WhenLeonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union, first declared to the*world the doctrine by which the Soviet Union would invade and uprootany country struggling against the communist yoke in Eastern Europe*,neither Brezhnev nor the world had any idea of the repercussions thatwould result from this.
Not only would Czechoslovakia and Afghanistanbe invaded by the doctrine’s implementations, but several othercountries not directly influenced including a rivaled communism inEast Asia would take a defensive stance against Russia that led topolitical complications and, ultimately, the sequential collapse ofcommunism in Eastern Europe.The firstterm in need of scrutiny is the Brezhnev Doctrine itself. Introducedafter the Prague Spring in 1968, the doctrine stated the USSR wouldnot permit any country in Eastern Europe to reject communism. Thisbold backing of the countries involved in the Warsaw Pact, (and latereven in countries not in the Warsaw Pact) led to the Soviet Unionassuming responsibility over the internal affairs of these countriesand severely limited the independence of these countries.+-Implementation of this policy was a major cause for strainedrelations with the US and was seen as direct retaliation against theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) organized just 6 yearsprior.
+- Shortly after the Brezhnev Doctrine was fabricated,500,000 troops invaded Czechoslovakia and deposed of the leadershipthat was responsible for the social reforms that competed with theSoviet Union’s agenda.Providebackground on NATO and Warsaw pact:Afterthe events of World War II, the focus of the United States shifted tothe state of a European nation ravished by war, and thelooming threat of communist expansion across the weakened nations.The Soviet Union wasted no time in asserting its influence in thesurrounding nations. The communist party made huge leaps of progressin nations such as Italy, and a Soviet Union sponsored coup inCzechoslovakia brought another communist nation onto the Europeanscene. Testing the western nations even further, Stalin implemented aAfterthe events of World War II left Europe in a state of uncertainty, anddue to conflicts* arising between eastern(including the USSR) andwestern Europe, the Western countries sought to implement a solutionthat would ensure physical and political security. This was conceivedin the form of the Brussels Treaty, signed by Great Britain, France,Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in March of 1948. This pactgave the assurance of collective security among the participatingnations; that if any single nation was attacked (research events thatcaused Western Europe to become concerned about their security) theothers were obligated to assist in protecting it.
Shortly afterwards,the Truman administration proposed that the United states seek asecurity treaty between Western Europe and thus the North Atlantictreaty was negotiated. . . . The addition of West Germany to thisalliance led to the Soviet Union retaliating with the Warsaw Pactestablishing their own regional coalition between their satellitestates in Eastern Europe.Thecreation of the Warsaw Pact led to many greater consequences later inthe cold war that contributed to the eventual collapse of the SovietUnion and communism in Eastern Europe as a whole.
Invasionof Czechoslovakia:InCzechoslovakia, there was an increasing amount of collectivedissatisfaction with the social injustice imposed by communism, andthere was a liberal movement within the country that led to a changein leadership and subsequent social reforms. After fourth months of areformed country, Brezhnev declared that the Soviet Union would notallow for any country of the Warsaw Pact to denounce communism, andthat Czechoslovakia was in violation of these conditions. With thismindset, the USSR decided to mobilize troops from Hungary, Poland,East Germany and Bulgaria into Prague and other major cities toquickly seize control over the situation, and to restore conservativecommunist rule within Czech borders. Although the invasion wascondemned by the U.S.
, their resources and focus were wholly on theconflict in Vietnam, and so they ordered no intervention to takeplace. The Soviet Union arrested Dubcek as well as other leaders andreplaced them with more conservative leadership. Although EasternEuropean unity was preserved, the Soviet invasion was the start of adecade’s long period of Soviet intervention that eventually led toits demise.SovietInvasion of Afghanistan:Inorder to understand why the Soviet Union’s failed invasion ofAfghanistan was so detrimental to the Soviet Union and the communistbloc of Europe as a whole, one needs to understand not only thereason that the intercession did not fix the situation, but thereasoning behind the decision for military intervention in the firstplace.Before1978, it is almost certain that Afghanistan had little support fromthe Soviet Union. “Quote”.
