Khrushchev concerned himself with lessening the plight of the individual, attempting to increase the food supply and switching from heavy industry to light industry, which would produce home appliances. ... The hard-liners, who included many top government officials, staged a coup in August, placing Gorbachev under house arrest, but within three days the reformers had restored power to Gorbachev. ... After the failed coup of August 1991, economic reformers, led by Prime Minister Gaidar, placed the Russian economy on a steady diet of shock therapy (Harris). ...

• Word Count: 1541
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This brought to light the Soviet policy governing the Warsaw Pact, the Brezhnev Doctrine, that stated "When forces that are hostile to socialism and try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries". ... The government's inability to forestall Poland's economic decline led to waves of strikes across the country in April, May, and August 1988. In an attempt to take control of the situation, the government gave de facto recognition to Solidarity, ...

• Word Count: 2078
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Mutual distrust, suspicion, and misunderstandings can characterize the Cold War by two sides and their allies. The Cold War shortly followed the conference held between the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, which took place at the Black Sea resort of Yalta between th...

• Word Count: 2338
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Background and During the Cooling of Relations The Second World War drastically changed the political map of the world, and especially the European continent. The basic premises of the new alignment of the world developed in the final stages of the war. The anti-Hitler coalition, the main role whic...

• Word Count: 4151
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: Undergraduate