the Soviet Union existed from 1922 to
1991 how did the Soviet Union come to an
end why did it collapse the beginning of
the end of the Soviet Union came in 1985
when a man named Mikhail Gorbachev
became premier when Gorbachev came to
power he implemented several new
governmental policies these changes
collectively became known as perestroika
which means restructuring many believe
perestroika helped bring about the end
of the USSR one of the most important
things he did was ease the restrictions
on free speech for many many years the
Soviet people had not been allowed to
speak out against the government for
fear of severe punishment under
perestroika they were able to speak
their mind more openly through a policy
known as glass nose the government
became more open as well glass nose is a
Russian term which means openness it
referred to an increased amount of
transparency of government activities
which meant they would no longer hide
information from the people the economic
situation in the Soviet Union was also
very grim during this time many people
were poor and they began using their
newfound freedom of speech to speak out
against the miserable condition
communism had left them in these were
feelings many had wanted to express for
decades but had not been allowed to do
so the civil unrest that led to the
downfall of the Soviet Union began in
the outer regions of the country Estonia
was the first region where organized
protest movements began demanding
independence from the Soviet Union
before long similar protests erupted in
Lithuania Latvia Azerbaijan
Georgia Ukraine Moldova and Belarus
unlike similar incidents from the past
premier Gorbachev did not attempt to end
these protests with the Soviet Army in
1991 as it seemed the Soviet Union was
on the verge of falling apart a group of
hardline devout communists attempted a
coup d'etat meaning they attempted to
seize control of the government when the
people learned this had happened they
took to the streets by the thousands
massive protests erupted in Moscow and
other major cities in an effort to
maintain power the Communists sent out
the military
however troops refused to raise their
weapons against the people and many join
the protests the Communists realized
that without the military their coup
would fail power was returned to
Gorbachev within months after the failed
coup the Soviet Union collapsed entirely
in December of 1991 premier Gorbachev
stepped down and in January of 1992 the
Soviet Union ceased to exist the
collapse of the Soviet Union was seen as
a triumph of freedom and democracy over
totalitarianism the death of the Soviet
Union finally brought an end to the era
known as the Cold War
you