A failing economy, republics demanding self-rule and a failed coup in August 1991 destroyed the power holding the USSR together.
The USSR was a union of republics, including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, ruled centrally from Moscow. Economic crisis and national movements pushed republic leaders to seek more control over their own institutions and resources. Boris Yeltsin led the Russian republic and challenged Gorbachev, who led the whole USSR. So Russia and the USSR were not the same thing.
Change inside the USSR was not always peaceful. Violence in Lithuania and Latvia in early 1991 showed that Soviet force had not disappeared at home, even though it was no longer used in Eastern Europe.
In August 1991, hardliners who wanted to stop reform tried a coup, a sudden seizure of power, against Gorbachev. It failed. But it showed that Gorbachev could not control his own leadership. Yeltsin's public stand against the coup made him and other leaders outside Moscow's centre stronger. So the failed coup weakened central communist power instead of restoring it, and more republics moved towards independence.
In December, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus declared that the USSR no longer existed. They formed the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose group of separate countries rather than one Soviet government. Other republics joined. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December, and the USSR formally ended on 26 December 1991.
So the end of the Cold War involved changing relations between the superpowers, the loss of communist control in Eastern Europe and the break-up of the USSR. It was not one battle or one day.
- August 1991
- Failed hardline coup against Gorbachev.
- Boris Yeltsin
- Leader of Russia who resisted the coup.
- 26 December 1991
- The USSR formally ends.
Worked example: A trigger inside a bigger story
Was the August coup enough on its own to explain the Soviet collapse?
- Long-term: economic crisis and republics seeking self-rule.
- Trigger: the failed coup shows Gorbachev cannot control his own leaders.
- Result: Yeltsin gains power, republics leave, and the USSR ends in December.
Watch out for this
Because the coup failed, Gorbachev got his power back.
The coup's failure made Yeltsin stronger, not Gorbachev. The USSR ended four months later.
Check your understanding
Who gained most authority from the failed coup of August 1991?
- Gorbachev, who returned with full control.
- Boris Yeltsin, who publicly resisted it.
- The hardliners, who kept power in Moscow.