For a greater part of the 20th century Russia was under communistic rule. It was not until the late 50s where their communistic ways became a hazard for other countries; United States. Their role as communists did not affect nations in their early years of the 20th century. Russia had multiple leaders prior to the end of their communistic rule, the list includes; Lenin, Rykov, Stalin, Malenkov, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and Gorbachev. It was under Gorbachev's rule when their communism dissolved. I will discuss the process of their fall as well as their end and resolution with the United States. .
The fall of communism came because of the end of détente. There were attempts to keep the détente strong with treaties such as the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty of 1972 which had the US and USSR have the same long range missile capabilities. There was also the Helsinki "Final Act" of 1974 that recognized all borders for European countries and resolved any disputes. But all of this came to an end because of the Soviet Union. Their desire to increase their fire power and replace missiles with stronger missiles breached the détente. Their move to replace intermediate-missiles with better missiles triggered concerns for surrounding countries. .
Russia's economy was already sluggish so by increasing fire power all they were doing was getting into bigger debt. This was one of many bad decisions that the Soviet Union has made. Their actions to invade Afghanistan were crucial for the détente. Their invasion caused the end of the détente because they were no longer in a time of peace and was ready to fight. The invasion caused the United States to increase their budget for their defense. This led to a competition of who had the most power so the Soviet Union also increased their military spending. Brezhnev reasoning was "A lag in this [arm] struggle is inadmissible.
