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| 13288185878 | Georgy Malenkov | He was the immediate successor of Stalin; member of the Politburo that tried to abolish Stalin's method of rule and improve the standard of living (New Course). He also tried to improve relations with the West | 0 | |
| 13288187988 | KGB | Also known as the Committee on Government Security, they didn't approve of Georgy Malenkov's plan and decided to replace him with Nikita Khrushchev. | 1 | |
| 13288194823 | Nikita Khrushchev | Also known as "Cornman" was the new leader of the soviet union after Malenkov. He tried to renovate the agricultural sectors by opening new lands and providing incentives. He also attempted to split up the communist party but was met with opposition. Though these changes hurt the USSR's economy more than helping it, he wasn't a complete failure because he began de-stalinization. Still a cool dude. | 2 | |
| 13288268566 | De-Stalinization | This was a campaign of Khrushchev's that followed the Secret Speech. He allowed for more freedom of speech, reduced police violence, and released thousands from concentration camps! Soviet Russia finally understands that Stalin was a crappy guy!!! | 3 | |
| 13288317131 | Leonid Brezhnev | He began his career by kicking Khrushchev out of office by calling him old and forcing him to retire with the support of the politburo. smooth moves. He then went on to reverse many of the changes that Khrushchev made which made the economy even worse than it was before | 4 | |
| 13296152619 | Mikhail Gorbachev | Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe. He was a born peasant and studied law. He also worked to improve agriculture and economic initiative. | 5 | |
| 13296459551 | Perestroika | Or "Restructuring". A policy initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev that involved restructuring of the social and economic status quo in communist Russia towards a market based economy and society | 6 | |
| 13296461801 | Glasnost | Also called "Openness". A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which allowed for more freedom of the press and speech in discussing problems with the soviet union. This caused reports of corruption and the chernobyl disaster to incite revolts of the public. However, it did allow for more religious activities, art, and western music. This policy caused ethnic problems within the social structure. | 7 | |
| 13296683113 | Boris Yeltsin | He was president of Russia at the time the USSR was splitting into a commonwealth of independent states. | 8 | |
| 13297756969 | Solidarity Movement | Independent trade movement of Poland breaking free from Russia. It protested high food costs | 9 | |
| 13297761905 | Lech Walesa | He led the solidarity movement and became president of Poland after the government allowed free national elections there. | 10 | |
| 13297871219 | Communism with a capitalist face-lift | This was a hungarian economic reform brought by Janos Kadar, however it failed to bring about much economic prosperity and led to non-communist movements in the next elections | 11 | |
| 13297879866 | Berlin Wall | When this was broken down, East Germany and West Germany were reunited and free elections began again in Germany. | 12 | |
| 13298307304 | Vaclav Havel | Czech dramatist and statesman whose plays opposed totalitarianism and who served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 | 13 | |
| 13298319495 | Charter 77 | Czechoslovakian organization that protested against violations of human rights. It eventually replaced Gustav Husak with Vaclav Havel | 14 | |
| 13298437495 | Mao's New Democracy | This was Mao's tactic to ease the country into socialism, similar to Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP). It was a land distribution technique that the government used to villainize landlords in order to give their lands to the rural public. While this helped the economy and pleased many peasants, it led to the death of claiming of thousands of innocent farmers and landlords. | 15 | |
| 13298572169 | Great Leap Forward | This was an economic and social plan used in China from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern industrial society. It failed because there were no incentives and people were very unwilling to adapt to the radical changes. As a result, around 15 million people died of starvation. Nice going, Mao! | 16 | |
| 13304216596 | Red Guards | The Radical youth mobilized by Mao in the Cultural Revolution in China starting in 1966. Often wore red armbands and carried Mao's Little Red Book. | 17 | |
| 13304377281 | four olds | Old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits; the Red Guard's targets for destruction. They did this by taking down temples, scriptures, and street signs. | 18 | |
| 13304391331 | Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution | A movement launched by Mao Zedong that attempted to purge the Chinese of capitalist influences. In this effort, they created a new school system based on "Mao Zedong thought" and his little red book. All incentives were also eliminated. The goal was uninterrupted revolution in order to purge China of capitalism. | 19 | |
| 13304991736 | Deng Xiaoping | Communist Party leader who forced Chinese economic reforms after the death of Mao Zedong. He executed/imprisoned the "gang of four" that supported Mao. He also ended the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution when people finally got sick of anarchy. | 20 | |
| 13305007947 | Four Modernizations | Deng Xiaoping's plan to change China after the disaster of Cultural Revolution. They were Industry, agriculture, technology, and national defense. These changed helped to revitalize China's economy and reduce poverty!! Funny how capitalist programs always seem to improve the economy in communist societies... weird, huh? | 21 | |
| 13305243875 | Tiananmen Square | Site in Beijing where Chinese students and workers gathered to demand greater political openness in 1989. The demonstration was crushed by Chinese military with great loss of life. | 22 | |
| 13305687344 | Confucianism and CCP | This was the government's attempt to improve the reputation of socialism. When Marxist-Leninist doctrine didn't work, they turned to confucianism for a new way of ideological purity. Basically the CCP was desperate. | 23 | |
| 13305750444 | Xinjiang and Tibet Provinces | This was where some minorities (Muslims and Tibetans) felt unrepresented, which caused unrest in China. | 24 | |
| 13320800685 | Rural responsibility system | post-Maoist land reform in China, under which collectives leased land to peasant families, who could consume or sell their surplus production and keep the profits | 25 | |
| 13320802367 | Family planning program | Under Deng, families were only allowed to have one child. This led to occasional female infanticide | 26 |
