USSR Collapse

Why was the USSR collapse “unthinkable”?

Marxism predicted capitalism would collapse, not socialism

Why didn’t experts predict the collapse?

Assumed army/police would maintain control

Psychological impact of collapse?

Deep trauma (sudden, no war/uprising)

Who became leader in 1985?

Mikhail Gorbachev

Why was Gorbachev chosen?

Younger, reform-minded leader

Gorbachev background?

Lawyer, intelligentsia

Glasnost?

Openness, free speech

Perestroika?

Reform socialism (not end it)

Key criticism of Gorbachev?

Political reform before economic reform

China contrast leader?

Deng Xiaoping

Effect of glasnost on media?

Previously banned works published

Effect on Stalin-era victims?

Rehabilitation

Main unintended effect of glasnost?

Undermined faith in socialism

Anti-alcohol campaign effect?

Unpopular + hurt state revenue

Why did economic reforms fail?

Bureaucracy + weak market system

Chernobyl (1986) impact?

Boosted criticism + glasnost

Oil price drop effect?

Loss of state revenue

1990 economic situation?

Negative growth (-2.3%), large deficit

1989 political reform?

Multi-candidate elections

Who rose as opposition figure?

Boris Yeltsin

Yeltsin support base?

Strong popular vote (e.g. Moscow)

1990 political shift?

End of Communist Party monopoly

What did republics start doing?

Declaring sovereignty

Cold War outcome under Gorbachev?

De-escalation, improved West relations

Key Western leaders?

Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher

What policy did Gorbachev abandon?

Brezhnev Doctrine

Result in Eastern Europe (1989)?

Fall of communist regimes

What was the August Coup (1991)?

Failed hardliner takeover attempt

Effect of coup?

Weakened Gorbachev, boosted Yeltsin

Ukrainian independence (1991)?

90% voted yes

Why was this crucial?

“Nail in the coffin”

What replaced the USSR?

CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)

Who led dissolution?

Yeltsin + other republic leaders

When did Gorbachev resign?

25 Dec 1991

Successor state?

Russian Federation