Why The Failure Of The Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR was a world superpower when it was formed and it continued to be one all the way to its demise. This huge country consisted of former independent territories that became part of Russia to create a powerful Communist state.

When such a powerful country just collapsed, the whole world was shocked. The rapid change of this country from a totalitarianism state to a democracy was incredible. A weak government led by Gorbachev, a change in the will of the people, a fragile economy, and too much military spending led to the fall of the USSR. The USSR failed because of the weak leaders that followed Stalin. When a strong leader like Stalin ruled with an iron fist, the people felt angry and oppressed.

One of his worst decisions was when he decided to give the people the freedom of speech. This allowed the people to speak badly about the government and people. To make matters worse, Gorbachev decided to start economic programs known as perestroika which did not function according to plan and did not stimulate the economy as quickly as Gorbachev wanted. This caused the people to hate Gorbachev more and constantly insult him. Even though Gorbachev continued to be disrespected by his fellow people, he did not resign and continued to rule. In August, however, many people of the government and military such as vice president, Gennady Yanayev, KGB leader, Vladimir Kryuchkov, and the Ministry of Defense, Dmitry Yazov, decided to perform a coup d'état. This event became to be known as the August Coup and has been widely accepted as a powerful force leading to the demise of the USSR. The coup failed due to a betrayal in the military which made the military support the president. After, Gorbachev resigned as leader of the Communist Party (as all of the coup leaders were hardcore members of the Communist party).This broke the tie between the Communist Party and the USSR that existed from the time that the USSR was formed. Soon, however, the USSR would dissolve creating multiple countries reborn such as Russia which became and continue to be

The leaders of the USSR continued to oppress the cultures that did not agree with Communist ideals, forced the citizens of the country to abide by strict rules and laws, eliminated political opponents and enemies of the state alike by sending them to gulags, and brainwashed the people with excessive amounts of propaganda. When Gorbachev made the wrong decision to allow freedom of speech, the people were allowed to lash out the anger that they had been keeping at the Gorbachev administration. Such people began using their privileges by mocking and insulting the government. They spread the word around about how horrible the government was and spread rumors of creating a rebellion. Nationalists of former countries who joined the USSR demanded that the government should free the country that they were currently in. Soon, the people of Lithuania peacefully rose up and declared themselves free of Soviet control. Gorbachev did nothing to stop this uprising which literally was an invitation to other territories to also rebel against the USSR. In August of that month, the August Coup occurred. The coup failed when the military, who was ordered by the coup leaders to fire upon fellow countrymen, refused. Then, the military helped the people save a kidnapped Gorbachev. Gorbachev decided to hold multi-party elections. This was probably because he saw the ability of the people to make the right decision. Such an election only