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It was the Soviet term for WWII and their experiences directly with Germany that fueled Russian nationalism and a relaxation of totalitarian terror. It granted the opportunity for Stalin to move his country back toward rigid dictatorship and reasserted control of the government and society.

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The Great Patriotic War

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Improvements in military command structure and strategy (from Winter War), Stalin appoints and listens to Zhukov, Lend-Lease allowed the US to aid the Soviets with necessary supplies, command economy helps with evacuation, Hitler's mistakes (barbarism/winter war)

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Reasons for Soviet Victory

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The code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Beginning on 22 June 1941, over four million soldiers of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a (1,800 mi) front the largest invasion in the history of warfare. Soviets scorched territory as they fled, making it harder on the Germans. Violated the Non-Aggression Pact.

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Operation Barbarosa

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1941 - 1942. After Leningrad, Hitler turned to this city. As the Russian winter came, the Germans were in summer uniforms, and Hitler ordered "No retreat" and Hitler gained little to nothing.

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Battle of Moscow

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Beginning in June 1941 and lasting almost 900 days, the ________ ____ ____________ was a military blockade by the Germans to get this Russian city to surrender. When food ran out, the citizens heroically held out and ate cats, dogs, horses, and bread made out of wallpaper. In early 1944, the siege was broken.

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Siege of Leningrad

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1942 -1943. World War II battle between invading German forces and Soviet defenders for control of Stalingrad; each side sustained hundreds of thousands of casualties; Germany's defeat marked turning point in the war.

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Battle of Stalingrad

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1943. Hitler wanted to take the offensive by making use of the newly developed tanks. The german forces were defeated by the Soviets at the greatest tank battle of WWII.

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Battle of Kursk

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Russian colonel who learned mobile, mechanized tactics from experience in Ruso-Japanese War in 1904-05. Became a general as a result of Stalinist military purges in late 1930s that killed his superiors. Handed Germany first major military defeat at Stalingrad in 1943. Important military strategist whom Stalin was willing to listen to.

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Georgi Zhukov

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February 1945 meeting of FDR, Churchill, and Stalin made decisions regarding the treatment of Germany following its defeat - They agreed upon unconditional surrender, the division of Germany into occupation zones, denazification, German reparations payments to the Allies, and free elections in Poland.

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The Yalta Conference

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(1945-1991) The period after the Second World War marked by rivalry and tension between the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the communist government of the Soviet Union. The Cold War ended when the Soviet government collapsed in 1991.

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Cold War

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Different guiding ideologies (Marxism vs Capitalism), Soviet post-war aggression (Red Army's lingering presence and orchestrated Communist take overs), Stalin's aggressive foreign policy (take overs in Bulgaria, East Germany, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia), US and UK hostility to Stalin ("Iron Curtain" speech, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan).

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Reasons for the Cold War

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1947. massive transfer of aid money to help rebuild postwar Western Europe; was intended to bolster capitalist and democratic governments and prevent domestic communist groups from riding poverty and misery to power; the plan was first announced by Secretary of State George Marshall at Harvard's commencement in June 1947.

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Marshall Plan

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An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the NATO.

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WARSAW Pact

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The blockade was a Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy. The blockade was a high point in the Cold War, and it led to the Berlin Airlift.

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Berlin Blockade

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A military operation in the late 1940s that brought food and other needed goods into West Berlin by air after the government of East Germany, which at that time surrounded West Berlin ( see Berlin wall ), had cut off its supply routes.

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Berlin Airlift

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march 5, 1953. Dies of a stroke. Stressed his mortality (a shocking blow for Soviet citizens).

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Stalin's Death

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Mujahid are soldiers engaged in the Jihad, a religious "duty" of Muslins. The US worked with and helped this group of people attempt to take down the Soviets in the Soviet-Afghan war. The Mujaheddin dressed in guerrilla military outfits when led by the Muslim Afghan warriors in the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980's.

