The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the collapse of the former Soviet Union was the most significant event of the last half of the twentieth century. The author points out that economic weakness, domestic policy and foreign policy all conspired to bring about the ruin of the USSR. The paper relates that, ironically, as secretary of the Communist Party, the decisions of Mikhail Gorbachev, the man most intent on salvaging the empire, were arguably most responsible for expediting the USSR's collapse.

From the Paper:

"The collapse of the former Soviet Union was the most significant event of the last half of the twentieth century. This paper explores the economic factors, the domestic policy decisions - chiefly the glasnost and/or perestroika championed by Mikhail Gorbachev - and, not least of all, the foreign policy decisions that led to the devolution of the World's second most powerful polity. While certain factors were more important than others, there can be little doubt that the destruction of the USSR occurred because of a confluence of factors that, operating in a complex unison with one another, brought down an empire holding sway over more than a quarter billion people."

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