Soviet Union (USSR): History, Formation & Dissolution

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Introduction to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (often shortened to USSR or Soviet Union), a nation of Eurasia that existed from 1922 until 1991. It was the world's most powerful Communist country. The Soviet Union was formed out of most of the territory of czarist Russia, an empire that fell in the Russian Revolution of 1917. The USSR was made up of 15 republics—called soviet socialist republics, or union republics—under the control of a central government. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and broke up into 15 independent countries.

The USSR became what is often called a "superpower." It served as a political and economic model for all of the other Communist countries. (Some of these, however, eventually broke away from the Soviet model.) During the period known as the Cold War, the USSR was the greatest rival of the United States in international affairs. Both countries established economic and military ties with many countries, and both vied for prestige among the world's neutral nations. Also during this period, the Soviet Union, by virtue of its military strength, dominated the governments of most of the nations of eastern Europe.

Territorial Extent of the USSR

Although it was not ruled by an emperor, many scholars considered the Soviet Union an empire because of its immense size and its status as the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Soviet Union was the largest country in the world. It covered 8,649,539 square miles (22,402,200 km 2), including several islands in Pacific and Arctic waters. The USSR occupied slightly more than one-sixth of the earth's land surface. From the Baltic Sea in the west, the USSR stretched 6,000 miles (9,700 km) eastward to the Bering Sea. From north to south the Soviet mainland extended from the Arctic Ocean to the deserts of Central Asia, some 2,500 miles (4,000 km), or about the distance from New York to Los Angeles.

Economic System

The Soviet Union inherited an underdeveloped economy from czarist Russia. Over the course of nearly 70 years, the USSR developed into one of the world's largest industrial powers.

The Soviet government controlled virtually all aspects of the national economy; it set the levels of wages and prices, controlled the allocation of resources, and decided what would be produced and how and where goods would be distributed. The state owned nearly all of the country's productive resources. The Soviet economy was directed by a government ministry known as Gosplan. This ministry designed plans to achieve broad objectives for economic growth set by the state. These plans, known as Five-year Plans, came to be a model for many other Communist nations.

The Soviet economy underwent significant change under Mikhail Gorbachev's leadership (1985–91). His program of perestroika (restructuring) loosened the state's grip on the economy and allowed greater freedom in decision making for managers of individual enterprises. Also, during 1990–91, the Soviet government approved a variety of measures aimed at gradually eliminating the government's control over much of the national economy.

Agriculture

One of the goals of the revolutionaries who overthrew the czar was to eliminate private property and to nationalize agriculture. Nationalization of agriculture occurred during 1928–37 under Joseph Stalin. Stalin's forced collectivization of agriculture—a program in which the state confiscated all farmland, agricultural machinery, livestock, and supplies of grain—was accomplished at great human cost, creating a legacy of hostility by the rural population toward the Soviet government.

The Soviet Union had three types of farm production units—collective farms, state farms, and personal plots.

A collective, or kolkhoz, was farmed as a cooperative. The land was leased from the state. The farm was self-directed, with relatively little supervision by the government Each worker received a share of the income produced by the collective.

A state farm, or sovkhoz , was owned and operated by the government. Workers were paid wages, just as in factories. These farms were much larger and more numerous than collectives.

Small personal plots were allowed. The land was owned by the state, but each farmer had the right to keep profits. Although these plots made up only about 3 per cent of all farmland, they produced more than 25 per cent of all the Soviet Union's agricultural output.

Soviet farms were generally less productive than farms in the West. Also, because of poor distribution, inadequate storage, and inefficient processing of agricultural goods, about a quarter of all agricultural output was wasted each year.

Under the Soviet regime, the amount of farmland was extended through vast irrigation projects in Central Asia and large drainage projects in the northwestern part of the country.

Industry

The Soviet Union's large labor supply and abundance of natural resources, especially of fossil fuels and iron ore, laid the foundation for its industrial development. The USSR was the world's leading producer of oil, natural gas, and iron ore, and a major producer of coal, lumber, and gold.

