Why did Soviet Union break up? What exactly went wrong?
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There were many problems that over the decades pilled up and were not adressed or not adressed properly.
Firstly the economy of the Soviet Union. Initially the USSR industrialised at a rapid pace and by the 40s it’s main focus was heavy industry. After Stalin however when Khrushchev eventually came to power that focus changed. Khrushchev shifted the focus of the USSR from heavy industry to agriculture which economically was not advantageous. In addition to that Khrushchev also made some irrational decisions in regards to agriculture as far as to try growing corn in Siberia. Now this is only an assumption, because he never personally stated it, but his “obsessison” with agriculture probably stems from the famines the USSR suffered in 1932-1933 and the post-war famine in 46. The former of which especially hit Ukraine, the Soviet Union’s breadbasket hard. Khrushchev happened to be Ukrainian and was the highest Soviet authority for the Ukrainian SSR before succeeding Stalin as the head of the USSR as a whole.
After Khrushchev with the shift to agriculture innovation and economic progress were stiffeled. Especially under Brezhnev who succeeded him things worsened economically. Bureaucracy and corruption grew rapidly under him and nothing noteworthy was done to improve the situation.
Eventually Gorbachev came to power. Someone who wanted to make political and economic reforms. However his economic reforms made things go from bad to worse. The economy basically crumbled during his term to the point were the Soviet Union could no longer sustain itself.
More than just economically the Soviet Union also sufferd in the field of politics near it’s end. Certain individuals who came to power, among which were Gorbachev and Yeltsin, actively wanted to dissolve the Soviet Union. As mentioned before Gorbachev’s reforms damaged the economy further, but this was done so on purpose. His reforms angered many of the conservative and communist elements of the government and party and lead to an attempted coup in 1991. The coup failed and with it sealed the fate of the Soviet Union. Any powerful individual who wanted to maintain the Soviet Union was removed as they just attempted to overthrow the Gorbachev government. This gave way to Gorbachev finally dissolving the USSR in December 1991 along with many non-communists opposed to the Soviet Union like Yeltsin gaining popularity in the aftermath of the failed coup, especially in the Baltic states, but also in Moscow itself.
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