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Mujahidin

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Third President of Afghanistan (1979-1986) during the period of the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Able to take power after the USSR overthrows Amin.

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Babrak Karmal

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A Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. He co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.

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Lech Walesa

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1980. Strikes that resulted from the Polish government raising the prices of meat; strikes were led by Lech Walesa and the strikers refused to negotiate with any of the government controlled unions; strike ended when the government agreed to allow workers the right to organize an independent union called Solidarity.

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Gdansk Strikes

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Crucial event of the Brezhnev era. Russia and other Warsaw Pact members invaded in 1968 in response to the movement known as the "Prague Spring," which resulted in a decrease of military integration, and the increase of democracy and freedom of the press.

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Invasion of Czechoslovakia

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Late 1960s. Communist Party Secretary of Czechoslovakia; loosens strict rules; permits criticism of government; assures loyalty to USSR; gets kicked out.

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Alexander Dubcek

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after the death of Stalin, China began to disagree with new USSR leader, Khrushchev. Mao was Stalinist, so he was not a fan of Khrushchev's destalinization policy.

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Sino-Soviet Conflict

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July/August 1975. The thirty-five nations participating agreed that Europe's existing political frontiers could not be changed by force. They also solemnly accepted numerous provisions guaranteeing the human rights and political freedoms of their citizens. Solidified post-WWII borders, but also gradually became a manifesto for the dissident and liberal movements in the USSR and satellite states.

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Helsinki Accords

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Chancellor of West Germany in the late 1960s; he sought to improve relations with the states of Eastern Europe.

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Willy Brandt

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1958 campaign in Britain calls for unilateral disarmament of nuclear weapons to set an example for the other nations. Does not succeed but brings disarmament to the conversation.

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Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

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A lessening of tensions between U.S. and Soviet Union. Besides disarming missiles to insure a lasting peace between superpowers, Nixon pressed for trade relations and a limited military budget.

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Detente

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Both sides increasingly fearful of nuclear war, USSR found arms race too expensive, USA/Chinese relations improve in 1971 and USSR does not want to be left out, Vietnam a wakeup call for many in USA, Western Europe concerned with its front line position: Willy Brandt initiates Ostpolitik.

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Reasons for Detente

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The opening of relations with the Eastern bloc by the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in the 1960s.

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Ostpolitik

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Neo-Stalinism in official culture and media, Rule of the nomenklatura (people of the party), Poorer, but more equal than in the West, Education, full employment, & social security, low quality products, low pay, life expectancy on decline.

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Social Changes under Brezhnev

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In 1968, Czechoslovakia, under Alexander Dubcek, began a program of reform. Dubcek promised civil liberties, democratic political reforms, and a more independent political system. The Soviet Union invaded the country and put down the short-lived period of freedom.

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Prague Spring

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Policy proclaimed in 1968 and declaring that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any Socialist country whenever it determined there was a need. Policy used to justify invasion of Afghanistan.

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Brezhnev Doctrine

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Brezhnev's successor, 1982 and longtime chief of secret police. Andropov tried to invigorate the communist system but little came of his efforts. Worsening economic situation led to emergence of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985.

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Yuri Andropov

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In response to the dissident movements of 1970-71. A crackdown on the social order through the power of the KGB. No return to terror, but Brezhnev seems to be building a personality cult.

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Neo-Stalinism

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Cycle of arrests, trials, and protests as Brezhnev regime feels threatened by dissident opinion.

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Dissident Movement

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Alexei Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev's policies to reboot the Soviet economy by starting the collectivization over again but giving factory managers more rights to the way they ran their business early 1960's.

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Kosygin Reforms

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As Prime Minister, Kosygin wanted to decentralize the control exerted by Moscow in industry and agriculture. He was partially successful in this but came up against the entrenched philosophy of the Communist government in Moscow that all things had to emanate from Moscow. Kosygin also wanted to provide the people of the USSR with more consumer goods. In this he was unsuccessful as the country was spending vast sums of money trying to keep up with the USA in military expenditure.

