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The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a loose confederation of 15 republics with Russia as the leader. USSR was a strong bloc with great control over global politics from 1922 to 1991 when it was disintegrated into smaller units.  The Russian Revolution of 1917 ended the Russian empire. This was followed by the Russian Civil War which finally resulted in the formation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had a total of 15 republics before its disintegration in 1991. Russia was one of the republics. The listing below the member republics in the country.

1. Armenia 2. Azerbaijan 3. Belarus 4. Estonia 5. Georgia 6. Kazakhstan 7. Kyrgyzstan 8. Latvia 9. Lithuania 10. Moldova 11. Russia 12. Tajikistan 13. Turkmenistan 14. Ukraine 15. Uzbekistan

The disintegration of the USSR: Major Events

• Crisis in the Socialist bloc: People in many east European countries started protests against their own governments and USSR. Without the right intervention from USSR at the right time, communist governments in the second world collapsed one after the other.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall: Germany was divided after the Second World War – among the socialist USSR and the capitalist western regimes. The fall of Berlin led to a series of events including the disintegration of the USSR.
• Economic and political reforms in USSR: Gorbachev identified the economic and political problems of USSR, and started a series of reforms, with the intention to revive the economy. This was a deviation from the communist policies and was more closely associated with the market economy. Many communist leaders in USSR opposed reforms initiated by Gorbachev.  They encouraged a coup in 1991.
• Coup: The coup of 1991.
• Opposition against the coup: Boris Yeltsin won the popular election in the Russian Republic, protested against the coup and central control of USSR. Freedom for republics became the slogan. Boris Yeltsin and the pluralist movement advocated democratization and rapid economic reforms while the hard-line Communist elite wanted to thwart Gorbachev’s reform agenda.
• The power shift from Soviet centre to republics: Republics like Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus emerged powerful.  They declared that the Soviet Union was disbanded.

The decision to split USSR into independent republics was not a joint one. Central Asian countries wanted to remain inside USSR, but the decision was taken against their choice.

Factors which led to the disintegration of the USSR: We have seen the highlights of the dramatic events: the disintegration of the USSR, the collapse of the second world and thus the end of the cold war. But why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Once the second most powerful country in the world -The Soviet Union – failed to keep it together with the units. Was it the ambition of republics inside which led to the disintegration of Soviet Union? 1. Economic Weakness. Huge military spending. Maintenance of satellite states in Eastern Europe. Maintenance of the Central Asian Republics within the USSR. 2. Political Un-accountability. The communist party regime (single party rule) for around 70 years turned authoritarian. There was widespread corruption, nepotism and lack of transparency.  Gorbachev’s decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratization that eventually destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. 3. Gorbachev’s reforms. Once people started to enjoy freedom under Michael Gorbachev’s reforms, they demanded more. The demand grew into a big force which turned difficult to control. The people wanted to catch up with the west quickly. 4. The rise of nationalism. The rise of nationalism among countries like Russia, Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ukraine, Georgia etc is the most important and immediate cause of the disintegration of the USSR.

Consequences of the disintegration of the USSR:

• The fall of the second world.
• The period marked the end of many communist regimes in response to mass protests.
• End of the cold war: End of the arms race, end of ideological confrontations.
• Change in power equations: Unipolar world, capitalist ideology, IMF, World Bank etc.
• The emergence of new countries and new alliances – E.g. Baltic countries aligned with NATO.