the support of the peasants in the countryside

3. The United States supported the French because we were afraid of the Communist threat around the world and the “domino theory”

4. French suffered a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu and surrendered to Ho

5. An international peace conference is held in Geneva Switzerland and Vietnam was divided on the 17th parallel

6. Ho’s government controlled the north and the US set up an anti-communist government in the South led by Ngo Dihn Diem

7. Gulf of Tonkin – The US gets involved under President Lyndon Johnson

8. By 1965, > 185,000 troops were sent and the US turned to air power and bombed the North

Turmoil in Cambodia

Khmer Rouge set up a brutal communist government that wanted to create a rural society.

Pol Pot, the leader and his followers slaughtered 2 million people.

Vietnam invaded and stopped the Khmer Rouge.

The United Nations took over in 1993 and helped Cambodia adopt a democratic constitution.

Post Vietnam: Communist oppression caused 1.5 million people to flee Vietnam and Cambodia/ About 70,000 Vietnamese refugees eventually settled in the United States and Canada.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Fidel Castro was the communist dictator of Cuba In 1960 the CIA planned an invasion of Cuba and trained anti-Castro exiles. In April 1961 the exiles landed in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The invasion was unsuccessful and the US was humiliated.

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion convinced the Nikita Khruschev to build a 42 missile site in Cuba.

An American spy plane discovered the site and President Kennedy demanded the missiles be removed. US troops assembled in Florida ready to invade Cuba.

Fortunately, Krushchev removed the missiles and World War III and a nuclear disaster was averted.

The US maintains a trade embargo against Cuba.

Clash in Iran

The Shah of Iran is placed as leader by Western powers after WW2

The conservative religious leaders including the Ayatollah Khomeini opposed the Shah and the US for supporting him.

In 1979, Islamic revolutionaries took over the American embassy in Teheran and held American hostage of 444 days.

Iran and Iraq go war over religious differences. Iraq had a secular (non-religious) government and Sunni Muslim majority. The Iranians a Shi’a Muslim.

The US secretly sold Iran weapons in exchange for the hostages.

Face off in Afghanistan

Superpowers (US and the Soviet Union) fight in Afghanistan.

Soviets support the Afghan communists and the US supplied the Mujahideen (rebels) with weapons.

The war has a devastating cost to the Soviet Union and after 10 years they withdraw.

The Soviet Union suffers from internal political and economic problems.

Destalination and protests in Eastern Europe (Hungary and Czechoslovakia)

Nikita Khruschev became leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death in 1953. He begins the policy of destalination or purging the country of Stalin’s memory and declares “peaceful competition with capitalistic states.

In 1956, Hungary led by Imre Nagy demands free elections and the Soviet troop leave Hungary. Soviet tanks invade and Nagy is executed in 1958.

1968: Prague Spring – Alexander Dubcek wanted “Communism with a human face” or human rights for Czecholovakia. The Soviet Union invade and expelled Dubcek.

From Brinksmanship to Détente

Brinksmanship – policy of the United States that brought the Soviet Union and the US (Cold War) on the brink of WW3.

Détente – a policy of lessening the Cold War tensions during the Nixon presidency. Nixon visited China and started the SALT discussions (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks)

Ronald Reagan abandons Détente

In 1983, Reagan starts the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or Star Wars program. He wanted to protect America against its enemy missiles. The program was never put into effect.

Tensions increase between the Soviet Union and the US. But they could not compete with the US economically.

By 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

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