History revision

The soviet withdrawal

History revision

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power he made significant changes to the Soviet policies.

The cold war created a crisis in the USSR.

This is because:

• The arms race with the USA was very expensive. It cost so much that living standards in Russia dropped.
• Soviet farming was inefficient because farms weren't producing enough food which resulted in millions of tonnes of grain being imported from the USA.
• The communist government was becoming increasingly more corrupt which meant they couldn't give people the same living standards as people had in the West.
• The USSR had been at war with Afghanistan since 1979 and it cost them billions of pounds and thousands of troops. 15,000 troops were killed.

Gorbachev introduced reforms:

• In 1985 Gorbachev became General Secretary of the communist party.
• He was…