The Soviet Bloc, Essay Example

It was during the early 1980’s that the Soviet Union seemed unable to recover from an economic and social crisis that hit the country.  This triggered the beginning of the Gorbachev era and the commencement of ‘Perestroika’ or restructuring.  This new strategy essentially signalled the collapse of the communist soviet union  and a period of political upheaval and  change. None so much as the significance of the removal of nations from the soviet block and their move for independence.  Nations such as Romania, Poland and Hungary strived for more political and economic independence from the old communist masters.  ” Perestroika was ultimately the determining factor in the fall of the Iron Curtain. The forces it unleashed, such as freedom of speech (glasnost), by Gorbachev inside his country had devoured the communist parties of Eastern Europe. Continuing the policy of rapprochement with the West and democratization of communism in Europe, Gorbachev had condemned the survival of “people’s democracies” in Europe.”  (Drumea, 2008).

One of the most immediate effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union Bloc was the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This essentially was Russia providing a ” green light” for the reunification of Germany. ” The forces it unleashed, such as freedom of speech (glasnost), by Gorbachev inside his country had devoured the communist parties of Eastern Europe.”  (Drumea, 2008).  Without this approval we may have witnessed a similar situation to that of 1968 Prague where the communist forces went in and put down the insurgency.  The creation of Eastern Germany was purely an artificial one and relied entirely upon the USSR for its’ survival. In 1990 Gorbachev and the then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl signed off on the formal dissolution of the Eastern German Republic and it officially ceased to exist.

The rapprochement to the west by Gorbachev resulted in the second most significant event, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact.  There was no longer the need to maintain the expense and burden of this large military resource. Instead the focus would be more on building up the military forces within Russia itself.. ” Having neither the financial resources nor the political will to save this military alliance, the Soviets proposed in 1988 to repeal the pact against the dissolution of NATO. In December 1988, Gorbachev and Bush declared at a meeting in Malta that the Cold War was over”  (Drumea, 2008).

The longer term effects of the collapse of the Soviet bloc were perhaps  felt most severely in the Eastern European countries that had suddenly been liberated.  No longer without the support of their masters they were left to fend for themselves.  Most of the economies were in a state of ruin and had to be built from the ground up.. ” In the long term, the economies of eastern Europe were severely weakened. Also, the vacuum created by rejected communist ideology opened the door to nationalist fervour, resulting in several border disputes and ethnic strife.”  (Nelson, 2010).

The other major long term impact was that of heightened nationalism and the former Easter bloc countries search for national identity.  This in turn led to the outbreak of wars across various nation states ” Within already existing nations, ethnic and political strife developed into violence. For example, civil wars broke out within Yugoslavia, Tajikistan, and Georgia. Czechoslovakia broke into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (“Collapse of Communism”, 2009). Rejection of communism left an ideological vacuum in Eastern Europe which was filled with nationalism”  (Nelson, 2010). General Tito essentially ruled the former communist state of Yugoslavia with an “iron fist”.  The subsequent collapse of the USSR paved the way for a resurgence of national identity and resurrection of the old hatreds that existed between the neighbouring states of Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro.  This resulted in a violent internal civil war with brutal elements of ethnic cleansing.  Even to-day we are still seeing many of the perpetrators face war crimes tribunals in the Hague.. ” In his June 1991 trip to Belgrade, then-Secretary of State James Baker sided with the Serb-dominated Yugoslav regime by warning the non-Serb republics not to expect U.S. recognition of their secessions. This tragic blunder gave the proponents of Great Serbian chauvinism carte blanche to unleash a war of aggression which has so far cost the lives of more than fifty thousand civilians in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.”  (Vassilev, 1993)

In the reformed Russia it controls most of the supply of natural gas to Europe.  This in turn goes through pipelines in former soviet bloc countries like Georgia and the Ukraine.  There have been instances where countries like the Ukraine have failed to pay tariff bills and Russia has stopped the flow of gas reaching Europe.  When this happens in winter times the results are horrific in countries of Scandinavia and Germany.  This unsettling balance between the USSR also extends to the former countries wishing to become members of the European Communities and falling under the NATA protection umbrella.  In the case of the Ukraine this would have two immediate concerns for Russia.  Land based missile defence systems based in the Ukraine and targeting Russia and loss of the strategic port of Sevastopol denying the Russian Navy a home port and access to both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.  Should other countries like Georgia, Poland etc follow this process, then, Russia could find all of its allies surrounding them with a new land based missile defence system extremely close to home.  This may become totally unacceptable to the Russians and create a new cold war.

Works Cited

Drumea, D. (2008, 5 6). The Fall of the Soviet Union and Reunification of Europe . Retrieved 2 19, 2010, from The New Federalist: http://www.taurillon.org/The-Fall-of-the-Soviet-Union-and-Reunification-of-Europe

Nelson, A. (2010, 1 5). Short and Long Term Effects of the Collapse of the Soviet Eastern Bloc. Retrieved 2 19, 2010, from Associated News: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2547421/short_and_long_term_effects_of_the.html?cat=37

Vassilev, R. (1993, 3 1). The third Balkan war: . Retrieved 2 19, 2010, from Bnet: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n4_v45/ai_13617964/