On Christmas Day 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev - the first and last president of the Soviet Union (USSR) tendered his resignation, thereby ending the 7 decades of Communist rule in Russia and the other 15 former Soviet states. But how and why did, in a matter of hours, the largest federal state in the world become non-existent? 

The Soviet Union 

The Russian revolution of 1917-1923 resulted in the win of Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik party, leading to the creation of the Soviet Union. This enormous Communist state that ruled over much of Eastern Europe and Asia, including countries now known as Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. It sided with the Allies in the Second World War and when Germany was divided between the victors they got the East. After World War Two, however, the Cold War (1947-1991) emerged. A war, that, despite no conflict taking place, would ultimately lead to the USSR’s collapse in 1991.

1985 - Gorbachev Elected

On March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was keen to push liberalisation in the USSR and introduced a one-party democracy. He also brought in Boris Yeltsin (who later became the first Russian Federation president) as First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party.

In the first few years of Gorbachev’s premiership he tried to kickstart Soviet economic growth after the economic standstill that had taken place under Brezhnev, with several reform movements, namely Perestroika - which means restructuring, Glasnost - meaning openness and Demokratizatsiya - meaning democratisation.

This would give the press more freedom and let some non-Communist candidates run for office. However, the main purpose was to drive economic growth. This idea never really worked, though, and the Soviet Union’s economy became half the size of the USA’s. With much more freedom of the press, Soviet citizens learnt of the economic emergency that was happening within the USSR. It also revealed the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant disaster of 1986 which was not released to the public until weeks after it happened. This made people lose faith in their government. 

The Fall 

In 1989 Gorbachev denounced repression in countries within the Warsaw Pact (e.g. East Germany). He also permitted free elections there. This essentially led to the fall of the Berlin Wall   and the Iron Curtain. After just a couple of years, Communist rule ended. In 1990 one-party rule was formally ended in the Soviet Union and other parties were then allowed to run for election. Soon after this, Lithuania declared itself independent and other Baltic Coast countries showed their intention to do the same.

Presidential elections were introduced in the various independently run republics within the USSR. In 1990 Boris Yeltsin rose in the opposition to the CPSU. He publicly quit the party after being fired from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party by Gorbachev himself. He denounced Gorbachev’s leadership and criticised the way that the USSR was run. In 1991 Soviet Russia held its first election in which Boris Yeltsin won. Gorbachev was highly criticised by other senior members of the CPSU that he was not being true to the party’s ethos.  

The 1991 August coup d’etat 

In August 1991 a coup d’etat - led by Gennady Yenayev - attempted to overthrow the Government and restore complete Communist rule to the USSR. Gorbachev was placed under house arrest by the KGB (who supported the coup) and the media was taken under control. The public were told that Gorbachev was ill and could not return to lead the USSR. The coup only lasted two days though and was defied. During the turmoil Latvia and Estonia declared themselves independent.

The End

Just three days after the coup, Gorbachev disbanded the CPSU. By the 1st of December 1991 Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had declared themselves independent from the USSR. On the 21st of December the Alma-Ata Protocols were signed, which declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Finally on the 25th Gorbachev formally resigned, handing over all powers to Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin would become the First President of the Russian Federation, and at 7:32 pm Moscow time the Soviet Union national anthem was played in Red Square for the last time as Gorbachev walked out of the Kremlin. The Hammer and Sickle was lowered and at 11:40 pm it was replaced with the Russian Tricolour. Boris Yeltsin was in charge - not of the Soviet Union but of the Russian Federation. He had his finger on the Nuclear Button and the USSR was a thing of the past. 

Writer’s Note - This topic may seem slightly abstract - I was inspired by a Michael Palin documentary (Travels of a Lifetime) where he was actually travelling through the USSR at the time of the coup d’etat - just months before the end. This made me curious about the full story of the fall of the Soviet Union.