FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION

RONALD REAGAN

• Elected president in 1980
• Called the Soviet Union an "evil empire"
• Began military build up
• Began a new arms race
• Gave military aid to the Afghan Rebels

LEONID BREZHNEV: POLICIES/ACTIONS

• Emerged as a dominant leader in 1970
• Insisted on the rights of the Soviet Union
• Created the Brezhnev Doctorine
• Emphasized heavy industry
• Let the Soviet Union to intervene if communism was threatened in other communist state.

LEONID BREZHNEV: PROBLEMS FACED

• Huge, complex bureaucracy that discouraged effcciency
• Rise in infant mortality rates
• Dramatic surge in alcoholism
• Poor working conditions
• Soviet union had become corrupt

MIKHALI GORBACHEV: COLD WAR

• Brought dramatic end to cold war
• Encouraged Glastnost
• Made agreement with U.S;1987
• Stopped giving Soviet military Support
• Opened the door to the overthrow

MIKHALI GORBACHEV: PERESTROIKA

• Reconstructed economic policy
• Wanted to start a market economy
• Limited free enterprise
• Decreed non communist party
• Guaranteed the communist party

MIKHALI GORBACHEV: THE END

• Iron hand kept centuries
• Released iron grip
• Tried to seize power in Russia
• Resigned on December 25, 1991
• Turned responsibilities to Boris Yelstin

BORIS YELTSIN:

• President of Russia
• Introduced free market
• Economic hardships
• Used brutal force
• Opposed NATO's

VLADIMIR PUTIN:

• President of Russia in 2000
• Vowed to adopt international role
• Putin boost growth
• Free sales, tax help were included in reform
• Russia experienced budget surplus

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