The breakup of the Soviet Union, which had been established following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and grew in subsequent years until World War II, occurred in 1991 under the strain of economic failure.
In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He believed that his nation could no longer compete with the United States economically or militarily, due to the supremacy of U. S. technological abilities and the extremely poor condition of the Soviet economic system. Furthermore, he felt that the continuous military buildup of Soviet defenses had sapped the industrial and economic resources of the country. Gorbachev worked to reduce tensions with the United States and establish better relations with President Ronald W. Reagan. The two superpower leaders met in autumn of 1985 in Geneva, Switzerland, with the expectations of defusing tensions between the two nations that had worsened in the last years of James Earl Carter, Jr.’s administration and Reagan’s first term in office.
Within the Soviet Union, Gorbachev proposed modest economic reforms to allow a rudimentary market economy to develop, while reducing government price subsidies on some basic goods. He called his plan to reinvigorate the Soviet economy “perestroika” (restructuring), which was meant to streamline production and management. Gorbachev also proclaimed a policy of GLASNOST (openness) by which he intended to allow Soviet citizens new rights of free speech.
At the same time, Gorbachev instituted economic change and decreased the Communist Party’s control on the political system. Nonetheless, Soviet citizens continued to face soaring prices, unemployment, and a scarcity of goods. On August 19, 1991, a clique within the Soviet government attempted to oust him because the imminent signing of the Union Treaty promised to provide limited autonomy to the 15 Soviet republics.
Russian president Boris Yeltsin, a supporter of reform, called for mass resistance to the coup. Thousands of supporters rallied to his cause. The heads of the other republics also declared their support for Yeltsin and Gorbachev. By August 21, the coup had failed and the Communist Party’s grip on the Soviet Union had ended. Citizens responded by tearing down statues of former Soviet leaders, including Lenin and Stalin.
By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union no longer existed. In its place was the Commonwealth of Independent States (comprising 12 republics of the former Soviet Union) and the 15 independent nations of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became obvious that its economy was in even worse shape than formerly believed. Conversion from the state-controlled market to a free-market economy proved to be difficult. Leaders of all the new independent nations turned to the West for economic assistance. The United States and its Western allies responded slowly to the requests and sent money and experts to help ease the transition, but corruption, bureaucratic regulations, and economic inefficiency prevented quick or easy recovery.
See also BusH, George W.; foreign relations.
Further reading: David Remnick, Lenin’s To-mb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (New York: Vintage Books, 1994).
—Leah Blakey
World History
