The collapse of the Soviet Union… As the Iron Curtain fell, over a dozen nations
were finally freed from the heavy-handed grasp of the once-powerful U.S.S.R. From its foundation in 1922 until its final
demise in 1991, the Soviet Union and its allies made up an incredibly significant portion
of Europe - essentially filling out the entire Eastern side of the continent. A global superpower at its peak, the U.S.S.R.
somehow only lasted a short 70 years. How is this possible? And why, exactly, did the Soviet Union collapse?... This video is sponsored by Raid: Shadow Legends! Join millions of players and fight dozens
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in-game. Good luck and I’ll see you there-! If you asked Mikhail Gorbachev, the final
President of the Soviet Union, why his nation and its collection of alliances crumbled before
him, he would have one likely response - “Chernobyl”. The former president made it clear in 2006,
20 years after the nuclear meltdown occurred, that he truly believed this, above all else,
was the final turning point into a steep decline for his Soviet Union. Whether this was the final straw or not for
the Soviet people, it’s no doubt that the Chernobyl tragedy was severely disastrous
for the U.S.S.R… When the explosion occurred on April 26, 1986,
at Chernobyl, the Soviet leadership immediately hoped to hide the startling problem from the
people. It was evident from the start to the first
responders and government officials that this explosion posed an enormous threat to the
surrounding citizens, and the radioactive fallout it caused was roughly 400 times that
of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Yet still, the Communist Party was desperate
to cover it all up, even if that meant risking the lives of their own people. They gave no warning, and so May Day parades
and other events continued to be held, everyone went about their lives as normal, and no word
was given until a sudden influx of radiation poisoning finally started to affect the Soviet
citizens. It was then on May 14th that President Gorbachev
made his first public statement on the matter - during which, he was very willing to downplay
the reality of the failure and instead focus on bashing the West for what he called “malicious
lies” and an overexaggerated report of what had happened. It wasn’t long before the truth came out
though, and the Soviet people became furiously aware of the corruption that they were under,
and particularly, the failure of glasnost… Glasnost was a policy enacted by Mikhail Gorbachev
that was supposed to restore certain freedoms for the Soviet people, such as freedom of
speech, press, and religion. It was intended to create a better way of
life and more transparency from the government, and in some ways it did work. But, the newfound freedoms allowed the Soviet
people to discover the government coverup efforts of Chernobyl and exposed their leaderships’
deep corruption, which led to a drastic decrease in public trust. This wasn’t the only policy that would contribute
to the union’s collapse though. Another well-intended change was known as
perestroika. The goal was to adopt a new economic system,
similar to modern-day China. The mixed communist-capitalist structure would
allow for more market freedom, and the policy also opened the door for new, democratic elections. The Communist Party would still remain in
control, even with these elections, but the freedom of choice was nevertheless believed
to be a significant benefit for the Soviet people. Ironically, though, this policy began to contribute
to the crumbling of the union, as citizens started to see the shifts as weaknesses… The reason why perestroika was enacted may
have also been a relevant factor to the Soviet collapse. Around World War Two, the U.S.S.R.’s economy
had already been facing notable challenges. Though it had previously been remarkably successful,
the Soviet economy was now falling apart. There was a brief stint of recovery around
1970, but that was short-lived as the Afghanistan War became a new source of spending for the
Soviet government. This greatly restrained the recovery path,
and the citizens of the union began to grow tired of living under a communist regime that
valued the production of capital over consumer goods. With poverty plaguing the people and communism
seeming to be the cause, there was a severe need for change - which is what would lead
to Mikhail Gorbachev’s later reforms. But, as we know, this produced yet one more
failed attempt to save the shaky foundations the government was trying to stand on… The nail that sealed the coffin for the end
of the Soviet Union was the events of 1989. After years of living under a Soviet shadow,
the Warsaw Pact satellite states of the union, including Poland, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia,