Soviet planners were successful in developing heavy industries such as machine building, metalworking, metallurgy, power generation, and the manufacturing of chemicals. The production of consumer goods such as clothing, shoes, and processed foods was generally neglected. Much of the Soviet Union's industrial research and development was concentrated on military applications.

Soviet industry was plagued by many problems. The government generally disregarded market forces such as supply and demand when establishing production quotas. This disregard often led to either great shortages or large surpluses of many goods. For factory managers, concern for fulfilling the government-set quotas was paramount. There was little concern for quality, and Soviet products were often inferior to similar products made in the West. Because wages and prices were centrally controlled, there was little incentive for workers and managers to increase productivity. Also, industrialization was largely achieved at the expense of the environment, scarring land and creating pollution that harmed many lakes, rivers, and forests.

Trade

The Soviet government controlled all of the country's foreign trade. The USSE generally pursued a policy of self-sufficiency, limiting its amount of foreign trade. Traditionally, the bulk of the Soviet Union's trade was with other Communist countries, especially with those of eastern Europe. Frequently, this trade was in the form of barter. Trade among the union republics reflected the fact that they tended to specialize in the production of specific products and thus were highly interdependent.

The Soviet Union provided large amounts of economic aid to other Communist countries and to many of the world's developingnations. Soviet aid was especially important to the Cuban, Mongolian, and Vietnamese economies.

The People

The USSR was a land of great ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity. It was also a land of large cities. In 1989 the Soviet Union had 57 cities with populations of 500,000 or greater. (In 1990 the United States had 24 cities with 500,000 or more residents.) The population of the Soviet Union in 1989 was 386,717,000; only China and India had larger populations.

Nationalities and Languages

There were more than 120 nationalities and ethnic groups in the Soviet Union. Chief among these were Slavs, which included Great Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, and Ruthenians. Turkic peoples formed the second largest group. Included in this group were Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Tatars, Azerbaijanis, Bashkirs, and Yakuts. Finno-Ugrians, including Estonians, Finns, Karelians, and Udmurts, made up the third largest group. Other large groups were Baltic peoples, including Latvians and Lithuanians; Japhetic peoples, including Georgians, Armenians, and Circassians; and Iranian peoples, including Tajiks and Ossetians.

The Soviet Union's many nationalities provided the basis for its administrative framework. Most of the 15 soviet socialist republics were inhabited by a majority of one of the main nationality groups.

Great Russian was the Soviet Union's predominant language. Many other languages were also used. Each nationality was allowed to preserve its own language, but most nationalities were required to write their language in the Cyrillic alphabet, the one used for Great Russian.

Russification—the process of transforming the national identity of non-Russian peoples to an identity culturally similar to that of Great Russians—was a dominant theme throughout Soviet history. Great Russians, and those adopting Great Russian culture, frequently received preferential treatment in education, business, government, and the military. Russification was the source of strong resentment among many non-Russians.

Education

The Soviet educational system emphasized training people to be useful to the state rather than fostering individual intellectual development. Decisions concerning curriculum, educational materials, and teaching methods rested with the Communist party. Ideological training in Marxist-Leninist doctrine and the inclusion of practical training at all levels were primary characteristics of the Soviet system.

The main goals of the Soviet system were to provide free, compulsory education for all, to eliminate illiteracy, and to abolish religious influences in education. Soviet schools were especially strong in mathematics and the physical sciences. The teaching of the social sciences and humanities generally suffered because of the dominance of Marxist-Leninist doctrine in these fields.

Life In the Soviet Union

Prerevolutionary society in Russia had advanced only slightly beyond the feudal stage. Most of the people were peasants and there was a wide social and economic gap between them and the privileged classes (the nobility and the clergy).

Russian society was transformed after the Russian Revolution. It gradually changed from an agriculturally based society to one built upon industry. Private property was nationalized and the Soviet Union, in theory, became a classless society.

A class system, however, did develop. The relatively few members of the Communist party, especially those in high positions in government, industry, and the military, were the most privileged. Other favored groups included scientists, educators, and person engaged in the arts. The privileged enjoyed better housing, better pay, and greater prestige than the typical Soviet citizen.

