What caused the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union?

The old Russian monarchy had fallen in 1917, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.

The new Communist government under Vladimir Lenin quickly consolidated power, and by 1922 the Soviet Union was established.

Then, after Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union and implementing a series of five-year plans that would industrialize the country.

Unfortunately, this was done at great cost to human lives, which also contributed to both the rise and the long-term problems of the Soviet economy.

For the next 70 years, the Soviet Union would be a major player on the world stage.

But despite its power, the Soviet Union was always a fragile state. It was held together by force, and internal dissent was always suppressed.

Also, the Sino-Soviet split in 1960, which was a major ideological and political division between the Soviet Union and Communist China, further weakened the Soviet Union's global standing.

It also strained resources as it lost a key ally in Asia. This made it difficult for the Soviet Union to adapt to changing circumstances, and ultimately led to its downfall.

There are many reasons why the Soviet Union collapsed. One reason is that the Soviet economy was not efficient.

Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union after Stalin's death, and he introduced the policy of de-Stalinization in an attempted to reform the Soviet system.

Then, in 1964, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, had introduced the concept of 'developed socialism'.

This term was used to describe the Soviet Union's achieved stage of socialism.

In practice, while military spending remained high throughout the Brezhnev era, it meant that the Soviet Union would focus on industrial development and would no longer try to match the United States in terms of military power.

However, this new economic policy did not work. The Soviet Union was not able to produce enough consumer goods, and its citizens were always facing shortages.

This led to discontent, and ultimately to a series of protests in the 1980s.

Another reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union is that its military was too large and too expensive.

The Soviet Union had more than five million soldiers, and it was spending billions of dollars a year on defense.

But despite all this spending, the Soviet military was not very effective. In fact, it was often hampered by poor morale and inefficient equipment.

In 1979, the Soviet invaded Afghanistan, but this was a costly military intervention.

It not only drained economic resources but also eroded public trust, which led to international condemnation for its actions.

So, by the 1980s, Soviet leaders were not able to respond effectively to the challenges of the new decade.

By this time, the Soviet Union was allocating approximately 20% of its GDP to military spending, while stagnation in the consumer economy led to widespread shortages of basic goods.

Therefore, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan's began an aggressive military build-up in the 1980s, including the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), it put pressure on the Soviet Union’s economy, but it struggled to keep pace with the renewed arms race.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev realized that something had to change if the Soviet Union was going to survive.

So, he instituted a series of reforms, known as perestroika and glasnost.

Perestroika was an effort to reform the Soviet economy and make it more efficient. Perestroika meant 'restructuring', and it led to some changes, such as the introduction of private ownership and market competition.

But perestroika also caused a lot of problems. It led to inflation and made life difficult for many Soviet citizens.

In response, Gorbachev instituted a policy of glasnost. This was a policy of 'openness', and it allowed for greater freedom of expression.

Under glasnost, people were allowed to dissent from the government more openly than before.

However, these reforms only led to increased social and political unrest.

The growing problems within the Soviet Union were brought to the world's attention in a terrible way in 1986.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine suffered a catastrophic meltdown.

This was one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, and it had a devastating effect on the Soviet Union.

It showed the world that the Soviet Union was not as technologically advanced as it claimed to be, and they were not able to handle a major crisis.

So, in the late 1980s, a number of countries in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence were seeking to separate from them.

In particular, ethnic and nationalist tensions within the Soviet republics, particularly in places like the Baltic states, Georgia, and Ukraine, escalated as calls for independence grew louder,

This was a direct challenge to the Soviet Union's authority, and it showed that the Soviet Union was losing control of its members.

In 1989, a number of revolutions across Eastern Europe. It started with Poland's Solidarity movement and spread to countries like East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Romania.

One by one, it led to the fall of communist regimes across the Soviet satellite states.

Beginning on May 2, 1989, the Hungarian government began to dismantle the electronic surveillance equipment and barbed wire (often dubbed the 'Iron Curtain') along their western border with Austria.

While Hungary was a not officially part of the Soviet Union, it was a member of the Eastern Bloc under Soviet influence.

Once the defensive line was pulled down, there were significant border crossings of East German refugees on September 10-11.

This was the start of a mass exodus of people who were fleeing East Germany, a Soviet satellite state.

This was a clear sign that all was not well in the capital city of East Germany, Berlin.

By November 1989, there was a lot of internal unrest in East Germany, mostly around frustrations the people felt about the ongoing limitations placed upon travel to West Berlin through the Berlin Wall.

The Soviet-backed East German government initially tried to suppress a series of protests but eventually could not do so.

Then, during a press conference about the travel regulations, there was some confusion about whether the restrictions were to be lifted.

In one night, the imposing Berlin Wall was torn down by protestors, and for the first time in 30 years, people could pass freely between the two halves of Berlin.

Soon after, a popular uprising eventually toppled the Soviet-backed government.

The fall of the Berlin Wall led to a domino effect, and within months most Eastern European countries had broken away from Soviet influence.

In 1991, the crucial Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania declared their independence from the Soviet Union.

This triggered a crisis in Russia, as it was seen as the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.

In response, in 1991, a group of Communist hardliners staged a coup against Gorbachev in an attempt to restore Soviet power.

The coup failed, and Gorbachev was reinstated as General Secretary of the Communist Party and the President of the Soviet Union, but his power was significantly diminished.

A key figure during the coup was Boris Yeltsin, who stood on a tank in front of the Russian parliament building and rallied support against the hardliners.

Even though the coup was a failure, it showed that there was significant opposition to Gorbachev's reforms.

It also showed that the Soviet Union was in a state of crisis. Ultimately, it signaled the end of Communist rule.

It was finally decided that the Soviet Union needed to be ended. This was formalized on December 8, 1991, when the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords.

Then, on December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union to officially dissolve the Soviet Union.

On December 26, 1991, it was officially replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States, which was a regional organization composed of former Soviet republics.

Boris Yeltsin became the first President of Russia, who aimed to transition it from a centrally planned Soviet economy to a market-oriented system.

Yeltsin's reforms included privatization and liberalization measures but resulted in hyperinflation and a sharp decline in living standards for many Russians.

Then, in 2000, Vladimir Putin succeeded Yeltsin as President of Russia. Unlike his predecessor, Putin focused on stabilizing and centralizing power within the federal government.

Under his leadership, Russia experienced economic growth driven by rising oil prices and implemented policies to strengthen state control over key sectors.

Putin's presidency also saw a more assertive foreign policy, aiming to reestablish Russia as a major global power.

These developments have significantly shaped Russia's domestic policies and international relations in the post-Soviet era.