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The collapse of the soviet union was caused by the prolonged stagnation of its economy in the 70s and 80s. This lead to all the events that followed (glasnost,

The collapse of the soviet union was caused by the prolonged stagnation of its economy in the 70s and 80s. This lead to all the events that followed (glasnost, perestroika, etc.) in failed attempt to fix it. And the cause for the Era of Stagnation in the mid-1970s? The Cold War. Starting with the war in Afghanistan in 1979, funded of course by the US, this aggravated the stagnation and then led to a period of economic standstill between 1979 and 1985. (The USSRs economy was somewhere between 30% and 50% that of the US at the time). Couple with added global military pressure from the west caused the Soviets to put military buildup at the expense of domestic development. This kept the USSR's GDP at the same level during the first half of the 1980s. As spending out stripped both growth and capacity, again due to military spending, the rest as they say is history. I don't see how that would have happened without the military pressure from the west. Look at China, it didn't have those costs, and it's still around, as is Cuba, Venezuela, etc. they didn't call it the Cold War for nothing, and it was expensive!

cubancigar11 13y ago
That's dishonest. US didn't fund war in Afganistan with freedom and democracy as end goal any more than it funded Osama with 9/11 as end goal. You can't stop counting after reaching lucky numbers!
- growupkids 13y ago
  The US most certainly funded the afghan war against the soviets to hurt the soviets, and hurting the soviets was all about stopping the spread of communism. You're looking at this too narrowly, some would call it a proxy war, it was yet one more hot war in the cold war. They used to call it the domino theory. And it worked, because the Soviet Union did fall. And it fell because it's economy couldn't keep growing with all those resources going to the soviets wars of expansion. But thanks for reminding me, another example: the US liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban.
  - gclaramunt 13y ago
    > But thanks for reminding me, another example: the US liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban. Yes, only after it aided the Taliban in the takeover of Afghanistan As a side note: is very funny to watch Rambo III and see the taliban portrayed as well meaning freedom fighters
  - cubancigar11 13y ago
    You make it sound like communism is good if you don't have USA as an enemy. As if the military-industrial complex needed an enemy.
  - cubancigar11 13y ago
    Hurting the soviets was about establishing hegemony. If you don't agree here, then, I mean, I don't have that much energy! :)
rdtsc 13y ago
Cold War was going on from the late 40s. It wasn't the singular reason that caused the stagnation and collapse. Stagnation was caused by mismanagement, people not working, cutting corners, corruption. The war in Afghanistan was big but that country had worse wars to deal with. Chernobyl disaster was another blow, don't think that was US industrial sabotage, it didn't need to be. Incompetence, cutting corners and inefficiency were the reason. But a drop in oil prices in the 80s is what probably did it in. > Couple with added global military pressure from the west caused the Soviets to put military buildup at the expense of domestic development. By that time USSR had more nukes ready to be launched than US. US threat wasn't perceived any worse than it was during the Cuban crisis. > Look at China Doesn't China have military pressure from the West? In fact China had to enact some serious economic reforms without which one can argue it might have met the same fate. Also China, Cuba and Venezuela don't have as much internal fragmentation. Even after 70 years of occupation there was enough national sentiment and tension to easily break off all those Soviet republics. So it is very different. In the end, yeah, we like to believe what we want to believe. You want to think US did this great work at eliminating the great Evil Empire. That US "won" due to its hard work. I don't agree with that. The proverbial "Bear" got sick and rotted away from within.

cubancigar11 13y ago

That's dishonest. US didn't fund war in Afganistan with freedom and democracy as end goal any more than it funded Osama with 9/11 as end goal. You can't stop counting after reaching lucky numbers!

growupkids 13y ago
The US most certainly funded the afghan war against the soviets to hurt the soviets, and hurting the soviets was all about stopping the spread of communism. You're looking at this too narrowly, some would call it a proxy war, it was yet one more hot war in the cold war. They used to call it the domino theory. And it worked, because the Soviet Union did fall. And it fell because it's economy couldn't keep growing with all those resources going to the soviets wars of expansion. But thanks for reminding me, another example: the US liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban.
- gclaramunt 13y ago
  > But thanks for reminding me, another example: the US liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban. Yes, only after it aided the Taliban in the takeover of Afghanistan As a side note: is very funny to watch Rambo III and see the taliban portrayed as well meaning freedom fighters
- cubancigar11 13y ago
  You make it sound like communism is good if you don't have USA as an enemy. As if the military-industrial complex needed an enemy.
- cubancigar11 13y ago
  Hurting the soviets was about establishing hegemony. If you don't agree here, then, I mean, I don't have that much energy! :)

rdtsc 13y ago

Cold War was going on from the late 40s. It wasn't the singular reason that caused the stagnation and collapse. Stagnation was caused by mismanagement, people not working, cutting corners, corruption. The war in Afghanistan was big but that country had worse wars to deal with. Chernobyl disaster was another blow, don't think that was US industrial sabotage, it didn't need to be. Incompetence, cutting corners and inefficiency were the reason. But a drop in oil prices in the 80s is what probably did it in. > Couple with added global military pressure from the west caused the Soviets to put military buildup at the expense of domestic development. By that time USSR had more nukes ready to be launched than US. US threat wasn't perceived any worse than it was during the Cuban crisis. > Look at China Doesn't China have military pressure from the West? In fact China had to enact some serious economic reforms without which one can argue it might have met the same fate. Also China, Cuba and Venezuela don't have as much internal fragmentation. Even after 70 years of occupation there was enough national sentiment and tension to easily break off all those Soviet republics. So it is very different. In the end, yeah, we like to believe what we want to believe. You want to think US did this great work at eliminating the great Evil Empire. That US "won" due to its hard work. I don't agree with that. The proverbial "Bear" got sick and rotted away from within.