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Brezhnev came to power and policy changes
In October 1964, Khrushchev was forced to step down amid escalating political struggles and internal discontent, and Brezhnev became the supreme leader of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev's policies, in his attempts to modernize agriculture and industry, touched the interests of many vested interests, especially those officials with established positions within the system. His downfall was partly due to the dissatisfaction and threats of these officials with his policies.
When Brezhnev came to power, he quickly moved to revoke many of the Khrushchev reforms and re-establish the tenure system of officials, which directly strengthened the stability of the bureaucracy, and officials no longer worried about the security of their positions because of the constant change of policy. At the same time, he expanded the privileges of officials, including better treatment and more freedom of power, allowing them to operate more freely in their respective fields.
Economic prosperity and the international oil crisis
Under Brezhnev's leadership, the Soviet Union ushered in an economic boom of the 1970s, a period that later historians called the "Golden Age of the Soviet Union." The prosperity of this period was mainly due to two key factors: the discovery of large oil fields on the territory of the Soviet Union and the turbulence of the international oil market.
In the early 1970s, world-class super-large oil fields were discovered in the Taimen River basin and several other areas in Western Siberia. These newly discovered fields were soon included in the development plan and large-scale extraction activities began. The huge production of these fields quickly propelled the Soviet Union into the ranks of the world's leading oil exporters. With the development of oil fields, the construction of related infrastructure such as oil pipelines, refineries, and transportation networks also developed rapidly, and the construction and operation of these infrastructures brought a large number of jobs to the Soviet Union, further fueling economic growth.
At the same time, the first oil crisis broke out in 1973, and due to the oil embargo imposed by Middle Eastern countries on Western countries, international oil prices soared from $3 to $12 per barrel, bringing great economic pressure to Western countries that relied on oil imports. The Soviet Union, as an oil exporter, benefited greatly from this, and a large amount of oil exports brought unprecedented foreign exchange earnings to the Soviet Union. These foreign exchange earnings were used to further develop the domestic industrial infrastructure, especially heavy industry and military industry, which led to a significant increase in the industrial capacity of the Soviet Union.
Due to the increase in oil revenues, the Soviet government was able to increase investment in livelihood projects while maintaining military spending. In the mid-1970s, the Soviet government launched a series of social welfare programs, including housing construction, health care, and education. These policies significantly improved the quality of life of ordinary Soviet citizens, the housing shortage was alleviated to a certain extent, and medical and educational resources became more accessible.
Military expansion and national attrition
Driven by the economic boom, the Brezhnev government continued to increase its investment in Soviet military power, which was reflected in the continued growth of its military spending. In the 1970s, with a significant increase in oil export revenues, the Soviet Union had enough financial leeway to support its ambitious military programs. The military budget of the USSR quickly surpassed that of the United States, and it occupied an unprecedented leading position in the global military power comparison.
During this period, a lot of money was invested in the military industry, especially in the production of aircraft and tanks. In order to meet the growing military needs of the Soviet Union, dozens of new military factories were built, and existing ones were expanded and modernized. In particular, the aircraft industry has been given priority development, and the production lines of fighters, bombers and transport aircraft in the Soviet Union are running at full capacity, with a significant increase in quantity and technical level.
Tank building was also one of the key areas of the Soviet military industry. Tank production in the USSR peaked in the 1970s, including the mass production of the T-72 and T-80 main battle tanks. These tanks were massively deployed in the armies of the USSR and its allies for their durability and firepower. In addition, the Soviet Union invested in the large-scale development and production of rockets, missiles, and other advanced weapons systems, the deployment of which further enhanced the Soviet Union's strategic deterrence capabilities.
The naval power of the Soviet Union was also significantly strengthened. New submarines and warships were designed and put into production, including nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. These advanced naval equipment allowed the Soviet Navy to demonstrate its power on a global scale and pose a direct challenge to the United States and its allies during the Cold War.
Under the leadership of this mediocre hero, the Soviet Union seemed to have reached the peak of its national power, engaging in various confrontations with the United States around the world, but behind its strength it was also on the verge of disintegration.
The impact of the war in Afghanistan
In December 1979, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev made the decision to intervene militarily in Afghanistan in support of the communist government in Afghanistan against rebel forces that were supported by foreign countries, including the United States. This decision marked a new phase in Soviet Cold War policy, but it was also one of the most controversial and consequential decisions of the Brezhnev era.