The standard of living in the Soviet Union was generally lower than that of other industrialized nations. Housing was scarce and apartments were usually overcrowded. Because of the emphasis on heavy industry, consumer goods that were widely available in the West, such as automobiles and washing machines, were difficult to obtain for most Soviet citizens. The government provided basic health care for all, but the privileged had access to facilities that were far superior to those available to the general public.

Until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 and instituted his policy of glasnost (openness), the Soviet people had few freedoms. Before glasnost, the government was intolerant of dissent, and secret police enforced ideological discipline throughout the country. Political prisoners were often sent to gulags (labor camps, usually located in Siberia and other remote areas). Travel, both foreign and domestic, was restricted. Religious practices, although not illegal, were repressed by the government.

Culture and Science

The Soviet Union inherited a rich culture from the Russian Empire. Russian music and literature had experienced a flowering in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many cultural institutions, such as the Hermitage Museum, continued to be among the best in the world.

Except under glasnost, the Soviet government generally exercised strict control over the arts. Socialist Realism was the only approved style of artistic expression. All forms of art, including painting, literature, theater, and photography, were required to extol the virtues of socialism. Socialist Realist painting served as propaganda more than art, and generally depicted various aspects of labor. There were, however, those who went beyond the restrictions of Socialist Realism, especially writers. These included Boris Pasternak, Joseph Brodsky, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Many of their works were long banned in the Soviet Union, and some were initially published in the West.

Despite government controls, Soviet composers carried on the tradition of excellence inherited from czarist Russia. Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian were among the many accomplished composers of the Soviet era. Dance and ballet also flourished. The Bolshoi and Kirov ballets were internationally acclaimed. Several Soviet filmmakers, notably Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky, also won international esteem.

The study of science in the Soviet Union was emphasized to a notable extent. Soviet achievements were particularly great after World War II, especially in high-energy physics, molecular biology, and space and laser technology. The Soviets were the first to launch an artificial satellite and the first to send a person into space.

In some areas, however, the Soviets lagged behind the West because, at one time or another, the study of certain subjects—including relativity, Mendelian genetics, and Freudian psychology—was suppressed as being incompatible with Marxism.

Government

The USSR was a federation of 15 union republics, each made up predominantly of a large nationality group. Smaller nationalities within union republics were organized under one of three types of political subdivisions: the autonomous republic, autonomous oblast (region), or autonomous okrug (area).

Until 1990, the Communist party had a monopoly on political power. In 1990, changes in the Soviet constitution made possible a multiparty system.

Role of the Communist Party

Throughout most of Soviet history, the Communist party was the country's only legal political party. The party had the authority to appoint key members of the government and other institutions and used this authority to dominate Soviet society. During 1988–90, political reforms occurred that diminished the power of the Communist party by forcing it to compete with other parties in elections.

The party was headed by an official called the general secretary. In consultation with the Politburo, which was a small advisory body, he established party policy. Throughout most of Soviet history, the general secretary was the ultimate authority on policy matters and, in effect, was the country's ruler.

The Politburo and the general secretary were elected by the Central Committee, a body of more than 400 members that met twice a year to recommend policy changes. Every five years a Party Congress of more than 4,500 Communist party members from all over the Soviet Union was convened to debate and approve broad party policies. The Party Congress also elected members of the Central Committee.

In 1991, after hard-line Communists failed to reestablish the dominance of the party, the government suspended the activities of the Communist party and seized its assets.

Central Government

Throughout most of its history, the Soviet Union was governed by the institutions and officials of the Communist party, especially the general secretary and the Politburo. The institutions of the central government, including the legislature and various administrative ministries, merely ratified and implemented the policies of the Communist party. Under Mikhail Gorbachev's rule (1985–91), the central government changed from a one-party Communist system to a multiparty parliamentary system with a president and two legislative bodies.

The president was the head of state and was to be elected to a five-year term by a nationwide popular vote. (For various reasons, Gorbachev, the first and only Soviet president, was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies rather than by the people.) The president had extensive powers, including the authority to issue decrees. He was assisted by a cabinet made up of the prime minister and other ministers.

