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Why did the Soviet Union collapse?

Posted on 23. Mar, 2010 by Iwind in History

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR in short, was a commonwealth of 16 independent republics sewn together under the blanket of communism. The Soviet Union was formed in the aftermath of the First World War, when the Old Russian Empire collapsed during the Russian Revolution. Czarist Russia gave way to the communist Soviet Russia, under the leadership of Lenin. After Lenin’s demise, Stalin took over command and began to expand territorial lines with an aggressive foreign policy.

The Soviet Union had become a major force in the eastern front, driven by the principles of a communist state; it had formed the eastern bloc. Throughout its long history, the Soviet Union has had skirmishes of ideological and political nature with the west and with the USA, termed as the cold war, which amongst other consequences led to the space race.

The collapse of the soviet union can be attributed to several factors. The fundamental reason for its dissolution can be attributed to the cold war. Socio-economic factors and the growing resistance to central planning and migration to democracy are other major factors that ultimately led to the dissolution of the soviet republic.

After several bids to take over regimes in the eastern front with a high volume of military might, the soviet union had bartered aggressive territorial conquest for poor domestic development, and lack of economic elevation. Domestic economies were floundering and fiscal growth was declining severely. After many attempts to revive a declining economy, the soviet leadership under Mikhail Gorbachev, began to adopt a series of reforms all of which created a stir amongst the eastern bloc, especially in the Balkan countries and in eastern European nations.

With the looming threat of war building up along the borders of Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, the soviet block was under immense political pressure from all sides. Among a sea of changes to be introduced was the Law on cooperatives which was the most radical idea amongst the reforms enacted. It called for private ownership and the Gorbachev government allowed greater amenities, and in January 1987, in a bid to diffuse tension and allow greater participation in the Soviet administration, the Gorbachev government called for the combination of democratic elements such as multi-candidate elections into the Soviet political process. With greater rights, democratization began to weaken the control that the central government had over its sub-ordinate states. A severe drop in oil prices, lack of foreign exchange and a profound shortage of grains created an atmosphere of criticism within the soviet ranks, with many republic states criticizing the Moscow government of shoddy administration.

Several Soviet Socialist Republics emboldened by the increase in rights such as greater freedom of speech began to resist the central hold of the Moscow based Soviet regime.

Progressive decline in trade eventually began to lead to a dwindling economy, almost at the steps to bankruptcy. With attempts to seize control through a military coup de etat proving to be a failure, The Soviet Union finally succumbed to pressure when a power struggle saw Gorbachev stepping down and the reins of power were handed over to his successor Boris Yeltsin. The Soviet Union officially crumbled in 1991, and hopefully this article gave you insight into why the Soviet Union collapsed.

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Tags: aggression, Balkan, borders, Czarist Russia, Europe, First World War, Gorbachev, Old Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, soviet, soviet collapse, soviet republic, Soviet Russia, USSR