Soviet military involvement began on December 24, 1979, when the Soviet Union sent tens of thousands of troops across the Tajik border into Afghanistan. This military operation was described by the Soviet government as supporting the Afghan people's struggle against foreign aggression, but the international community generally regarded it as an unprovoked act of aggression. Soviet troops quickly occupied Afghanistan's major cities and communication arteries, trying to quickly calm the situation and support the communist regime in Afghanistan.
However, the Soviet Union's military involvement did not end the conflict as quickly as it had hoped. On the contrary, the action inspired widespread domestic resistance and international opposition. Within Afghanistan, militias and tribal forces quickly formed coalitions to resist Soviet intervention, and these armed forces, known as "jihadists," were secretly supported by the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.
As the war dragged on, Soviet military operations in Afghanistan gradually bogged down. Soviet soldiers faced a hostile environment with complex terrain and guerrilla tactics used by the Afghan resistance, making it difficult for Soviet forces to effectively control the conflict. Soviet military commanders found themselves embroiled in a protracted war, the cost of which was constantly rising, not only economically, but also in terms of huge losses in personnel.
The war had a major impact on the Soviet economy. It is estimated that the Soviet Union spent at least 45 billion rubles on the war, including military equipment, logistical support, and the maintenance of soldiers. To make matters worse, the war resulted in the death of tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers and the wounding of many more, which had a profound impact on Soviet society and families.
Internationally, the actions of the USSR were widely condemned. Western countries imposed economic sanctions and political isolation on the Soviet Union, and the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the Soviet Union's aggression against Afghanistan. These international pressures, combined with the continuation of the war, further weakened the international standing and domestic economic situation of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union before its collapse
By the end of the 1980s, the internal difficulties of the Soviet Union were becoming more and more serious, economic growth was clearly stagnant, the political system showed the disadvantages of excessive centralization and rigidity, and the contradictions between the various ethnic groups began to gradually intensify. The roots of these problems stem in part from the Soviet Union's long-standing model of development that overrelied on heavy industry and military expansion, as well as the high degree of government control over economic and political life.
Economically, the challenges facing the Soviet Union were particularly acute. Economic growth in the Soviet Union began to slow due to the long-standing emphasis on military and heavy industry over investment in the civilian economy, and the impact of fluctuations in global oil prices on the Soviet economy. In addition, agriculture in the Soviet Union continued to underperform, and food shortages became the norm in the late Soviet Union, forcing the government to spend huge amounts of foreign exchange on grain imports.
Politically, the problem of institutional rigidity in the Soviet Union has also become more and more serious. Senior leaders are generally of an advanced age and lack the impetus for new ideas and reforms. The decision-making process within the government is slow and inefficient, and the gap between the growing social needs and people's expectations is widening. In addition, tensions between the central government and the Soviet republics, especially in the Baltic States and Ukraine, were exacerbated by the long-standing policy of national assimilation and the forced promotion of the Russian language.
The national question was conspicuously manifested in the gradual antipathy towards centralization in the republics and the rise of the independence movement. In the mid-to-late 1980s, as information became more open and the international environment changed, nationalist sentiment rose sharply in the Soviet republics. Nationalists in these regions began to openly demand more autonomy and even independence, which posed a direct challenge to the control of the central government.
Although Brezhnev tried to preserve the Soviet Union's superpower status by further strengthening the centralization of power and continuing to promote the development of the military industry, these policies did not solve the fundamental problems, but instead deepened the economic burden of the Soviet Union and created more rifts in political and ethnic relations. As domestic problems continued to accumulate and external pressures mounted, the unified structure of the Soviet Union began to waver.
By 1991, as more republics declared independence, the political and social fabric of the Soviet Union finally collapsed. In this year, the Soviet Union officially collapsed, marking the end of an era. This is not only because of the inherent defects of the economic and political system, but also because of the inevitable result of the national contradictions and social discontents accumulated over the years that could not be effectively resolved under the power politics of the Soviet Union.
References:[1]Li Xing. On the diplomacy of the Brezhnev period and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union[J].Scientific Socialism,1999(6):51-52