How did the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Europe affect international relations?

+ how did everything collapsed

Between August 1988 and December 1991, the communist era had come to an end in Eastern Europe. The whole process was started by the economic decadence and successive failure; the governments could not reach the living standards that could have been achieved with the resources available. The main issue was related to the over-centralized government and the restrictions that USSR would impose to them, such as the trades exclusively with other members of the communist bloc. Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of USSR in 1985 also gave significant contribution to the collapse of communism. The policy named Glasnost had the goal of acting in the area of human rights and culture, and tried to boost some cultural groups such as the Union of Soviet Film-makers. His plan was to use media to publicize the inefficiency of the government machine and to educate the population. Perestroika had the role of giving a boost to the economy by installing some capitalist market-like competition to ensure that the citizens could be provided with the required services and products. His two policies of glasnost and perestroika attempted to eliminate the hard-line communist behavior into a more free and progressive leadership. As his reforms began he lost control of it because the concessions would not satisfy the small governments, especially because they have seen in Gorbachev the possibility to become more daring and gain greater freedoms, as he would not react by sending in the troops. Poland is the first state, which tries the road to a greater loosening from USSR. By 1983 Jaruzelski obtains power and declares martial laws, USSR does not react so the government is radicated in the system. Hungary comes next when Kadar in 1987 when a strong conflict between two parties over whether the power should have been centralized or put in the hands of

Hungarian government. The most significant example of collapse of Communism is the reunion of Germany. East Germany was used by Gorbachev as a trading element in exchange for economical aid from Germany. Several protests arise and the absence of USSR in the scene causes the downfall of Germany in October 1989. The date of the fall of East Germany and East Berlin with its wall is used as the mark point of the end of the cold war. Czechoslovakia, an important economic succeeding state which traded with the West. The trouble found during the 80s causes a new leader to be put to power. During November 89 a massive demonstration causes a fierce fight between population and policemen with the consequence that a month later the leader has to resin in favor of Havel in the role of the president. Romania passes through a similar process, with violent demonstrations during 1989 which cause the election of a president in the 1990. Free elections were held in June 1990 in Bulgaria, Albania later in 1992. In summary, the two main causes for the breakup of Communism in East Europe were the Nationalist movements, and Gorbachevs policy of Perestroika., which catalyzed the buildup of requests for greater freedom by states. The collapse of the East European Communist governments and the consequent downfall of USSR caused the international relations to be subject to several changes: Firstly, NATO and Warsaw Pact members signed a treaty where they claimed that the war had come to an end and weapons should be considered for self-defensive use solely. The removal of the great curtain between the west and east caused several countries to use the newly gained freedom of movement to start wars to solve internal problems or to gain territory. Czechoslovakia desired to separate into separate states, but when achieved, conflicts between Serbia and Croatia were born for territory division.

World superpowers now have a completely different view of atomic weapons. Now USA and USSR have to act in order to restrict and guide the countries which are more unstable and that desire owning a nuclear warhead. The two superpowers are then elected policemen in order to avoid any spark to activate a nuclear war. A more strict view was imposed on the newly developed biological and chemical weapons, as they can be seen as threatening as the nuclear ones. The Ex-Communist world now suffers an economic issue where the strictly guided economy suddenly becomes a free market. The West has the duty to guide and program a financial aid and a good economical plan. Economical cooperation is then created between the growing countries and the capitalist powers. Attention had to be kept on the desire of USSR to sell to other countries their nuclear warheads causing a new state to own the dangerous weapon. Aid to USSR was then considered primary to avoid such armament sale to foreign countries. The reunification of Germany is likewise disturbed by internal struggles such as the extremely high flow of refugees into Germany. This feeds the neo-nazi to aggressively behave in the name of the protection of their country claiming that they have enough problems on their own. East Germany required isolation from foreigners to receive a boost in modernization and evolution of industry. The sudden death of the common enemy of Communism causes the small differences and discrepancies between the capitalist states to emerge, such as the disagreement over sending UN troops in Bosnia, or the tight cooperation between Japan and the poor eastern European states. The lead of the worlds international relations was now centered on USA, the sole and ultimately dominant superpower remaining in the world.