University History Essay: Collapse of Communism Proposal, HIST 1010

This essay proposal for a history course, HIST 1010, focuses on the collapse of communism. The student aims to analyze the reasons behind its decline, the economic reforms, and the consequences for the nations involved. The proposal outlines the research questions, the student's current knowledge, and the selected books for critical analysis, including works by Padraic Kenney, Lothar Kettenacker, and Steven Saxonberg. The essay will employ a historiographical approach, comparing and contrasting the authors' perspectives on the fall of communism, focusing on their arguments, sources, and approaches to the topic. The goal is to understand the impact of the Cold War's end on US-Soviet relations and the resulting political and economic climates.

Running head: PROPOSAL HISTORY WAR AND REVOLUTION
PROPOSAL HISTORY WAR AND REVOLUTION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University
Author note:

1PROPOSAL HISTORY WAR AND REVOLUTION
The chosen topic for the essay is collapse of communism. Since its start a century
ago, the ideology of communism has a series of surges and declines. I long wanted to gain
deep insight knowledge about its decline and collapse as I am highly interested in world
politics. Many politicians claim that the ideology of communism was also behind one side of
Cold War. At present, there are just handfuls of nations that remain under the communist
rule. I want to gain an understanding of the reasons behind the same. I hope to gain this
understanding and knowledge from exploring my chosen topic. I want to learn more about
the communist leaders and the impact of the collapse of the ideology or this dark tyranny that
controlled more than thirty different nations, on the people who used to follow it and
implemented it in their daily lifestyles.
The main questions that would guide my essay writing are:
a) What were the reasons behind the decline of communism?
b) Was the economy immediately improved with the new reforms to the market and
the government?
c) What were the impacts or the consequences of collapse of the Communism on the
nations that it controlled?
The main purpose of the essay is to gain a good understanding of how the end of the
Cold War influenced the United States and Soviet relationships and how it resulted in the
present economic and political climate in between the two nations.
There were a series of events in between the year 1989 and 1991 that had resulted in
the fall of the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and eastern part of Europe. The
communist government lost their power after huge opposition and strong unwillingness of
President Mikhail Gorbachev to send the Soviet troops to their rescue. The very first loss was
the loss of power in Poland. However, this demand for the reform spread across the eastern
Germany and resulted in the end of the Berlin Wall.

2PROPOSAL HISTORY WAR AND REVOLUTION
The three books I would be critically analysed and discussed are- a) A Carnival of
Revolution: Central Europe 1989 by Padraic Kenney, b) Germany 1989: in the Aftermath of
the Cold War by Lothar Kettenacker and c) The Fall: a comparative study of the end of
communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland by Steven Saxonberg.
Padraic in his book have shed light on the atmosphere of the turbulent years of the social
movements in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and Hungary, the
unpredictability of the street demonstrations and the regrets and hopes of the young
participants during the fall of communism in Europe. Kettenacker on the other hand has
elaborated about the aftermath of the cold war in Germany during the 1989. Saxonberg in his
book again have discussed about the period during the end of communism in Czechoslovakia,
East Germany, Hungary and Poland claiming that the official organizations played a
significant role in bringing down the ideology compared to the opposition.
Like any other historiography essay, in my historiography essay I shall be analysing
the way in which a particular historic topic is treated by different authors.