Soviet collapse

The Soviet collapse was the result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet collapse along with increasing competition for fossil fuels, is creating an 'economic' conflict that is brewing in the twenty-first century.

Dissolution

The Fall Of The Soviet Union

The dissolution of the Soviet Union can be traced back to the mid-1980s, when the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost and perestroika. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, known as the Era of Stagnation. The Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist governments. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the Soviet Union as well. The government initiated a referendum on the future of the Soviet Union—boycotted by Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and the Baltic states—which resulted in the majority of participating citizens voting in favor of preserving the union as the Union of Sovereign States.

In August 1991, a coup d'état was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It ultimately failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a high-profile role in facing down the coup, resulting in the banning of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the remaining twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states. The Russian Federation (formerly the Russian SFSR) assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations and has emerged as the recognized primary legal successor of the Soviet Union.

See also

• Space race