The USSR rarely took action,especially military action, concerning nations other than thoseoutside of the Warsaw Pact. However, in the spring of 1978, thegovernment of Afghanistan was overthrown by communist militants, whowrested the authority from President Mohammed Daud Khan. Daud Khanhad fought to overthrow the country’s monarchy in 1973 andestablished Afghanistan as a Republic. He had worked to lessenAfghanistan’s dependency during his reign and this worked until themilitary coup deposed him in 1978. The newly communist nationgarnered precious little support from among the generallyanti-communist people.
Religion had much deeper roots and a firmergrasp on the populous than did politics. The regime quickly createdclose ties with the Soviet Union, implemented unpopular socialreforms, and snuffed out internal opposition, leading to domesticinsurgencies within the country. When the facts are examined, itseems clear why such democratic reforms garnered such intenseopposition from within the people. Religion had much deeper roots anda firmer grasp on a great majority of the populous than didnewfangled politics, especially those of a communist nature. TheseIslamic insurgency groups became altogether known as the mujahideen,(“those who engage in jihad”) waged a fierce holy war against thegovernment. The leader in place proved to be very radical in hisapproach to policy and it became clear that the situation was gettingout of control very quickly. When ambassadors failed to negotiate anychange in the government, the Soviet Union decided that it wasnecessary, in order to preserve Afghanistan from Western influence,to depose the current leader of the party in favor of a much moretrusted head to help guide the lost state to a Soviet-backedcommunistic state.
Desperate to save their faltering new communistallies, in 1979, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into theborders of Afghanistan to invade the capital of Kabul in order towrest power back from the current head.. The USSR plunged itself intoa struggle to maintain Afghanistan as a communist-friendly power forover ten years. This event was a critical point in the development ofthe cold war, and was one of the most apparent consequences of theBrezhnev Doctrine which led to the downfall of the Soviet Union.There were a multitude of reasons that the invasion of Afghanistanfailed to secure it as another Soviet satellite nation. One majorimpedance to the Soviet agenda in Afghanistan pertains thedeeply-imbedded religious background of the region.
~The Sovietscould never have realized how the cultural roots of the area wouldturn the quarreling “warlords” against the Soviet Union as acommon enemy of their state~.***Accordingto a disclosed intelligence assessment made by the CIA in 2000, theinitial invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union is estimated tohave cost 15 billion rubles, or about 50 billion USD.Discussthe economic effect of war in Afghanistan on Soviet Union.Theinvasion of Afghanistan damaged the USSR in more ways than one. TheSoviet Union had already earned a bad reputation across the world forits foreign policy during the ^time period^. Once again the USSR hadattempted to ensure the development of a friendly communist state andit had turned against them.
SovietInvolvement in Cuba: TheUSSR’s implementation of their foreign policy did not solely extendto those countries within their sphere of influence on theircontinent. After the events taking place in Cuba led to a politicalupheaval led by Fidel Castro, the Soviet Union took a strategicinterest in the Latin American nation. Not only could Cuba be anation that would increase the communist global presence andprestige, but there were great economic opportunities associated withan ally in Latin America. A CIA intelligence review in 1960 showedjust how expansive the economic relationship between the USSR andCuba would become: “Inthe economic field, the agreements announced in the 12 FebruarySoviet-Cuban communique also reflect the USSR’s reappraisal of itsattitude toward the Castro government. As these agreements, whichdeal with major Cuban exports and imports, are fulfilled, the USSR will be able to achieve considerable economic influence in Cuba. TheSoviet purchase of nearly 5,000,000 tons of Cuban sugar in the nextfive years, if carried out, will absorb up to 20 percent of Cuba’ssugar exports in that period.
Previous Soviet purchases, ranging from200,000 to 450,000 tons annually, have accounted for only 3 to 8percent of such exports in any one year.”Sovietinvolvement with Cuba skyrocketed over this short period of time, andthe Soviet Union became Cuba’s main source of manufactured goods andappliances after trade with the United States was complicated byUS-imposed embargoes. The economic system of Soviet communism,however, is also a main reason why the effectiveness was minimal inCuba. Journalist and author Andres Oppenheimer had the opportunity tomake several month long trips to Cuba from 1989 to 1991, and discusswith top officials and common citizens alike the state of Cuba inlight of the Soviet bloc. He recorded his findings and conversationsin his book, “Castro’sFinal Hour”.
In hisbook he describes all of the result of Soviet communism in Cuba, andhow it has slowly been driven down. Communism as it was implementedby the USSR did not prove to be very sustainable financially forsatellite nations such as Cuba.
