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History Of The Soviet Union (1982–1991)
The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991 spans the period from the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's death until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, and complex systemic problems in the command economy, Soviet output stagnated. Failed attempts at reform, a standstill economy, and the success of the proxies of the United States against the Soviet Union's forces in the war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling of discontent, especially in the Soviet-occupied Central and Eastern Europe (including the Baltic states). Greater political and social freedoms, instituted by the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, created an atmosphere of open criticism of the communist regime, and also ''perestroika''. The dramatic drop of the price of oil in 1985 and 1986 profoundly influenced actions of the Soviet leadership. (Edited version of a speech given at the American Enterprise Institute. ...
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Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet Union, it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country by area, extending across Time in Russia, eleven time zones and sharing Geography of the Soviet Union#Borders and neighbors, borders with twelve countries, and the List of countries and dependencies by population, third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of Republics of the Soviet Union, national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, Government of the Soviet Union, its government and Economy of the Soviet Union, economy were Soviet-type economic planning, highly centralized. As a one-party state go ...
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1989 Sino-Soviet Summit
The four-day Sino-Soviet Summit was held in Beijing from 15 to 18 May 1989. This would be the first formal meeting between a Soviet Communist leader and a Chinese Communist leader since the Sino-Soviet split in the 1950s. The last Soviet leader to visit China was Nikita Khrushchev in September 1959. Both Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China, and Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, proclaimed that the summit was the beginning of normalized state-to-state relations. The meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Zhao Ziyang, was hailed as the "natural restoration" of party-to-party relations. Improvements in bilateral relations (1986–1989) The first breakthrough in Sino-Soviet relations was in July 1986. In a speech in the city of Vladivostok, Gorbachev announced a series of unilateral concessions to the Chinese. The Soviet Union pledged to withdraw troops from Mongolia, E ...
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1991 Soviet Coup D'état Attempt
The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to Coup d'état, forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President of the Soviet Union, Soviet President and General Secretary of the CPSU at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (). They opposed Gorbachev's Perestroika, reform program, were angry at the Revolutions of 1989, loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the New Union Treaty, which was on the verge of being signed by the Soviet Union (USSR). The treaty was to decentralize much of the Government of the Soviet Union, central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its Republics of the Soviet Union, fifteen republics; Boris Yeltsin's demand for more autonomy to the republics ...
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April 9 Tragedy
April 9 Tragedy (also known as the massacre of Tbilisi or Tbilisi tragedy) refers to the events in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet, pro-independence demonstration was crushed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries. April 9 is now remembered as the National Unity Day ( ka, ეროვნული ერთიანობის დღე, tr), an annual public holiday. Prelude In the Georgian SSR, the anti-Soviet movement grew more active in 1988. Political groups opposed to the Soviet Union organized a number of protests and gatherings in Tbilisi. The conflict between the Soviet government and Georgian nationalists deepened after the so-called Lykhny Assembly on March 18, 1989, when several thousand Abkhaz demanded secession from Georgia and restoration of the Union republic status of 1921–1931. In response, the anti-Soviet groups organized a series of unsanctioned meetings across the repub ...
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Black January
Black January (), also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown on Azerbaijani nationalism and anti-Soviet sentiment in Baku on 19–20 January 1990, as part of a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev and Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov asserted that Martial law, military law was necessary to thwart efforts by the Azerbaijani independence movement to overthrow the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Azerbaijani government. According to official estimates of Azerbaijan, 147 civilians were killed, 800 people were injured, and five people went missing. In a resolution of 22 January 1990, the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR declared that the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet#USSR Supreme Soviet, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 19 January, used to impose emergency ru ...
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Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday may refer to: Historical events Canada * Bloody Sunday (1923), a day of police violence during a steelworkers' strike for union recognition in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia * Bloody Sunday (1938), police violence against unemployment protesters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Ireland * Bloody Sunday (1913), an attack by police against protesting trade unionists in Dublin, Ireland during the Dublin lock-out * Bloody Sunday (1920), a day of violence in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence when police, in which Irish Republican Army hit squads killed or injured 15 mostly British army officers, after which Auxiliary forces opened fire on the crowd of a Gaelic Football match, killing 14 people and injuring at least 80 others * Bloody Sunday (1921), a day of violence in Belfast during the Irish War of Independence, in which police launched a raid against Irish republicans, which was ambushed by the Irish Republican Army * Bloody Sunday (1972) ...
