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The Soviet Union collapsed with dramatic speed in the last quarter of 1991. Between August and December, 10 republics seceded from the union, largely out of fear of another coup. By the end of September, Gorbachev no longer had the ability to influence events outside of Moscow.
- Three of Its Founding Members
Declaration and Treaty on the Creation of the Union of...
- Belovezha Accords
The name is variously translated as Belavezh Accords,...
- April 9 Tragedy
Political groups opposed to the Soviet Union organized a...
- Revolutions of 1989
The collapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of...
- Post-Soviet States
In the political language of Russia and some other...
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The national flag of the Russian Federation (Russian:...
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In the third session of the CIK of the USSR, the description...
- Politburo
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the...
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The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (Estonian SSR), [b]...
- Post–Cold War Era
The post –Cold War era is a period of history that follows...
- Three of Its Founding Members
The history of the Soviet Union (USSR) (1922–91) began with the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution and ended in dissolution amidst economic collapse and political disintegration. Established in 1922 following the Russian Civil War, the Soviet Union quickly became a one-party state under the Communist Party.
The collapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties which followed led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in the standards of living in the 1990s in post-Soviet states and the former Eastern bloc.
- Overview
- The coup against Gorbachev
collapse of the Soviet Union, sequence of events that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 31, 1991. The former superpower was replaced by 15 independent countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
That the Soviet Union was disintegrating had been subtly apparent for some time, but the final act began at 4:50 pm on Sunday, August 18, 1991. Soviet Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev was at his dacha in the Crimean resort of Foros when he was contacted by four men requesting an audience. They were his chief of staff, Valery Boldin; Oleg Baklanov, first deputy chairman of the U.S.S.R. defense council; Oleg Shenin, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU); and Gen. Valentin Varennikov, chief of the Soviet Army’s ground forces. They were accompanied by KGB Gen. Yury Plekhanov, chief of security for party and state personnel. Their unexpected arrival aroused Gorbachev’s suspicions, and, when he tried to use the phone, it was dead. They had come to demand, in the name of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the U.S.S.R., that Gorbachev sign a document declaring a state of emergency and transferring power to his vice president, Gennady Yanayev. They were taken aback when Gorbachev refused and rebuked them as treasonous blackmailers.
Gorbachev and his family were placed under house arrest by Gen. Igor Maltsev, commander-in-chief of the Soviet Air Defense Troops. Both Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, later stated that they had fully expected to be killed. Although outside communication had been cut off, Gorbachev was able to get word to Moscow and confirm that he was fit and well. Members of Gorbachev’s personal bodyguard remained loyal throughout the episode, and they were able to fashion a simple receiver so that the imperiled president could learn what was happening beyond the walls of the dacha. BBC and Voice of America broadcasts kept Gorbechev abreast of the coup’s progress and international reaction to it.
Just after 6:00 am Moscow time on August 19, TASS and Radio Moscow proclaimed that “ill health” had prevented Gorbachev from executing his duties and that, in accordance with Article 127-7 of the Soviet constitution, Yanayev had assumed the powers of the presidency. Yanayev headed an eight-member Emergency Committee. Its other members were Baklanov; Vladimir Kryuchkov, chairman of the U.S.S.R. KGB; Premier Valentin Pavlov; Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Pugo; Vasily Starodubtsev, chairman of the Farmers’ Union; Aleksandr Tizyakov, president of the U.S.S.R. Association of State Enterprises; and Minister of Defense Marshal Dmitry Yazov. They soon issued Resolution No. 1, which banned strikes and demonstrations and imposed press censorship. There was also an address to the Soviet people claiming that “mortal danger hangs over our great fatherland.”
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The planned signing on August 20 of a new union treaty that would have weakened central control over the republics appeared to explain the timing of the coup. A sharp attack on the union treaty by Anatoly Lukyanov, chairman of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet, was distributed by TASS early on August 19. The U.S.S.R. Cabinet of Ministers met later that morning, and most of the ministers supported the coup. All but nine newspapers were banned.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration № 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. [1]
The unsuccessful August 1991 coup against Gorbachev sealed the fate of the Soviet Union. Planned by hard-line Communists, the coup diminished Gorbachev’s power and propelled Yeltsin and the democratic forces to the forefront of Soviet and Russian politics.
Aug 11, 2024 · The fall from grace of the KGB was symbolized on the evening of August 22, when a huge statue of Feliks Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet secret police, was toppled from its pedestal on Lubyanka Square in downtown Moscow.
