Let’s Learn about the Cold War: Part 26 – The Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Published Dec. 9, 2015
By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith
Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- In simple terms, nobody won the Cold War, but the Soviet Union did lose it. By the 1980s, the flaws in the Soviet system had become so developed and substantial that collapse was imminent despite the improvement in Soviet leadership represented by Mikhail Gorbachev.

The ultimate issue was money; the Soviet system was simply too expensive, and incapable of paying for itself. Leonid Brezhnev's tenure as leader of the Soviet Union had done irreparable damage to the Soviet economy. By the time Gorbachev came to power, the Soviet system was beyond saving.

The efforts of the West, beginning with Harry S. Truman's initial plan to contain communism after World War II, continued by constant resistance to communist expansion from NATO, and culminating in increased pressure from Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan forced the Soviet Union to sink staggering amounts of money into its military -- the largest, and most expensive in the world -- exacerbating an already dire economic scenario.

During the mid to late 1980s, the Soviet Union was hit with a succession of crises that it would never recover from. Mikhail Gorbachev's more enlightened leadership was also more permissive, and the Soviet satellite states took advantage of it. Countries that had previously been forcibly included in the Soviet Union, such as the Baltic republics, became more aggressive in their campaigns for independence, and Moscow could no longer keep them in line.

In 1991, conservative hardliners from the Communist Party attempted a coup intended to get government control away from Gorbachev. The goal was to put a stop to Gorbachev's liberalization policies, which were perceived to be weakening the USSR. The failed coup only destabilized the Soviet Union further, hastening the already inevitable collapse.

The dissolution was finalized in 1991. The iconic Soviet flag bearing the yellow hammer and sickle over a red background was lowered for the last time on the day after Christmas. From that day onward, the Kremlin flew the Russian flag. At this point Russia, direct successor to the USSR, was no longer in a position to threaten uncontrollable expansion. The Cold War was over.

This is the list of states that had once made up the USSR, but gained independent status after 1991: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

Next time: Aftermath