The 2,250-member Congress of People's Deputies was the Soviet Union's representative assembly. The Congress provided general policy guidelines on national issues and met at least once a year. The Congress selected the 542 members of the Supreme Soviet, a legislative body that met for about eight months each year.

Regional and Local Government

Each union republic had a one-house, popularly elected legislature, which in turn elected a Presidium and Council of Ministers. The autonomous republics and other political subdivisions generally followed a similar pattern. In theory, the union republics had considerable autonomy. In practice, however, they were largely under the control of the central government. During 1990–91, central control over the union republics gradually weakened and eventually disintegrated.

History: Lenin and Stalin

The Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II and the fall of the Russian Empire. After the revolution, civil war erupted between the Bolsheviks and anti-Communist forces. By 1922 the Bolsheviks, led by V. I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, had consolidated their power throughout most of the former empire. In December, 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created when the soviet republics that had formed in Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, and the Trans-Caucasian region were united. Lenin became the leader of the new country. A constitution was adopted in 1924. .

The Rise of Stalin

Lenin died in January, 1924. In the struggle for power that followed, Joseph Stalin, general secretary of the Communist party, joined with Lev Kamenev, a top party official, and Grigory Zinoviev, head of the Communist International, in opposing Trotsky. Trotsky argued for immediate world revolution. Stalin, however, insisted on building socialism in the Soviet Union first. Trotsky lost the struggle for power in 1925. Kamenev and Zinoviev later opposed Stalin and he had them removed from the government. In 1927 Trotsky was expelled from the party; in 1929 he was exiled from the Soviet Union.

The Five-Year Plans

In 1928, Communist leaders abandoned Lenin's New Economic Policy—a plan established in 1921 that provided for an economy with elements of socialism and capitalism—and embarked on their first Five-Year Plan. Their aim was to gradually remove all capitalist elements and to transform the Soviet Union from an agricultural into an industrial society. Specific goals were proclaimed for increased production in every area. The Soviet people were pushed to the limit of their capacity to fulfill the goals. Millions of people were used in slave labor.

One major objective was the collectivization of agriculture. Peasant landowners were required to give up their property and join state-run collective farms. The peasants, particularly the kulaks (richer peasants), resisted by destroying their property, crops, and livestock. About 5,000,000 kulaks were killed or put in slave labor camps. Agricultural production dropped drastically. In 1932–33, famine, caused by peasant destruction of crops and deliberate starvation by the government, led to millions of deaths.

The First Five-Year Plan, which ended in 1932, was highly successful in raising industrial production, and the Second Five-Year Plan was begun. Production goals covered more industries and collectivization continued. By 1937, about 95 per cent of the farmland had been collectivized, and about 93 per cent of the peasants belonged to collective farms. The Third Five-Year Plan, begun in 1937, was interrupted by World War II. In 1940, the government claimed that the gross national product had risen in 10 years from 32 billion rubles to 138 billion. The Soviet Union had become a major industrial power. Recovery of agriculture from the forced collectivization was slow, however, and production lagged.

The Great Purges

Stalin, although undisputed dictator, suspected secret opposition against him everywhere. At his instigation, purges (expulsion of members) in the party and government were conducted to root out real or suspected enemies. During 1933–34, one-third of the party members were purged. In 1935, some of the "old Bolsheviks" were tried for treason and sent to prison. The next year they were tried again, and 16 of them, including Kamenev and Zinoviev, were shot. Other trials were held, and scores of top party leaders and some of the highest military commanders were executed. Huge purges of the party continued periodically until 1938.

Stalin's terror pervaded not only the party and the government, but all levels of Soviet life. Millions of people were arrested and taken away by the secret police. Their fate was usually to work in a slave labor camp run by the secret police until they died in anonymity. Slave labor was used to build many projects, such as dams and canals. By 1940, there were at least 10,000,000 prisoners in slave labor camps.