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Aleksei Kosygin

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Removed by his colleagues in 1964 due to "Hare-Brained Schemes" (accepting help from the US).

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Khrushchev Removed

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A fortified wall surrounding West Berlin, Germany, built in 1961 to prevent East German citizens from traveling to the West. Its demolition in 1989 symbolized the end of the Cold War. This wall was both a deterrent to individuals trying to escape and a symbol of repression to the free world.

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Berlin Wall

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Consists of poor countries searching for "third way" between communism and capitalism and all had been subject to European or North American exploitation. Experienced greatest number of failures but experienced decolonization in 1960's.

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The Third World

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1959. Designed to increase supply of consumer goods. Increase wages, reduce taxes, social welfare program development. Move from coal to oil/gas.

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Seventh Five-Year Plan

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Part of Khrushchev's plan to reform agriculture. The sea was drained to irrigate corn crops in the Uzbekistan region in the 1950's.

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The Aral Sea Ecological Disaster

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October 1956 hundreds of thousands Hungarian protesters put down by Soviet govt - leads to drop in support for Marxist ideas.

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Soviet Invasion of Hungary

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started as a consequence of the cognitive framework set up by the secret speech, where Russian writers and artists who were oppressed were allowed to have freer reign over their work; went through periods of thaw and freeze under Khrushchev; set up the ideas of reform and western ideas that left their mark on a whole generation of Russians, like Gorbachev.

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The Thaw

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Socialist law or Soviet law denotes a general type of legal system which has been used in communist and formerly communist states. It is based on the civil law system, with major modifications and additions from Marxist-Leninist ideology. Proposed in Khrushchev's secret speech.

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Socialist Legality

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Given by Nikita Khrushchev in February 25, 1956. Called the secret speech because it was delivered to a closed session of high-ranking party officials after Stalin's death. His goal of the speech was to alienate Stalin's supporters, drawing support for himself. Speech detailed the horrors of Stalin's regime including arrests, murders, etc. Led to protests, riots, and eventually Khrushchev becoming premier in 1958.

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The Secret Speech

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USA wanted an economically stable Germany to support a demoralized Europe, and to align Germany away from communism. They suggested for Germany to be treated as a single economic unit, with common policies with regard to areas such as currency and wages. They believed that Germany was central to Europe recovery.

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The German Question

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Malenkov, Beria, Khrushchev, Zhukov, this is who leads the country after Stalin dies just like they did it this way after Lenin died, less violent transition than Lenin's, collective leaders all think that they could be the leader and they all want to keep the system going, all of them also don't want someone else to be the leader.

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Collective Leadership

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Stalin's successor, wanted peaceful coexistence with the U.S. Eisenhower agreed to a summit conference with Khrushchev, France and Great Britain in Geneva, Switzerland in July, 1955 to discuss how peaceful coexistence could be achieved.

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Nikita Khrushchev

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1953 - 1955. Soviet leader who tried to improve relations with the West by reducing arms through his New Course, though he developed nuclear weapons during World War II. He was forced to resign however due to his closeness to Western leaders.

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Georgy Malenkov

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Political rival of Khrushchev who pushed for even stronger reforms and more relaxing of the old system. Krushchev outmaneuvered him politically and he was executed in Dec 1953.

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Lavrentyi Beria

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a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin. Created Molotov Plan.

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Vyacheslav Molotov

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Soviet career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played the most pivotal role in leading the Red Army drive through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the occupation of the Axis Powers and, ultimately, to conquer Berlin.

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Georgy Zhukov

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Reform attempt launched by Khrushchev under which millions of hectares of land in Kazakhstan and eastern Russia were to be plowed and planted for the first time. Turned into a disaster within a decade because the fragile topsoil was blown away by the fierce winds.

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Virgin Lands Campaign

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Feb 1956, known for Khrushchev's Secret Speech.

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Twentieth Party Congress

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Promotion of the image of an authoritarian leader not merely as a political figure but as someone who embodies the spirit of the nation and possesses endowments of wisdom and strength far beyond those of the average individual.

