quickly done night before satiafactoryThe Doomed EmpireIntroduction: The 1940's and the next four decades after, were a time of bitterstruggle between the US and the Soviet Union. National identity as well as ideologicaldifferences brought both countries to the brink of nuclear war, a revolutionary style ofwarfare causing the most disastrous demographic disaster known to man. There arenumerous speculations on who actually started the war. It can be argued both ways thatboth the US and the USSR acted offensively towards each other. But the only real fact isthat "one represented an open democracy and the other a closed totalitarian system" andboth were the only real superpowers left standing after World War II.1 This splitgenerated a bipolar effect bringing the entire world into a game of tug of war between thetwo superpowers. Throughout the four decades actual combative war never broke out butin turn a similar game of chess was played. One country would move and the other wouldcountermove. It was finally America that came out on top and the Soviet Union acollapsed failure, but not necessarily because the US was stronger and out muscled theSoviets militarily. The end of the Cold War was primarily due to economic factors.What America proved was that the economy works best when the governmentstays out and individuals within the society do the work.2 It is only the individuals withinthe society that truly understand what products are in demand. Under Communist regimea few select rulers decide what are the needs of the society, what resources are theircountry's scarcities, and how to obtain these scarcities. Finding this information is a bigjob and requires endless amounts of domestic attention. With this in mind the quote"Nature's laws are immutable... Communism is only an ideal dream"3 becomes muchclearer. One leader simply does not have enough time nor money to invest in theacquisition of thorough and accurate knowledge pertaining to the country's economicsystem (especially a country as large as Russia). But I am not writing to debate whethercommunism can or can not work but that America/Democracy did not really beatRussia/Communism in the Cold War. Russia/Communism destroyed itself. Russiablotched the job. How? By instead of striving to build the country's economic muscleand develop mutually beneficial relationships with neighboring countries thereforeacquiring the otherwise unavailable scarcities, Russia chose to attempt building an empirethroughout Europe and Asia based on the ideological concept of Communism and bycompeting with the United States in an arms race it could not support.Directly after WWII, Stalin set Russia up under a Communistic regime. Havingsuffered the greatest casualties during WWII, it would seem common judgment thatRussia's focus be more on domestic rehabilitation than international affairs. On the sameside the fact that Stalin set up a Communistic government would also lean in favor thatRussia must strengthen itself before turning to international affairs. As stated earlier TheCommunist form of Government is similar to that of a car with a standard transmission. Inorder to drive the car one must be able to shift the gears accordingly. Stalin does notfocus on the domestic issues fronting his Country and in no way shifts the gears ofRussia's economy. In 1948 Stalin begins to struggle with Yugoslavia's leader Tito withthe argument Tito's version of Communism did not match the Soviets.1 Also in 1948,Stalin used military force to destroy the democratic nation of Czechoslovakia and reinstateSoviet Communism.2 Much of Europe was already in such shambles from the effects ofWWII that the only hope was seen in the United States, furthermore whether it beCommunism or Democracy did not matter as much as simply getting moving. It was notuntil 1949 when Stalin ordered the block around West Germany in order to obtain theentire city, that the US stepped in.3 The United States rolled Russia back and the ColdWar began.Stalin still avoided dealing with his Country's domestic problems such as theeconomy, and issues of human rights, decided if he could not expand his weak deceitfulempire throughout Europe then maybe Asia would be a good place to try. Throughoutthe 1950's Russia aided in developing Soviet communism throughout China, Korea,Vietnam, and smaller third World Countries such as Indonesia, India, Egypt, And Syria.1Whether by force of influence Russia tried to set Soviet Communism up and in each placethe US was also there to stop them.Tensions between the US and Soviets grew and between the years of 1957 and1962 an arms race broke out.2 The Soviets launched the first nuclear satellite calledSputnik.3 Both Countries raced to develop ICBM and SLBM missiles.4Russia was limited economically though. They had spent all the post-war timemeddling in international business trying to set up a weak empire of Soviet Communismthroughout the continent of Europe and Asia. Meanwhile unrest existed at home as theGovernment shifted all spending into the arms race with the US. This economic decisionexhausted the Soviet economy and off balanced the entire industrial system.5 Russia'sfinal offensive against the United States was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. 6 Thisoffensive resulted in little more than a small trade of the US removing its missiles fromTurkey.By the end of the arms race with America, Russia was economically destroyed andbefore long collapsed. Although little is written about how the Russians dealt with theirdomestic problems during the Cold War, We do know from looking at the results,economic starvation and political depravation, that it was not enough. The powerfulcountry of Russia emerged from WWII with major domestic needs that were not met bythe leaders of the country nor were the leaders of the country ready to attempt thebeautiful theory of a Communistic society hence Russia/Communism destroyed itself inthe Cold War by ignoring its domestic and economic needs and not forming dependableand mutually beneficial relationships with neighboring countries.End NotesPage 1 :1. Spiegel, Steven. World Politics in a New Era, Harcourt Brace; 1995.2. Allen William, The midnight Economist. Thomas Horton; 1997.3. Feline Peter, Americans and the Soviet Experiment. Harvard University Press;1967.Page 2 :1. Spiegel, Steven. World Politics in a New Era, Harcourt Brace; 1995.2. Same as above3. Same as abovePage 3 :1. Spiegel, Steven. World Politics in a New Era, Harcourt Brace; 19952. Same as above3. Same as aboveBibliographyAllen, William, The Midnight Economists. Thomas Horton, Sun lake, Arizona;1997.Feline Peter, Americans and the Soviet Experiment. Harvard University,Cambridge, Ma; 1967Spiegel Steven, World Politics in a New Era. Harcourt Brace; 1995The Doomed EmpireBY: Eric PaulProfessor SpiegelTA: Mr. KalhorSection: 1L1/28/97
