Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded Leonid Brezhnev after he died as the party's new general secretary. People supported Gorbachev's energy and political skills. He was intelligent enough to break away from Stalin's policies and go on with his own new ideas to help the reform of Russia. The Soviet leaders from the past have always had a totalitarian system. To reform the Soviet Union, he needed ideas and information to come freely, with no pressure, so in 1985 he announced a glasnost. A glasnost is sort of like the United States' 1st amendment of freedom of speech. It was a way to inspire people to talk about ways to improve their society. The system of glasnost bought upon many opportunities such as the opening of churches, publications of books and freedom of the press.

Now that people had all the freedom to improve their society, they complained about how long they had to wait in lines to purchase things. Gorbachev blamed this on the economy. In 1985 he introduced perestroika, also known as economic restructuring. He allowed people to own small private businesses, which went against Communism. He wanted to make the Communism more efficient and productive. In 1987, he introduced a policy called democratization. Democratization was a political system that needed a new legislative body and allowed people to vote from a list of candidates who their new leader would be. Mikhail Gorbachev definitely helped out with the fall of Communism in Russia as well as other countries and the rise of democracy.

Collapse Of Communism

The collapse of Communism in Estern Europe and USSR was a major event in history. It was the result of the end of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall being torn down which meant that Eastern and Western Germany had the oppurtunity to form the social and economic ties. People from the West could not cross into the East Communist, and the East could not cross into the Western Democractic system.

The only thing seperating Eastern and Western Germany was he Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was built to keep people from the east to enter the west and vice-versa. Anyone who attempt would gte shot. In 1989, the wall was being repaired and they were making roads for private trips between the East and the West. The also wanted to add several borders to allow people to travel more. People came to the wall with rocks to collect souvnier. Hundreds soon attacked the wall and destroyed it.

The Soviet Union had also divided into fifteen different countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Lativa, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. These countries had different flags and Russia itself changed its flag. When capitalism was the new type of system is Russia, the economy was affected greatly. People had to get higher paying jobs because there was less farming. There was less need for advanced weapons and people turned away from Communism.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

Apartheid is the legal racial segregation of the non-whites by the National Party(NP) in the Republic of South Africa. The NP would campaign apartheid and its policies, passing laws and prohibiting things from people of color. It created seperation of beaches, schools, buses, universities and hospitals. Signs would claim "For Whites Only." The laws became more strict, forcing South Africans to carry their documents withh them at all times. Apartheid was abolished throughtout the years of 1991-1992. Nelson Mendela used civil obidience to stop apartheid.

Nelson Mendela had a law degree from the University of South Africa. He participated in the youth program of the African National Congress(ANC) and was then promoted to its deputy national president. He created a paramilitary branch to the ANC to protect themselves from the whites. In 1964, Mendela was arrested on convictions of sabotage, sentenced to life in prison but released in 1990. A year later he was elected President of the Congress and his actions led to majority rule. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993.