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Cult of Personality

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Term used by Khrushchev in 1963 to describe a situation in which the United States and Soviet Union would continue to compete economically and politically without launching a thermonuclear war.

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Peaceful Coexistence

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This man wrote One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich after Khrushchev began to allow for literature to be published, especially if it damned Stalin, which his work did.

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

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A group within the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that unsuccessfully attempted to depose Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Party in May 1957. The group, named by that epithet by Khrushchev, was led by former Premiers Georgy Malenkov and Vyacheslav Molotov. The group rejected both Khrushchev's liberalisation of Soviet society and his denunciation of Joseph Stalin.

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The Anti-Party Group

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Broke industry into 105 regional economic councils based on "local knowledge." Lack of coordination dooms it to failure. Believed that ministry needs to connect with its proletarian roots.

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Khrushchev's Decentralization of Industry

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Several notable firsts, satellite, man in space, pictures of the dark side of the moon. During the late 50's- 1960 fierce competition with the US. Khrushchev's greatest achievement.

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Soviet Space Program

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a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth.

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Yuri Gagarin

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Stalin views the unification of east Germany as a threat to his power and decides to cut off access to Berlin (which was previously shared by all 4 countries). The Berlin Wall is created to restrict the flow of people and resources.

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The Berlin Crisis

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The Soviet Union threatened, but failed, to put nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. This was the closest the world ever came to a nuclear war.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis

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Under Brezhnev. During this era, the people of the Soviet Union felt an impact as they continued to lag behind the West in terms of living standards. Khrushchev had once predicted that the Soviet Union would catch up by 1980. However, the gap continued to increase.

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Era of Stagnation

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Under Brezhnev, moving away from Khrushchev's plans and schemes, the re-centralization of governing and agriculture, because it made the party stronger. It led to more stagnation and less progress.

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Stability of Cadres

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put on trial, convicted and imprisoned in 1968 for "anti-Soviet" propaganda, and there was an extensive official campaign in the media against them.

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Sinyavsky and Daniel Trial

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The clandestine copying and distribution of literature banned by the state, especially formerly in the communist countries of eastern Europe.

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Samizdat

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Soviet secret police agency charged with domestic and foreign intelligence.

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KGB

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Members of high administrative positions in the Soviet Union. Usually party members. Brezhnev made this a thing again.

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Nomenclatura

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Late 20th Century. Multiple independently targeted reentry vehicle. Delivery system carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads, each guided to separate targets and each more powerful than the atomic bomb.

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MIRV

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Intercontinental Ballistic Missile; rocket that could travel great distances.

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ICBM

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1972. Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, a plan to limit nuclear arms and also increased trade and exchange of scientific information. Culminates in the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treat.

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SALT-1

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A 1972 treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union limiting the number of defensive missiles each country could build. In 2001 President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the treaty.

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Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

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1979. Secondary talks aimed at limiting Nuclear weapons. Not ratified by US due to the Afghanistan invasion. Its terms were, nonetheless, honored by both sides until it expired.

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SALT-2

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62 country boycott lead by America: response to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

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1980 Moscow Olympics

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Popularly known as "Star Wars," President Reagan's SDI proposed the construction of an elaborate computer-controlled, anti-missile defense system capable of destroying enemy missiles in outer spaced. Critics claimed that SDI could never be perfected.

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The Strategic Defense Initiative

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The "savior" of Poland, he supposedly rescued the state by imposing martial law and arresting people in order to put an end to Solidarity and maintain Poland's small degree of freedom from the Soviet Union. He was president for four years.

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General Jaruzelski

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1980 labor strikes under repression/ communism eventually leads communists to allow elections. With these elections, no communists were elected.

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Poland Solidarity

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Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan to help the Afghan communist government crush anticommunist Muslim guerrillas; anti communist guerrillas received support from US and GB; USSR withdrew→ communist party remained in power.