Meanwhile, in 1936, the Soviet government adopted a new constitution. It contained provisions guaranteeing civil rights, but these provisions were generally ignored by the country's rulers.

Prelude to War

For years the Soviet regime stood generally aloof from other nations. Its foreign policy was guided by distrust of the capitalist countries. This distrust was mutual; the United States, for example, had refused to recognize the Communist government until 1933. With the growing power of Nazi Germany, however, the Soviet Union sought to establish friendly ties with such Western democracies as Great Britain and France. Soviet relations with Germany worsened during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39, when the Soviets backed the Loyalist government while Germany and Italy supported General Franco's Nationalists.

The Soviet Union's relations with Great Britain and France deteriorated in 1938 when their leaders, meeting with Hitler at Munich, agreed to allow German forces to occupy part of Czechoslovakia. Soviet leaders feared that the Western democracies were trying to direct German expansionist efforts eastward.

World War II

In 1939, in the midst of an international crisis over Poland, the Soviet Union and Germany startled the world by concluding a pact of nonaggression and friendship. This pact bought time for the Soviet Union, which was unprepared for a major conflict, and erased Adolf Hitler's fear of fighting a two-front war. On September 1, 1939, Germany began World War II by invading Poland. On September 17 the Soviet army moved in from the east, and Poland for the fourth time in its history was divided up among its neighbors. On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland.

The Finns fought bravely, but in March, 1940, were forced to make peace and cede several strategic areas to the Soviet Union. During this war the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations for aggression. In June, 1940, the Soviets occupied and annexed Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, making them union republics.

War With Germany

The Soviet Union remained neutral while Germany was overrunning western Europe. Then, on June 22, 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union. By December most of the Ukraine was occupied, Leningrad was under siege, and Moscow was threatened. The Soviets regained some territory during the winter, but in 1942 the Germans advanced almost to the Caspian Sea. The turning point came at Stalingrad (Volgograd), scene of one of the war's bloodiest battles. The Germans made a supreme effort to capture this city but suffered the loss of their large army early in 1943. Then came the Soviet offensive, which continued until Berlin was reached in April, 1945.

After the German attack Great Britain promised to give the Soviet Union all possible aid against the common enemy. The United States sent lend-lease aid, which totaled more than $11,000,000,000 in goods during the war. Premier Stalin met with the leaders of the democracies in several wartime conferences—at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam—to plan the conduct of the war and the making of peace. After the defeat of Germany in May, 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945—two days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. Japan surrendered a few days later, and the Soviet Union occupied northern Korea and most of Manchuria.

Cold War and Iron Curtain

In 1945 the Soviet Union cooperated with the other victor countries in setting up the United Nations. But a cold (non-shooting) war, in which the Soviet Union and the United States were the main adversaries, soon developed. The Soviets set up Communist regimes in the countries of eastern Europe after these nations were liberated from German occupation. These countries became satellites of the Soviet Union. Soviet military power seemed to be overwhelming and was viewed as a threat to the Western democracies. In 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first nuclear weapon.

In describing the split between East and West, Winston Churchill said that an "iron curtain" had descended between eastern and western Europe. The Soviet Union tried to isolate the Communist area from the rest of the world. In the United Nations, the United States usually won majority support, but the Soviet Union often obstructed the will of the majority by use of its veto in the Security Council. Germany was split into two countries, East Germany (Communist) and West Germany (non-Communist). In 1948–49 the Soviets blocked Western access to Berlin, but the Western countries supplied the city by air. In 1948 the United States set up the Marshall Plan to rebuild western Europe and save it from Communism. In 1949 the United States with Canada and a number of western European powers formed an alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to oppose the Soviet Union.

The Cold War intensified during the Korean War, 1950–53, when the Soviet Union indirectly supported China and North Korea against South Korea, the United States, and the United Nations. The Soviet Union did not send troops but did furnish supplies to the North Koreans.

