On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station occurred due to a surge of power in their no. 4 reactor. The explosion caused radioactive dust to travel through the air, killing 38 people immediately and an estimated 100,000 later. Wind carried the radioactive dust throughout the air, stretching across the Soviet … Continue reading Explosion? What explosion?
Month: April 2018
The Godfather: Russian Edition
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While the collapse of the Soviet Union shook Russia’s economic foundations and government infrastructure as a whole it also created an open window for a new kind of leadership within the weakened Russian government: Russian Organized Crime (ROC). Also, known as the Russian Mafia of Bratva (the brotherhood), the Russian Mafia quickly made their presence […]
All the Lies We Cannot See: Operation Infektion and HIV/AIDS in the Soviet Union
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In the early 1980s, the HIV/AIDS virus emerged and spread with quick and deadly force. Throughout the decade and into the 1990s, those infected (often part of socially-ostracized groups) fought for their lives in the face a seemingly indifferent government, a willfully-blind public, and slow-moving pharmaceutical companies. However, in the midst of the chaos caused […]
Final Blogpost Guidelines
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Mikhail Gorbachev’s leadership ushered in an era of increased freedom, opportunity, and hope for Soviet citizens, even as it fostered economic uncertainty, political instability, and the threat of chaos. For your final blog post, please choose a topic that gives you some insight on the collapse of Soviet communism and the social transformation that accompanied it.
There are two more modules (on 1985 and 1991) from Seventeen Moments in Soviet History that offer an array of topics ranging from nationalism, sexuality and youth culture, to the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, the anti-alcohol campaign, and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Please also consult and use the Current Digest of the Soviet Press and cite the articles you use from this collection. Feel free to explore any other relevant topic from this period as well. There are good suggestions for primary materials on the Soviet History Resources page. You could also use articles from Historical New York Times to compare the coverage of a particular event or issue in the US with the articles you use from the Current Digest.
Jeans, Dreams, and Olympic Rings – The Soviet 70’s
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Corruption, fashion, and rock-n-roll…This week’s posts engaged the complex dynamics of Soviet society in the seventies. The Moscow Olympics and the invasion of the Afghanistan at the end of the decade attracted the most attention, but visitors will find wonderful discussions of science fiction, generational struggles over popular music and the appeal of Levi jeans here as well. Looking forward to the end of the Soviet Union (and the Semester), these posts provide context for the major stressors and changes that awaited the Soviet system in its final decade. Enjoy!
The Disolution of Family
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In the late 1980s, a change in Russian traditions would begin to take place. As taboos regarding sexual exploration were increasingly challenged, the younger generation began to change the structure of a traditional family. We know from previous posts that a standard, ideal family was predominantly nuclear in composition with many children and perhaps some …
Definitely not the most pleasant neighbors
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Introductory Circumstances: The Sino-Soviet split took place during the 60’s. It was caused by the divergence of ideals behind communism. Disagreements about peaceful co-existence with the west led to disagreements in the co-existence of the two countries. “They denounced the Soviet emphasis on “peaceful coexistence” with the capitalist world as kowtowing to the “paper tiger” […]
When I Was Young We Played Outside
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https://softlot.ru/sn/fireplaces/what-tvs-were-in-the-ussr-kvn-and-others-soviet-tvs.html For all of those people like me who grew up with Nintendo and television I am sure the above title had been said at one point or another by your parents. It would seem in this regard, the Soviet youth were hearing these decades in advance. According to this news article from the Digest […]
Physical Sports & Politics
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Throughout history sports have been a way for nations to come together in celebration of a joint athletic spirit and the ability to demonstrate their national pride. While many Olympic Games have been rooted in controversies such as drug and doping scandals, the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow, had to face mass boycotts from foreign … Continue reading Physical Sports & Politics
Russian Into Afghanistan
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It was in late December, 1979 that the Soviet 40th Army moved to invade the country of Afghanistan. In the Soviets’ mind, they were helping to improve communist relations between the Afghan people and the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a communist political party.1 During the midst of the Cold War, the United States had … Continue reading Russian Into Afghanistan