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Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

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The 40th president of the US (a republican) who was in office at the time of the collapse of the USSR, bringing about the end of the cold war. While in office, he encouraged Americans to mistrust communists. He became president after Jimmy Carter and was once an actor, and also served as governor of California for a time.

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Ronald Regan

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Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

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Mikhail Gorbachev

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A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society.

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Perestroika

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"Openness; called for increased transparency in government institutions and activities within the USSR; Mikhail Gorbachev. Usually paired with "Perestroika".

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Glasnost

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the process of creating a government elected by the people.

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Democratization

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1989. The name that the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev used jokingly to describe its policy of allowing neighboring Warsaw Pact nations to determine their own internal affairs. The name alluded to the Frank Sinatra song "My Way"—the Soviet Union was allowing these nations to go their own way.

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Sinatra Doctrine

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-1986; result of flawed design of nuclear reactor and incompetent personnel; steam and fire explosion. Operators died on the spot, while acute radiation poisoning killed dozens; radioactive core was released into the atmosphere. Gorbachev did not fess up about it until months later.

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Chernobyl Disaster

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A Russian nuclear physicist and dissident. Developed the "Third Idea" of a multi-staged, radiation implosion thermonuclear design. Later became an advocate of civil liberties/reforms and faced persecution after becoming concerned with moral and political consequences (protested intervention in Afghanistan). Earned a Nobel Peace Prize, but couldn't leave SU and collect--Soviet surveillance. After exile, Gorbachev would later release him.

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Andrei Sakharov

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as Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost began to resemble social democratic policies he distanced himself from Gorbachev, and by 1988 he was recognized as the leader of the more conservative, anti-Gorbachev faction of Soviet politicians.

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Yegor Ligachev

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Was the first President of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999. The Yeltsin era was a traumatic period in Russian history—a period marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems. In June 1991 Yeltsin came to power on a wave of high expectations. On June 12 Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in Russian history. But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after endorsing radical economic reforms in early 1992 which were widely blamed for devastating the living standards of most of the Russian population. By the time he left office, Yeltsin was a deeply unpopular figure in Russia, with an approval rating as low as two percent by some estimates.

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Boris Yeltsin

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the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991, implemented the necessary amendments to the 1977 Soviet Constitution, enacted a law on electoral reform, and set the date of the election for 26 March 1989.

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Congress of People's Deputies

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1989-91. EE countries facing resistance. Gorbachev did not send troops. Lost Poland to Solidarity in 1989. Berlin wall fell. Failed communist Coup against Gorbechev marked end.

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Collapse of Communism in Satellite States

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In November 1989, the East German government opened up the Berlin Wall, and *thousands of civilians tore it down.*

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Fall of the Berlin Wall

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May 1988 - Feb 1989. Gorbachev signs peace with the leader of Afghanistan and calls troops home.

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Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan

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Yeltsin. Fall of communism 1991.

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Rise of Republican Democracy in Russia

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On august 18th, 1991, the conservatives hard-liners saw Gorb at his vacation home on the Black Sea, demanding That he resign. Early the next day, hundreds of tanks and armored tanks rolled into Moscow. People had lost their fear of the party and were willing to fight for their freedoms. Around mid-day Yeltsin emerged on top of the tanks and said a speech. On august 20, the hard-liners ordered troops to attack parliament building but they refused and Gorb returned to Moscow.

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The August Coup

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leader Mikhail Gorbachev began a process of increasing political liberalization (glasnost/perestroika) however, this liberalization led to the emergence of long-repressed nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the diverse republics of the Soviet Union. The Revolutions of 1989 led to the fall of the socialist states allied to the Soviet Union and increased pressure on Gorbachev to introduce greater democracy and autonomy for the Soviet Union's constituent republics.

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Collapse of the USSR

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Created by the Treaty of Versailles out of the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Followed the principle of nationalism that ethnicity was the chief determinant. Like Finland and Latvia and Estonia and Lithuania and Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and Poland.

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Successor States

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