Why Did The Soviet Union Collapse Essay

Causes of the Collapse How could a reigning nation as powerful and mighty as the Soviet Union possibly come to an end? The Soviet Union came into power in 1922 and remained undefeatable all the way until its collapse in 1991. The Soviet Union was the first country to be run by a fully Communist government, and was considered the strongest nation in the world during its time. However this power was short lived, and consequential mistakes took all its power away. Although the predestined collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics did not have a pinpoint cause for its fall, crucial factors such as the breakdown of the economy, military and leadership led to its demise. The Soviet Union rose to power in 1922 via a communist military

The GNP or Gross National Product of the Soviet Union was constantly seen changing, both increasing and decreasing at incredible rates. Towards its collapse, World War II triggered a steady decline of the GNP. The GNP plummeted from 5.6% to 2.6% from 1940-1970 ("Consequences of the Collapse”). This change may seem small, but this drop left the already fragile economy on a tipping point. The Soviet Economy never remained strong and steady, so this economic setback left the Soviet economy pushed towards collapse. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the Soviet Union was ranked as the top producers of energy resources including natural gas and oil. These exports made up a large portion of the Soviet economy. In 1985, the oil price dropped from $120 to $24 per barrel (Ray). Oil exports were one of the very few methods the Soviet Union used to make money. This large loss of money left the already struggling Soviet economy in a tailspin as it couldn't afford this greatly decreased income. This also shows how weak and unstable the Soviet economy was during this time period. The military budget of the USSR was always well-funded and received a spending of 10-20% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product or GDP (Ray). During the Afghan War, in which the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, large amounts of money were spent on

When Gorbachev came into power he created reforms Perestroika and Glasnost, which both failed miserably and backfired. Perestroika was an economic reform that attempted to attempt to mend relationships with Western European countries and the US. To do this it would adopt a mix of both communist and capitalist economic systems similar to modern-day China (Longley). This reform was unsuccessful in trying to save the struggling economy and created tension between the hardcore communists and the government of the Soviet Union. This was because the hardcore communist believed in a fully communist society and felt betrayed when their supposed leader went against the communist belief. Before the reform Glasnost was created, the Government had right control of all media, including all books, even history. Anyone who painted the Soviet Union in a bad light and disagreed with any of their policies would be punished. Glasnost allowed more freedom of speech and less control of the media. The media quickly exploded and created more uprising as nationalist movements were created and the Soviet Government lost their powerful control(Longley). This shows how long the people of the Soviet Union were waiting for