Explain why the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and how this marked the end of the Cold War

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to explain why the Soviet Union itself broke apart in 1991, an event that brought the Cold War to its final end. You should be able to explain the reasons for the collapse (the failing economy, the unintended effects of Gorbachev's reforms, and rising nationalism among the many peoples of the Soviet Union), describe the key events including the failed coup of 1991, and explain how the break-up ended the Cold War. The task is explanation: link the deep weaknesses of the Soviet system and the effects of reform to the collapse, and the collapse to the end of the Cold War.

The answer

A system in deep trouble

The Soviet Union collapsed because it was, by the late 1980s, a system in deep trouble. Its economy was failing: inefficient, stagnant, and unable to provide ordinary people with the goods and standard of living enjoyed in the West. The strain of decades of the arms race had drained its resources. Politically, the system was rigid, corrupt and unpopular. Gorbachev had become leader precisely to reform and save this troubled system, but his reforms, intended to revive the Soviet Union, ended up hastening its collapse.

How Gorbachev's reforms backfired

Gorbachev's reforms had unintended consequences that fatally weakened the Soviet Union. Glasnost (openness) allowed people to criticise the government and to learn about its failings and past crimes, which destroyed much of the authority and legitimacy of the Communist Party. Perestroika (economic restructuring) failed to fix the economy and often made shortages and disruption worse, increasing discontent. By loosening the tight central control that had held the system together, Gorbachev allowed forces of change to emerge that he could no longer control. The reforms meant to strengthen the Soviet Union instead exposed and deepened its problems.

The rise of nationalism

A crucial factor was nationalism. The Soviet Union was not a single nation but a union of many different peoples and republics, held together by central Communist control. As that control weakened under Gorbachev, many of these nations began to demand greater freedom and even full independence. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 gave them a powerful example and encouragement. Across the Soviet republics, nationalist movements grew, and the idea that the union should break up into independent nations gathered force. The glue holding the Soviet Union together was dissolving.

The failed coup of 1991

Matters came to a head in 1991. Communist hardliners, alarmed at how far reform had gone and at the threatened break-up of the union, attempted a coup to seize power and reverse Gorbachev's changes. The coup failed, partly because of popular resistance, led by figures such as Boris Yeltsin. But although it failed, the coup had a decisive effect: it discredited the communist hardliners and the old order, and it fatally weakened Gorbachev and the central government. After the failed coup, events moved quickly: the republics declared independence one after another, the Communist Party lost its power, and at the end of 1991 the Soviet Union was formally dissolved into separate independent countries, with Russia the largest. Gorbachev resigned, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

How this ended the Cold War

The collapse of the Soviet Union marked the definitive end of the Cold War. The Cold War had been a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union and their rival systems and blocs. With the communist regimes of Eastern Europe already gone, and now the Soviet Union itself broken up and communism abandoned, one of the two superpowers had simply ceased to exist. The rivalry that had divided the world for over forty years was over. The United States emerged as the world's sole superpower, and the great ideological contest between capitalism and communism that had defined the era had ended. The Cold War, which had begun in the aftermath of the Second World War, was finally finished.

Examples in context

Example 1. The failed coup and Yeltsin. When communist hardliners tried to seize power in 1991 to reverse Gorbachev's reforms, they were resisted by crowds and by reformers such as Boris Yeltsin, who famously stood against the plotters. The coup quickly collapsed, but it shattered the authority of the communist old guard and of the central government. This event is a clear example of how the attempt to save the old order instead hastened its end.

Example 2. The end of a superpower. At the end of 1991 the Soviet Union, one of the two superpowers that had dominated the world since 1945, was formally dissolved into separate independent countries. This was an extraordinary event: a great power that had seemed permanent simply ceased to exist, largely without war. It marked the definitive end of the Cold War and left the United States as the world's only superpower.

Try this

Q1. In which year was the Soviet Union dissolved? [3 marks]

• Cue. 1991.

Q2. Explain why rising nationalism helped cause the collapse of the Soviet Union. [5 marks]

• Cue. The Soviet Union was a union of many different nations held together by central control; as that control weakened under Gorbachev, and encouraged by the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, many republics demanded independence, pulling the union apart.

Q3. "The Soviet Union collapsed mainly because of its failing economy." How far do you agree? [8 marks]

• Cue. Argue the failing economy was a deep cause, but weigh it against the unintended effects of Gorbachev's reforms, rising nationalism and the failed 1991 coup before judging.