The Rise and Fall of Communism and European Colonialism

The Parallel Trajectories of Communism and Colonialism

Both Communism in Eastern Europe and European colonial rule were the dominant powers in Europe at that time, providing growth to their nations at a rapid rate and keeping it constant for many years until their political power holders changed their views to suit their own needs.

The Rise and Decline of Soviet Communism

Communism was the prime power in the USSR. Joseph Stalin created a large foundation based on communism itself, which at first seemed to be successful. The reason for this was that it was focused truly on the people. Also, it is worth noticing that the Russian Revolution started with the workers and people wanting to overthrow the government. However, after Lenin’s power, the USSR became extremely authoritarian, exceeding their previous level. Since that point, the Soviet Union began a period of decline.

This caused the fall of the USSR because the leadership became too hungry for power, ignoring the people and focusing more on military power and controlling by fear. Millions of people were killed at the time, and peasants were sent to labor camps. People lived in fear of being accused of treason, mainly due to Stalin’s paranoia, who also murdered almost all the Bolshevik leaders that did not agree with his ideologies. Their view of the outside world was warped by the government’s newspaper. Food was lacking in a large number of places, and even during The Cold War, they continued to fund their militaries with more supplies and provide them with more essential products instead of addressing the necessities that the people of the nation required.

The Mechanics of European Colonial Rule

European colonial rule was also a massive power with constant control of colonies and taxes to raise their economic power. This was in order to maintain an advantage over the growing colonies who had far less power. In some areas, decolonization was calm and peaceful, with many of those colonies gaining their independence. However, in other areas, there was a lot of resistance because the nations did not want to give up colonies that were essential because they provided materials and supplies that they could not easily obtain. Moreover, this caused many internal civil wars in the colonies between those who wanted to seek independence and those who wanted to stay with their colonial ruler.

The Sudden Collapse and Decolonization

The sudden collapse came with multiple colonies at once demanding their independence during the time of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. It started with the nations demanding their independence because of the lack of resources and supplies, causing the colonial rule to drop as colonies began to form their own stable governments or, in some cases, experience civil wars due to being unable to maintain a stable government.