The history of Russia begins with that of the East Slavs, the ethnic group that eventually split into the Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. ... The East Slavs are the ethnic group that evolved into the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. ... Kievan Rus′ (Russian: , Kievskaya Rus; Ukrainian: , Kyivs’ka Rus’) was the early, mostly East Slavic¹ state dominated by the city of Kiev (Russian: Ки́ев, Kiev; Ukrainian: Ки́їв, Kyiv), from about 880 to the middle of the 12th century. ... Volga Bulgaria or Volga-Kama Bolghar, is a historic state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers in what is now the Russian Federation. ... The Khazars were a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism. ... The Mongol Invasion of Russia was an invasion of the medieval state of Kievan Rus by a large army of nomadic Mongols, starting in 1223. ... This article refers to the Mongol state in what is now Russia. ... Muscovy (Moscow principality (княжество Московское) to Grand Duchy of Moscow (Великое Княжество Московское) to Russian Tsardom (Царство Русское) is a traditional Western name for the Russian state that existed from the 14th century to the late 17th century. ... Jump to: navigation, search Big Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire, adopted in 1882 Central element from the Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire Flag of Russian Empire Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the... The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a empire-wide spasm of both anti-government and undirected violence. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a political movement in Russia which reached its peak in 1917 with the overthrow of the Provisional Government that had replaced the Russian Tsar system, and led to the establishment of the Soviet Union, which lasted until its collapse in... The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1922. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Stalinist development Planning At the Fifteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in December 1927, Stalin attacked the left by expelling Trotsky and his supporters from the party and then moving against the right by abandoning Lenins New Economic Policy which had... Jump to: navigation, search // De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era For further details, see Nikita Khrushchev After Stalin had died in March 1953, he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Georgi Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union. ... Joseph Stalin and Kliment Voroshilov salute a military parade in Red Square above the message Long Live the Worker-Peasant Red Army—Loyal Sentinel of the Soviet Borders! The military history of the Soviet Union began in the days following the 1917 October Revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power. ...

The rise of Gorbachev

Although reform stalled between 1964–1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. Changing relations with the United States might also have been an impetus for reform. While it was Jimmy Carter who had officially ended the policy of Détente following Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, East-West tensions during the first term of U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1981–1985) increased to levels not seen since the 1961 Cuban missile crisis. Jump to: navigation, search 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr. ... Détente was the general reduction in the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and a weakening of the Cold War, occurring from the late 1960s until the start of the 1980s. ... Jump to: navigation, search The President of the United States (often abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ... Jump to: navigation, search Ronald Wilson Reagan, GCB, (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. ...

By the time Mikhail Gorbachev ushered in the process that would lead to the political collapse of the Soviet Union and the resultant dismantling of the Soviet administrative command economy through his programs of glasnost (political openness), perestroika (economic restructuring), and uskorenie (speed-up of economic development) the Soviet economy suffered from both hidden inflation and pervasive supply shortages. Jump to: navigation, search Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev) listen [â–¶] (Russian: ; pronunciation: ) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... Look up Politics on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Politics (disambiguation) Democracy History of democracy List of democracy and elections-related topics List of years in politics List of politics by country articles Political corruption Political economy Political movement Political parties of the world Political party Political psychology Political sociology Political... Glasnost (Russian: гла́сность,   listen?) was one of Mikhail Gorbachevs policies introduced to the Soviet Union in 1985. ... Perestroika   listen? (Перестро́йка) is the Russian word (which passed into English) for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. ...

Perestroika and Glasnost

Mikhail Gorbachev

For further details see perestroika and glasnost. Image File history File links Gorbachev. ... Image File history File links Gorbachev. ... Perestroika   listen? (Перестро́йка) is the Russian word (which passed into English) for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. ... Glasnost (Russian: гла́сность,   listen?) was one of Mikhail Gorbachevs policies introduced to the Soviet Union in 1985. ...

Mikhail Gorbachev took office in March 1985, shortly after Konstantin Chernenko's death. At 54, he was the youngest leader since Stalin. He was also capable of creating new ideas, something that was discouraged after Khrushchev was ousted in 1964. Gorbachev instituted a number of political reforms under the name of glasnost; these included relaxing censorship and political repression, reducing the powers of the KGB and democratisation. The reforms were intended to break down resistance to Gorbachev's economic reforms by conservative elements within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Under these reforms, much to the alarm of party conservatives, competitive elections were introduced for the posts of officials (by people within the Communist Party). Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Константи́н Усти́нович Черне́нко) (September 24, 1911 – March 10, 1985) was a Soviet politician and General Secretary of the CPSU who led the Soviet Union from February 13, 1984 until his death just thirteen months later. ... Jump to: navigation, search Roxane Censorship is the control of speech and other forms of human expression, often in the context of government control. ... Political repression means the restriction of the abilities of certain groups of people to take part in the political life of a society; or the persecution of people for their political beliefs. ... The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield For other meanings, see KGB (disambiguation). ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All...