began to face their own challenges and the downfall of Soviet-friendly regimes. Other nearby communist allies, such as Romania,
also faced revolts that would sever their ties to the communist union, and the Berlin
Wall over in Germany would once and for all be torn down. Ethnic conflict, anti-communist sentiments,
and overall disapproval was building even from within the U.S.S.R. itself, and instead
of putting an end to it, the government, yet again, failed… The reason why there was even an opportunity
for the opposition that rippled throughout the East in 1989 was due to a poor strategy
utilized by President Gorbachev in his bid to resurrect the Soviet economy. After spending years as a frequent critic
and enemy to the U.S., Gorbachev decided that the best way to create his successful economic
reforms would be to build a better relationship with the West, even though the United States
particularly was still far from a potential friend for the Soviets. Hoping to calm these tensions as the first
step toward friendship with the West, Gorbachev promised that the Soviet Union would withdraw
from the nuclear arms race against the United States, and even reduce their own military
presence throughout the globe. Gorbachev decided to subsequently pull out
of the Afghanistan War and reduce Soviet military presence throughout their satellite states. This sudden deterioration of an overbearing
military throughout the Warsaw Pact nations, and what appeared to be a weakening of international
Soviet influence, is what would trigger the following events of 1989. Still, it wasn’t just the withdrawal of
military troops that hurt the U.S.S.R. - it was also the mere state of their military
at the time. The Stalin-era policy that prioritized the
production of military equipment over consumer goods and basic necessities for the Soviet
people was no more - and with the economy tanking, Gorbachev’s military was crumbling
too. The consequences of his perestroika drastically
reduced military spending and in turn, the military might of the union. There were also external factors, including
an arm s reduction treaty that the Soviets had tried
to push off for as long as possible until 1988. This required the union to cut its military
numbers by 500,000, while roughly 15,000 of the troops over in Afghanistan had been killed. Pushback against the draft only worsened the
problem, and once standing at over 5.3 million strong in 1985, the Soviet military was now
reduced to a startling total below 2.7 million by 1991… With its people fighting back, and an attempted
coup by Communist Party opposition, Gorbachev’s Soviet Union was in its final hours… On December 25, 1991, President Mikhail Gorbachev
announced to the world that the U.S.S.R. was no more. This was the end of the Soviet Union altogether,
as it could no longer withstand the weight of its mistakes. At 7:32 PM, the flag of the Russian Federation
rose in place of the Soviet flag atop the Kremlin. The new president, Boris Yeltsin, would take
the helm - now the leader of one nation, with 15 new neighbors who had once been joined
together. “We are now living in a new world”, rang
the words of the last president of the Soviet Union… The answer to why the Soviet Union collapsed
may differ depending on who you ask. Gorbachev believes it was a result of Chernobyl,
while others point to his own policies; perestroika and glasnost. Still, others blame the broken economy or
decaying military. The reality is likely a sum of each of these
theories. Without the economic chaos, perestroika would
not have been necessary. If not for glasnost, the Chernobyl scandal
may not have been so easy to uncover. Furthermore, without glasnost, drafted soldiers
would not have been able to speak so openly about the despicable conditions they were
forced into, and the military may not have shrunk so much. It also may not have been so dangerously reduced
if Gorbachev had not been extensively determined to begin appeasing the West. Or maybe the Afghanistan War took too much
of a toll on the military - and the economy. More military spending and strength could
have kept the satellite states in line, and prevented the Berlin Wall from falling… Every potential reason for the dissolution
of the U.S.S.R. is intertwined with yet another reason. Even Gorbachev’s theory of how his union
fell apart is only a potential turning point, not the sole cause. The reality is that it took a series of mistakes
and miscalculations to bring down the Soviet Union, and while it may be easy to blame the
last president for destroying his own nation, it’s important to note that a majority of
his own mistakes were simply attempts to correct the flaws of his predecessors. In all actuality, the reason why the Soviet
Union collapsed comes down to a long string of repeated failures on behalf of its leadership…
