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Stephen Wears: The Break-Up Of The Soviet Union

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Stephen Wears: The Break-Up Of The Soviet Union
Stephen Wears

Assess the main factors of the break-up of the Soviet Union
The break up and dissolution of the Soviet Union on the 25th December 1991 heralded the end of the Cold War. It ushered in what had been termed 'the new world order ', furthermore, it was suggested by Francis Fukuyama to have signalled the end of history and the battle of ideas which had dominated much of the twentieth century (Huntington, 1996; 31). The 'clash of civilizations ' had already seen the demise of fascism as a credible force in 1945, the close of 1991 would see the end of communism in Europe. The relatively sudden collapse of the USSR has compelled thinkers and analysts to seek answers as to why the world’s second superpower could collapse so quickly …show more content…
The rise of nationalism added to the troubles faced by the Kremlin during the 1980s. The growth of the Transcaucasia and Baltic Popular Fronts had brought the problem of the nationalities to the fore when in 1989 the Red Army entered Tbilisi to assist the Georgian authorities in putting down a rally. Soviet troops were also used to prop up the communist government of Azerbaijan under threat from nationalist forces (Chubarov, 2001; 195). The Baltic States did not join the chorus of statements of sovereignty which had come from Kazakhstan and Ukraine, this was because they regarded their incorporation into the USSR as an illegal act. They challenged the legality of the Molotov - Ribbentrop pact of 1939 and achieved international support in the form of the American refusal to recognise the annexation of the region (Strayer, 1998; 152-153). The policy of Perestroika can be seen as the catalyst for the increase in nationalism as the planned restructuring of the USSR exposed fundamental flaws in the Soviet system. The policy of Glasnost also exposed corruption within the Caucasian and Central Asian republics, Gorbachev responded by replacing the Kazakh Communist Party leader Kunaev with a Russian. This caused a great deal of rioting in Almaty (Strayer, 1998; 150-151). Further to the rise of popular front movements within the constituent republics, the Soviet Union was also facing a crisis with its East European satellites due in part to the policies of Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost and Perestroika are often cited as the most important factors in speeding the demise of the Soviet Union. Eric Hobsbawm claims that the only thing that made the soviet system work was the command structure of the party and the state which had been inherited from the days of Stalin (1995; 480). Once again it seemed that reform from the top was going to introduce fundamental change which was to be ultimately uncontrollable. Hobsbawm
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