History: After Stalin

The Khrushchev Years

Stalin became increasingly harsh as a dictator during his last years. He died in March, 1953. Georgi Malenkov became premier, but Nikita Khrushchev won the vital post of first secretary of the Communist party. Lavrenti Beria, head of the secret police, was initially one of the most important men in the post-Stalin government, but by the end of 1953 his opponents had had him arrested, tried for treason, and shot. Malenkov resigned in 1955 and was succeeded by Marshal Nikolai Bulganin, but Khrushchev was the real ruler. In 1956 Khrushchev denounced Stalin in a speech before the party congress, accusing him of crimes and misrule. This speech was the beginning of a program, called de-Stalinization, of reducing Stalin's stature in the eyes of the Soviet people. In 1958 Khrushchev became premier.

The Soviet Union had suffered enormous destruction in World War II, and in the early postwar years the government drove the people to strenuous efforts to rebuild the economy quickly. Much was accomplished in the Fourth Five-Year Plan, 1946–50, and many industries, especially those producing capital or military goods, matched or exceeded their prewar levels of production by 1953. Under Khrushchev, production of consumer goods was increased in an attempt to satisfy public demand. Khrushchev tried to institute major changes in Soviet agriculture, particularly by emphasizing the growing of corn and the use of previously unplanted land. However, these projects did not significantly help Soviet agriculture.

Soviet progress in space technology became evident in 1957, when the first man-made earth satellites, Sputniks I and II, were put into orbit. In 1961 the Soviet Union sent the first manned satellite into orbit. .

In 1953 Khrushchev restored diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, which had broken away from the Soviet bloc in 1948, and in 1955 he visited the country. In 1956 the Soviet Union invaded Hungary and brutally suppressed an uprising against that country's pro-Soviet regime.

In 1960 the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane flying high above the Soviet Union. They were infuriated at the violation of their airspace, but meetings with United States leaders helped ease some of the tension between the two countries. New crises were caused by the construction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany in 1961 and the Soviet Union's attempt to install missiles in Cuba in 1962. ( Nonetheless, in 1963 the Soviet Union agreed with other major powers to limit the testing of nuclear weapons.

By the early 1960's, China had begun to reject Soviet leadership of the international Communist movement. In 1963 China denounced the Soviet policy of "peaceful coexistence" with the West and accused the Soviets of being "revisionists," unfaithful to Marxist ideology. From the early 1960's, there were frequent minor clashes between the two nations along their common border.

The Rise of Brezhnev

Khrushchev was deposed suddenly in 1964, after other members of the Politburo lost confidence in his leadership. Leonid Brezhnev, who had been serving as his deputy in the party secretariat, became first secretary of the party. (In 1966 the title was changed back to general secretary, as it had been before 1953.) Under Brezhnev's rule, the de-Stalinization campaign was greatly relaxed.

Brezhnev shared power with Aleksei Kosygin and Nikolai Podgorny. Heavy industry and military production were again given high priority, although production of consumer goods remained higher than it had been under Stalin's rule. Khrushchev's experimental agricultural programs were abandoned. The economy flourished.

In the late 1960's the Soviet government began to increase its harassment and persecution of dissidents. Intellectuals who spoke out against the regime were jailed. Because many of the dissident intellectuals were Jews, Jewish religious activities were restricted by the government. Jewish emigration also was severely curtailed. Worldwide protest resulted in periodic easing of emigration restrictions.

In 1968 a movement for liberal reforms gained widespread support in Czechoslovakia. When the Czech government seemed to be moving away from Soviet-style rule, the Soviet Union reacted by sending troops into Czechoslovakia in August, 1968, to ensure the removal of reform-minded Czech leaders. After this invasion, the Soviets developed the "Brezhnev doctrine," a policy calling for Soviet intervention to halt any developments that might disrupt the Communist order in eastern Europe.

Détente

By the early 1970's, the Soviet Union's military power matched that of the United States. In 1972 the Soviet Union and the United States signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), in which each country agreed to limit its nuclear missile strength. This agreement contributed to détente, a general relaxation of tensions between the two nations.

In 1975 the Soviet Union was one of 35 nations that signed the Helsinki Accords. These nations agreed to recognize all borders in Europe as inviolate, and also agreed to respect the human rights of their own citizens. The Soviet Union ignored the human rights provisions, and dissidents began to make public their country's violations of the agreement. A period of severe repression followed.

