Recalling collapse of the Soviet Union
National Geographic share a unique view of the Soviet Union, from the early days was formed in 1917, until its collapse 25 years ago.
National Geographic share a unique view of the Soviet Union, from the early days was formed in 1917, until its collapse 25 years ago.
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| National Geographic December 1959 issue featuring an article entitled "Russia as I Saw It" by US Vice President Richard Nixon, who visited the Soviet Union to open an exhibition of consumer goods Americans. The original text under the picture stops in Sverldlosk this car is: "Wherever the Russians gathered, slogans continue to encourage people to step on the line communists". The city is also home to the Russian imperial family was executed in 1918. (B. Anthony Stewart / National Geographic) |
On Christmas 25 years ago, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in national news broadcasts afternoon to formally announce his resignation as president of the Soviet Union.
"You are the heir to a great civilization," he said gravely to the audience who watched. "It depends on each of you, so that civilization can be born again and gave a happy and honorable life for us all."
Press for 30 minutes was followed by the news of the renewal of the war in the Caucasus Republic of Georgia, snippets of Santa waterskiing, and weather forecasts. A few minutes later, the Soviet flag lowered at the Kremlin. The next day, the Supreme Council Soviet declaration published 142-H, and the USSR was officially dissolved.
National Geographic magazine was first covering Russia in November 1914, when the Russian Empire began to weaken entered World War I. More than 100 pages and 16 color plates introduces the reader to the limitless land and its people is incalculable. Magazine discussion about the revolution and consequently appears regularly during 1917. In 1944, the cartographers National Geographic published the first modern map of the Soviet Union and the only one with the name of the place is written in English.
Entering the 20th century, the author and photographer of National Geographic limited to occasional visits to the Soviet Union to document the great achievements at the same socio-economic failures of the communist state. They were amazed at its space program and the advancement of women think the Russians.
National Geographic also witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the articles and photographs become an important record of the existence of the Soviet Union as one of the mightiest and influential country in the 20th century.
"You are the heir to a great civilization," he said gravely to the audience who watched. "It depends on each of you, so that civilization can be born again and gave a happy and honorable life for us all."
Press for 30 minutes was followed by the news of the renewal of the war in the Caucasus Republic of Georgia, snippets of Santa waterskiing, and weather forecasts. A few minutes later, the Soviet flag lowered at the Kremlin. The next day, the Supreme Council Soviet declaration published 142-H, and the USSR was officially dissolved.
National Geographic magazine was first covering Russia in November 1914, when the Russian Empire began to weaken entered World War I. More than 100 pages and 16 color plates introduces the reader to the limitless land and its people is incalculable. Magazine discussion about the revolution and consequently appears regularly during 1917. In 1944, the cartographers National Geographic published the first modern map of the Soviet Union and the only one with the name of the place is written in English.
Entering the 20th century, the author and photographer of National Geographic limited to occasional visits to the Soviet Union to document the great achievements at the same socio-economic failures of the communist state. They were amazed at its space program and the advancement of women think the Russians.
National Geographic also witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the articles and photographs become an important record of the existence of the Soviet Union as one of the mightiest and influential country in the 20th century.
20th anniversary of the Eastern European revolutions of 1989 have reopened the debate about who won the Cold War and what caused the rupture of Soviet communism is very fast in the last years. The collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 is a symbolic milestone towards the breakup of the Soviet Union two years later. Looking back, a lot of people directly involved are still wondering: Was Soviet communism defeated? It overthrown? Or collapse from within?
A series of events that occurred one after another in quick time at the end of the Cold War is not a debate. Poland's historic talks between the banned Solidarity trade union and the ruling Communist Party happened in the spring of 1989.
Within months, Hungary has introduced a multiparty system. At the end of the year, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia Vaclav Havel elected president.
And on the night of November 3, tens of thousands of Berliners flocked to the wall which had divided their city since 1961.
The timeline of events is clear. However, controversy still surrounds why Soviet communism crumbled so quickly.
"From the beginning, I have proposed the concept of the less popular that communism was not defeated, but collapsed by itself. Communism at the end of 1989 is already too weak, old, and emptied of all meaning to still exist," said Klaus.
Joseph Nye is a foreign policy expert and influential former high officials of the Clinton years. Nye agrees with Klaus that the primary causes of the Soviet collapse was the failure of the economy and the decline of communist ideology.
He said that since the 1970s, the Soviet economy proved unable to adapt to the global production system that is controlled by information. Nye also points to what he calls the exhaustion of communist ideas he says had become authoritarian and dictatorial under Stalinism.
"So, when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, it did not collapse because of a barrage of artillery, but under hammers and bulldozers wielded by people who have lost faith in the ideas of communism," he said.
But Nye says the choices made by Mikhail Gorbachev following his appointment as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985 hastened the collapse.
"She wants to save communism but in the process he accelerated its demise. So his policies of perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness) which digagasnya hastened the disintegration of the Soviet empire," said Nye.
Richard Pipes, a former anti-Soviet fighter that became official in the Reagan era, also emphasized the central role of Gorbachev.
He hooked a conversation with a close adviser to the former Soviet leader, Alexander Yakovlev, about how the Kremlin officials see the system as a permanent error.
