Collapse of the USSR

• COLLAPSE OF THE USSR- Republics of USSR

  • While Gorbachev did not interfere with satellite states, he was unwilling to let the republics break away

  • 1990-91: Lithuania, Azerbaijian, Ukraine and Georgia declared

  themselves independent

  • Soviet troops were sent in to stop them and fired on protestors but they continued.
• COLLAPSE OF THE USSR - Yeltsin


  • While Gorbachev tried to retain control over the Republics, Boris Yeltsin, newly elected President of the Russian Republic began to oppose him.

  • Yeltsin was part of a group who felt Gorbachev’s reforms were not enough

  • Openly criticized Gorbachev and said that the republics should become independent as there’s no future for the USSR.
• COLLAPSE OF THE USSR - Coup To Remove Gorbachev


  • Hardliners within the Communist Party were increasingly alarmed that Gorbachev was conceding too much, felt their power was threatened

  • August 1991, launched a coup to remove Gorbachev, sent tanks and troops onto the street and held Gorbachev prisoner

  • Yeltsin opposed the coup. He was backed by Russian military

  officers and pro-democracy protestors

  • Huge crowds opposed the coup, the plotters gave up because of people’s resistance

  • Though the coup failed, it showed how little power the

  hardliners and the Communist Party had left.
• COLLAPSE OF THE USSR - THE END OF USSR


  • When Gorbachev returned, he knew he had lost his standing and USSR was finished.

  • On 8 December 1991, the leaders of three main Soviet republics

  (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) declared their independence from the Soviet Union with the Belavezha Accords.

  • The other republics soon followed Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union on 25 December 1991.