pushed the two forces farther apart. Then the Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact, which was an alliance between the communist countries of Eastern Europe. (Mestrovic 44)The next factor that led to the demise of Russia as a world power was its periods of economic depression. To start, the Soviet Union had twelve five year plans. They had twelve of them so something was obviously wrong. (Chronology) These slumps in the Soviet economy made it very difficult to keep up with the high costs involved in keeping up armed forces. But Stalin, being the great dictator that he was, always found ways of boosting up the army. Even if it meant cutting agricultural funds. (Encarta)One way of doing this was by starting collectivization. Collectivization was the take over of private farms by the government. With this, the government could now control every aspect of the Russian peoples lives. There was no resistance to collectivization because the government would eliminate all of the opposition.Because of this, agricultural production diminished, resulting in countrywide food shortages. This caused riots in the Russian streets. (Cohen 36 ) The government started to only produce certain crops and in low quantities to cut the governments costs. This brought on rationing , which greatly depressed the Russian economy.Russia is no longer the world power it was once thought to be. The uprise of communism, the Cold War, and severe economic depression brought about by the Bolshevik Revolution led to the demise of Russia as a world power. Still today there is a feeling of political uncertainty with the Russian government not being sure whether they are communist or democratic. They hold elections but their president is a former member of KGB. They also still have economic problems in the U.S.S.R. today....