"Yakovlev said that first we tried, in the first three years of Gorbachev, to improve the system, keeping it intact. But in 1988 we found that the system can no longer be reformed. We do not change it. Therefore, measures taken virtual steps to remove them, "Pipes said.
While systemic failure was a major factor for many observers, others highlight the role played by individuals to defeat communism from within.
Miklos Haraszti founded the Hungarian democratic opposition movement in the mid-1970s. He said that the Soviet system collapsed because the East European opposition successfully broke the communists' monopoly of information.
"It has collapsed because the performance of a new generation of opposition in the satellite states of Eastern Europe who worked for 20 years to build an alternative infrmasi system, knowing that it was the most important goal," he said.
"They know that they do not have the opportunity to change the system. They only act morally, and it's very important. I can say that their moral example was irreplaceable. They really understand that the only thing they can do is go to jail. and they did, "said Haraszti.
He says reforms undertaken by communist dictatorships never lead to systemic change without an active opposition creating what he calls "civil society movement".
In July 1989, Mr. Gorbachev formally renounced called Brezhnev Doctrine, a policy that justifies the application of communist party rule in the former Soviet satellite states of Eastern Europe.
Other American commentators arguing that the US military buildup and moral leadership under Mr. Reagan won the Cold War.
Helle Dale is a foreign affairs specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
"The critical importance of American leadership that is realized through the deterrence of the Soviet Union's military and the international broadcasting and public diplomacy of the United States that carried the ideological fight behind the Iron Curtain," said Dale.
But Nye said that while the US ideas and its ability to deter Soviet aggression is important in understanding the end of the Cold War, neither are root causes.
"The collapse of Soviet communism is a process of erosion. I think to call it a defeat is an impression that comes from the outside. I think the most important thing is what happens on the inside."
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the debate continues. The definitive history of the end of the Cold War is still not written clearly.
A series of events that occurred one after another in quick time at the end of the Cold War is not a debate. Poland's historic talks between the banned Solidarity trade union and the ruling Communist Party happened in the spring of 1989.
Within months, Hungary has introduced a multiparty system. At the end of the year, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia Vaclav Havel elected president.
And on the night of November 3, tens of thousands of Berliners flocked to the wall which had divided their city since 1961.
The timeline of events is clear. However, controversy still surrounds why Soviet communism crumbled so quickly.
"From the beginning, I have proposed the concept of the less popular that communism was not defeated, but collapsed by itself. Communism at the end of 1989 is already too weak, old, and emptied of all meaning to still exist," said Klaus.
Joseph Nye is a foreign policy expert and influential former high officials of the Clinton years. Nye agrees with Klaus that the primary causes of the Soviet collapse was the failure of the economy and the decline of communist ideology.
He said that since the 1970s, the Soviet economy proved unable to adapt to the global production system that is controlled by information. Nye also points to what he calls the exhaustion of communist ideas he says had become authoritarian and dictatorial under Stalinism.
"So, when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, it did not collapse because of a barrage of artillery, but under hammers and bulldozers wielded by people who have lost faith in the ideas of communism," he said.
But Nye says the choices made by Mikhail Gorbachev following his appointment as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985 hastened the collapse.
"She wants to save communism but in the process he accelerated its demise. So his policies of perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (openness) which digagasnya hastened the disintegration of the Soviet empire," said Nye.
Richard Pipes, a former anti-Soviet fighter that became official in the Reagan era, also emphasized the central role of Gorbachev.
He hooked a conversation with a close adviser to the former Soviet leader, Alexander Yakovlev, about how the Kremlin officials see the system as a permanent error.
"Yakovlev said that first we tried, in the first three years of Gorbachev, to improve the system, keeping it intact. But in 1988 we found that the system can no longer be reformed. We do not change it. Therefore, measures taken virtual steps to remove them, "Pipes said.
While systemic failure was a major factor for many observers, others highlight the role played by individuals to defeat communism from within.
Miklos Haraszti founded the Hungarian democratic opposition movement in the mid-1970s. He said that the Soviet system collapsed because the East European opposition successfully broke the communists' monopoly of information.
"It has collapsed because the performance of a new generation of opposition in the satellite states of Eastern Europe who worked for 20 years to build an alternative infrmasi system, knowing that it was the most important goal," he said.
"They know that they do not have the opportunity to change the system. They only act morally, and it's very important. I can say that their moral example was irreplaceable. They really understand that the only thing they can do is go to jail. and they did, "said Haraszti.
He says reforms undertaken by communist dictatorships never lead to systemic change without an active opposition creating what he calls "civil society movement".
In July 1989, Mr. Gorbachev formally renounced called Brezhnev Doctrine, a policy that justifies the application of communist party rule in the former Soviet satellite states of Eastern Europe.
Other American commentators arguing that the US military buildup and moral leadership under Mr. Reagan won the Cold War.
Helle Dale is a foreign affairs specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
"The critical importance of American leadership that is realized through the deterrence of the Soviet Union's military and the international broadcasting and public diplomacy of the United States that carried the ideological fight behind the Iron Curtain," said Dale.
But Nye said that while the US ideas and its ability to deter Soviet aggression is important in understanding the end of the Cold War, neither are root causes.
"The collapse of Soviet communism is a process of erosion. I think to call it a defeat is an impression that comes from the outside. I think the most important thing is what happens on the inside."
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the debate continues. The definitive history of the end of the Cold War is still not written clearly.
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