In the late 1970's, growth in the economy declined because of poor central planning and management. In 1979 a second arms limitation treaty, known as SALT II, was signed, but the U.S. Senate refused to ratify it after the Soviet Union installed a puppet government in Afghanistan late the same year and sent in troops to back up the regime. In protest against the Afghanistan invasion, the United States and a number of other nations boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

Renewed Tensions

By the early 1980's, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union had deteriorated considerably. When martial law was imposed in Poland, the United States government believed that the Soviet Union had urged the Polish regime to take this action. Several trade agreements between American firms and the Soviet Union were cancelled.

Relations with the West continued to decline in 1983 after the Soviets shot down a South Korean commercial airliner that had strayed into Soviet airspace in eastern Asia. In 1984, the Soviet Union led a boycott by several Communist nations of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, there was a period of instability in the top leadership. Brezhnev died in 1982 and was succeeded by Yuri Andropov, a former head of the secret police. He proposed radical economic reforms, but died in 1984 before they could be implemented. Konstantin U. Chernenko succeeded Andropov, but he died 13 months later.

The Rise of Gorbachev

In March, 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev became general secretary. He consolidated his power by dismissing many officials and replacing them with his supporters. Gorbachev instituted new domestic policies. Glasnost (openness) encouraged public discussion of Soviet problems as a means of fostering reform; perestroika (restructuring) sought to eliminate ineptitude and corruption within the bureaucracy. Relations with the United States improved, and in 1987 the two nations signed an agreement eliminating their intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

The Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan during 1988–89. In 1989 a meeting of senior Soviet and Chinese officials led to improved relations between their nations.

Reform and Democratization

During 1988–89, Gorbachev implemented various governmental reforms that radically altered the way in which the Soviet Union was ruled. He persuaded the Communist party to relinquish its monopoly on political power and to recognize the authority of the new Supreme Soviet and the newly created Congress of People's Deputies. Also, the government created the office of president and vested it with broad executive powers. Gorbachev was elected to that position in 1989.

The government approved a variety of economic reforms aimed at introducing a market-based economy. These measures included the legalization of private businesses and the reduction of state subsidies for many industries. Numerous economic problems followed, including high inflation and shortages of many goods, especially food.

Meanwhile, democratic reform movements arose in eastern European countries and the legitimacy of Communist rule was challenged. Gorbachev rejected the "Brezhnev doctrine" and made little effort to support the Communist governments in these nations. Most of them either collapsed or were reconstituted as democratically oriented regimes with the Communist party in a minor role. Gorbachev's hands-off policy made possible the reunification of Germany in 1990.

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Ethnic and nationalist tensions flared up dramatically during 1989–91. Fighting between ethnic groups occurred in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldavia (Moldova), and Kirghizia (Kyrgyzstan). The Soviet government responded by sending troops to these regions to restore order.

All 15 union republics proclaimed that their laws took precedence over those of the central government. During 1989–90, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldavia all declared their intentions to secede from the USSR. The Soviet government did not recognize any independence claims, and in 1990 Soviet troops stormed various communications facilities in Lithuania and Latvia.

In 1991, Gorbachev negotiated a powersharing treaty with most of the union republics. In August, before the treaty was signed, a group of hard-line Communists overthrew Gorbachev and seized control of the government. The coup quickly failed, because of widespread opposition led by Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, and the failure of key military units to support the coup. Gorbachev was returned to power.

After the failed coup, the Communist party was suspended and its assets were seized by the government. Also, Gorbachev resigned as general secretary. A new, transitional government, designed to give more power to the republics, was established.

Nationalism in the union republics, however, continued to rise. In September, the Soviet government recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. By November, virtually all of the remaining republics had proclaimed their desire to secede from the Soviet Union but to maintain a unified economic community.

On December 8, Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia (Belarus) formed a loose confederation known as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). By December 21, all of the remaining republics, except Georgia, had joined the CIS. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union, effectively ending the nation's existence.