| REVIEW SHEET 36 | STRUGGLES WITHIN SOVIET EMPIRE |
| pp. 808-817 |
| 1. | Focus Question: What pressures did the USSR face after WWII and how successfully were they resolved? |
| What are the major themes of Soviet history after 1945? What type of regime did Stalin head after WWII? To what end did Stalin organize the economies of Eastern Europe? What economic problems did Khrushchev face? Why did the government of Nikita Khrushchev collapse in 1964? How did the government of Khrushchev compare with that of Brezhnev? What was Brezhnev's foreign policy goal? What impact did the invasion of Afghanistan have on the internal situation of the Soviet Union? In Poland during the l980s, to what extent was the Solidarity movement able to alter the Soviet system? What assumption did most people have about the Soviet system when Brezhnev died in 1982? How and why did Gorbachev attempt to revitalize the Soviet Union? What were the results of Gorbachev's economic policies? How did glasnostfunction? What did it reveal about the Soviet Union's diverse nationalities? | |
| 2. | Focus Question: How and why does the Soviet Union lose control over its satellite countries? |
| Why were the peoples of Eastern Europe able to challenge their communist regimes in 1989? How did the changes in Eastern Europe compare with attempted changes in China? What led to the undermining of the communist system in Poland? What was the "critical" year of change in Eastern Europe? Which country in Eastern Europe showed the greatest national economic independence of the Soviet Union? Where did the first "breach" in the Iron Curtain occur? What events allowed for opening of the Berlin Wall? What was the result? How was the pattern of the "Velvet Revolution"in Czechoslovakia similar to other communist states? What event started the process that led to the collapse of the Ceausescu government in Romania and how why was it a violent revolution? | |
| 3. | Focus Question: How and why does the Soviet Union finally collapse? |
| Why did Gorbachev allow change in Eastern Europe? What three major political forces challenged Gorbachev by 1990? To which group did Gorbachev turn for support and what was the result? When did the Soviet Union officially end and what entity took its place? What challenge did Yelsin face and how did he deal with it? How did Yelsin come to power and to what institution was he most beholding? What were/are the main challenges that Putin has faced? When was Yugoslavia created? How did religion divide the country? How did General Tito mute ethnic differences? What factors led to a disintegration of the Yugoslav state? What have the Dayton Accords achieved? What role has the United Nations played in the former Yugoslavia? What are the chief problems facing Eastern Europe following the collapse of communism? What situation defined the post-war period, and how has that now changed? What type of conflicts now pose the gravest dangers? |
Perestroika
Brezhnev Doctrine = policy statement made by Brezhnev maintaining that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in the internal politics of its "allies" should the communist order be threatened. |