Soviet Union: What Should Textbooks Emphasize?
The Soviet Union, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that ran under an Authoritarian Communist regime. It was established by Vladimir Lenin in 1917 after the fall of the Russian Monarchy, and officially became the Soviet Union in 1922; The USSR eventually collapsed at the end of 1991 due to destructuring of its centralized government. The history of the Soviet Union is rich and can be difficult to break down. Trying to grasp the Soviet Union’s description for a textbook can be done by separating it into three categories. Textbooks should emphasize the geographic and economic size of the USSR, the social and political conditions, and the cultural
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It also had 7 satellite countries between itself and Germany. The physical size of the USSR can be shown in Document A, which outlines all of the countries in the Soviet Union, as well as the satellite countries. The physical size of the county shows how much power it had over Europe. This would be an important factor to outline in a textbook because it shows how many people it had access to, as well as how much room they had to use for industry and infrastructure. This point can be reiterated in Document E, where it directly shows that the USSR had more money to spend on its military and its nuclear power. This theme continues to be shown in Document B, where it shows that they had more soldiers to send out to war, a larger size geographically from the US. The tremendous size of the country shows its physical capabilities in both geographical power, but also economic …show more content…
For example, Document F shows that the Soviets were the first to enter space. This is a huge advancement, and was largely motivated by the Cold War. This shows how they advanced as a country because of a major external influence, like the Cold War. This would need to be in a textbook about the Soviet Union because it explains why and how they pushed to have a better, more cultured environment. This can be shown in Documents G and H, which both show athletic prowess within the USSR. These were mainly motivated by competition with the US, and again shows how their cultural advancements were a large part of their society. Explaining how the Soviet Union pushed to create culture in their society would really be important in a textbook, because it would show how competition motivated
Through blatant examples of Soviet nationalism, Litvin exhibits Stalinist thought and the vast impact it has on Soviet
STALIN Stalin had both positive and negative effects on the Soviet Union during his time of rule. He brought forth many great ideas, but these ideas also affected the Union in a negative way. The five year plan was a system that Stalin came up with. This meant that they would follow a plan for five years, then when that five years was up, they would follow a different plan. He believed that this would help the Soviet Union keep up at a pace that the rest of the world was moving.
During the Cold War was based on two different types of beliefs called Communism and Capitalism and both the U.S. with its own allies and the U.S.S.R. Its Communist allies are equally to blame for starting the war. When the Iron curtain was around the East European government adopted a communist system and fell under the control of the U.S.S.R. The Iron Curtain, political, military, and mysterious barrier raised by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependant Eastern and Western European allies from open contact with the West and other non-Communist countries. (Document 1)
Essay Portion Option #2: After World War II ended, there was an immense tension all over the world; United States and the USSR emerged as the two principal potencies. A new era was coming, the beginning of the Cold War, a clash between the two most powerful countries in the world in almost every possible ambit, such as social, political, military, economical, among others. Also, the influence of these two countries with different systems; United States with capitalism and the USSR with communism, started to blossom over the smaller nations, in a race to prove who is the best. Consequently, these external relationships had to be regularized in a way that could maintain the bond strong and both sides could benefit from it, like the military-industrial
“He was determined to establish a sphere of influence that would safeguard Soviet periphery for all time.” (doc. 12) Stalin’s goal was to promote a great country, and he did. His footprint was left behind, as effects of his work is still shown throughout the previous countries of the
This should be greatly emphasized in textbooks because it's valuable to the Soviet Union's
The Cold War was a war full of politics and beliefs along with brutal fighting. Communism was seen as a major threat to the United States. The Soviet Union was trying to, at the time, influence other countries of its communist beliefs in hopes of gaining allies and resources. The Soviets expanded after WWII and the Americans feared this, adding tense to their “alliance.” The Soviet Union’s main targets were Europe but also to gain global exposure and power as well.
First: In the Soviet Union, People had needed one another. [Doc 1: A List]. In Russia and the U.S, People needed freedom. [Doc 1: A List]. Second: In the Soviet Union, They believe that if people work together, they will achieve greater things.
I enjoyed perusing Sheila Fitzpatrick’s book The Russian Revolution. I think critics are not giving her enough credit for exploring the social, cultural, and even the psychological history of revolutionary Russia. The setting she describes of the feudal setting is consistent with that described by Richard Pipes. This is a difficult history to elucidate as the psychology and culture of feudal systems is poorly documented. Historians have attempted to elucidate the feudal history of the Huguenot Empire leading up through the eventual success of the revolution in Switzerland.
After the Second World War, the Soviet Union was redefined, and this act was majorly carried out by the individual who was then the senior leader of the Union Nikita Khrushchev. He addressed the people who had convened in the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who was majorly communist leaders. In this specific address, Khrushchev made a lot of shocking and unexpected remarks whose main subject was the condemnation of the policies and strategies that had been used by the former leader Joseph Stalin. The condemnations that he made provoked a lot of reactions from the leaders that caused demands that the reform must be made in the east part of Europe and also a new policy had to be developed for the unions to guide
In addition, in a letter to Tsar Alexander II, Leo Tolstoy, a writer and an officer in the Russian military during the Crimean War, described the Russian army as a wave of slaves that lacked any form of military sophistication and undermined the honor of his country (Doc 3). Considering that Tolstoy gives a firsthand account of the war and that he was writing to the leader of Russia, this document is definitely accurate when describing how insufficient Russian military strategy was at the time. As a result of a brutal defeat during the Crimean War, which was caused by the greater development and modernization of opposing powers, Russian leaders gradually liberalized their rules and invoked more social change in Russian society. Perhaps using Western Europe as inspiration, slight transitions to a factory economy increased infrastructure, and a more advanced military led to economic gain for Russia. Still, most of Russia’s economic progress can be attributed to its internal
Even though the Cold war ended, the influence of the Soviet Union didn’t. The Soviet Union grew out of the Bolshevik revolution and Civil war in 1917. The USSR was officially established in 1922. So what should textbooks emphasize about the Soviet Union? Well i feel that the three things that a chapter on the Soviet Union in a school textbook should emphasize the Culture, their military, and their economy, now let me explain why.
The Soviet Union has been an enigma, but still, a very significant contributor to the history of the world. There have been many rulers in Soviet Union history. The Soviet Union has been through economic successes and downfalls, ages of terror, a world war, was once an ally of the United States, today is an enemy of the US. If we were to add the history from the Soviet Union to our textbooks , what information should be emphasized? There are many important areas about the Soviet Union, three of them are: cultural achievements, military strength and political repression.
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the new superpowers in the world. Both countries worked to exert their power and influence on neighboring regions and around the world, such as in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. The USSR had a communist political system, while the US had a democratic system, and this difference had an effect on the life of people in the two countries, as well as their economic systems. The creation of NATO and the Warsaw pact helped to solidify the position of these ideas in countries outside of the US and USSR. Between 1945 and the present, the United States and the Soviet Union both used their economies to support other countries around the world.
The region known as one of the world’s superpowers lost dominance after seventy years of corruption and destruction. The Soviet Union was the largest Communist bloc, which were countries under Soviet influence. It ended in 1991 because the economy that was government run could no longer sustain. What important things about the Soviet Union should be placed in textbooks? Textbooks should emphasize the USSR’s size, The Great Terror, and their military strength, because they have shaped who this region is today.