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The Barricades
The Barricades () were a series of confrontations between the Republic of Latvia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in January 1991 which took place mainly in Riga. The events are named for the popular effort of building and protecting barricades from 13 January until about 27 January. Latvia, which had declared restoration of independence from the Soviet Union a year earlier, anticipated that the Soviet Union might attempt to regain control over the country by force. After attacks by the Soviet OMON on Riga in early January, the government called on people to build barricades for protection of possible targets (mainly in the capital city of Riga and nearby Ulbroka, as well as Kuldīga and Liepāja). Six people were killed in further attacks, several were wounded in shootings or beaten by OMON. Most victims were shot during the Soviet attack on the Latvian Ministry of the Interior on January 20, while another person died in a building accident reinforcing the barricade ...
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Gulf War
, combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96-10/pdf/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96-10.pdf , strength2 = 1,000,000+ soldiers (~600,000 in Kuwait)5,500 tanks700+ aircraft3,000 artillery systems , casualties1 = Total:13,488 Coalition:292 killed (147 killed by enemy action, 145 non-hostile deaths)776 wounded (467 wounded in action)31 tanks destroyed/disabled28 Bradley IFVs destroyed/damaged1 M113 APC destroyed2 British Warrior APCs destroyed1 artillery piece destroyed75 aircraft destroyedKuwait:420 killed 12,000 captured ≈200 tanks destroyed/captured 850+ other armored vehicles destroyed/captured 57 aircraft lost 8 aircraft captured (Mirage F1s) 17 ships sunk, 6 captured. Acig.org. Retrieved on 12 June 2011 , casualties2 = Total:175,000–300,000+ Iraqi:20,000–50,000 killed ...
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War Of Laws
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organized groups. It is generally characterized by widespread violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces. ''Warfare'' refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties. Etymology The English word ''war'' derives from the 11th-century Old English words and , from Old French ( as in modern French), in turn from the Frankish , ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic . The word is related to the Old Saxon , Old High German , and the modern German , meaning . Histor ...
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Parade Of Sovereignties
The parade of sovereignties () was a series of declarations of sovereignty of various degrees by the republics of the Soviet Union and autonomous units within the republics ( autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs) from 1988 to 1991. The declarations stated the priority of the constituent republic power in its territory over the central power, which led to the War of Laws between the centre and the republics. The process followed the loosened power grip of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a result of '' demokratizatsiya'' and '' perestroika'' policies under Mikhail Gorbachev. Despite the efforts of Gorbachev to preserve the union under a new treaty in the form of the Union of Sovereign States, many constituents soon declared their full independence. The process resulted in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The first top-level Soviet republic to declare independence was Estonia (November 16, 1988: Estonian Sovereignty Declaration, March ...
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Romanian Revolution
The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country, ultimately culminating in the Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu, drumhead trial and execution of longtime Romanian Communist Party (PCR) General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena Ceaușescu, Elena, and the end of 42 years of Communist state, Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of 1989, and the only one that violently overthrew a country's leadership and executed its leader; according to estimates, over one thousand people died and thousands more were injured. Following W ...
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Malta Summit
The Malta Summit was a meeting between United States President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on December 2–3, 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It followed a meeting that included Ronald Reagan in New York in December 1988. During the summit, Bush and Gorbachev declared an end to the Cold War, although whether it was truly such is a matter of debate. News reports of the time referred to the Malta Summit as one of the most important since World War II, when British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed on a post-war plan for Europe at the Yalta Conference. Summit highlights Brent Scowcroft and other members of the US administration were initially concerned that the proposed Malta Summit would be "premature" and that it would generate high expectations but result in little more than Soviet grandstanding. However, French President Franço ...
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