However, Gorbachev's relaxation of censorship and attempts to create more political openness had the unintended effect of re-awakening long suppressed nationalist and anti-Russian feelings in the Soviet Union's constituent republics. During the 1980s calls for greater independence from Moscow's rule grew louder. This was especially marked in the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which had been annexed into the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin in 1940. Nationalist feeling also took hold in other Soviet republics such as Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan. These nationalist movements were strengthened greatly by the declining Soviet economy, whereby Moscow's rule became a convenient scapegoat for economic troubles. Gorbachev had accidentally unleashed a force that would ultimately destroy the Soviet Union. Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... In its final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), often called simply Soviet republics. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... The Baltic Sea The term Baltic Republics referred to the three Soviet Republics of Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR. The sovereign nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, who had gained sovereignty in 1918, were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. ... Jump to: navigation, search Joseph Stalin [▶] (Russian, in full: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин (Josef Vissarionovich Stalin), real name: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили (Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvilli), Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი (Ioseb Jughashvili); December 6 (OS)/December 18 (NS), 1878 – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the... Jump to: navigation, search 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Domestically, Gorbachev implemented economic reforms that he hoped would improve living standards and worker productivity as part of his perestroika program. The Law on Cooperatives enacted in May 1987 was perhaps the most radical of the economic reforms during the early part of the Gorbachev era. For the first time since Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy, the law permitted private ownership of businesses in the services, manufacturing, and foreign-trade sectors. The law initially imposed high taxes and employment restrictions, but these were later revised to avoid discouraging private-sector activity. Under this provision, cooperative restaurants, shops, and manufacturers became part of the Soviet scene. This article is about the month of May. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин listen ( ♫)), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) (April 22 (April 10 (O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of Leninism, which he described as an... Jump to: navigation, search The 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party. ...

Gorbachev also brought perestroika to the Soviet Union's foreign economic sector with measures that Soviet economists considered bold at that time. His program virtually eliminated the monopoly that the Ministry of Foreign Trade had had on most trade operations. It permitted the ministries of the various industrial and agricultural branches to conduct foreign trade in sectors under their responsibility rather than having to operate indirectly through the bureaucracy of trade ministry organizations. In addition, regional and local organizations and individual state enterprises were permitted to conduct foreign trade. This change was an attempt to redress a major imperfection in the Soviet foreign trade regime: the lack of contact between Soviet end users and suppliers and their foreign partners.

The introduction of glasnost gave new freedoms to the people, such as a greater freedom of speech. This was a radical change, as control of speech and suppression of government criticism had previously been a central part of the Soviet system. The press became far less controlled, and thousands of political prisoners and most (but not all) dissidents were released. Gorbachev's goal in undertaking glasnost was to pressure conservatives within the CPSU who opposed his policies of economic restructuring, and he also hoped that through different ranges of openness, debate and participation, the Soviet people would support his reform initiatives.

Gorbachev with political ally Alexander Yakovlev.

In January 1987, Gorbachev called for democratization: the infusion of democratic elements such as multi-candidate elections into the Soviet political process. In June 1988, at the CPSU's Nineteenth Party Conference, Gorbachev launched radical reforms meant to reduce party control of the government apparatus. In December 1988, the Supreme Soviet approved the establishment of a Congress of People's Deputies, which constitutional amendments had established as the Soviet Union's new legislative body. Elections to the congress were held throughout the USSR in March and April 1989. On March 15, 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Yakovlev_and_Gorbachev. ... Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Yakovlev_and_Gorbachev. ... Jump to: navigation, search Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, Александр Николаевич Яковлев (December 2, 1923 – October 18, 2005) was a Russian economist who was a Soviet governmental official in the 1980s and a member of the Politburo from 1987 to 1990. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Congress of Soviets was the supreme governing body of the RSFSR and the USSR in two periods, from 1917 to 1936 and from 1989 to 1991. ... The President of the Soviet Union was the largely ceremonial Head of State of the USSR from 1990 to 1991. ...

Internationally, the pressures of fighting the Cold War continued to strain the Soviet economy, prompting Gorbachev and his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eduard Shevardnadze, to develop a conciliatory foreign policy toward the West. On February 15, 1989, Soviet forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan, nine years after they swept into the country. The Soviet Union continued to support the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan with substantial aid until the end of 1991. Jump to: navigation, search For the generic term for a high-tension rivalry between countries, see cold war (war). ... Eduard Amvrosiyevich Shevardnadze (Georgian: ედუარდ შევარდნაძე, Russian: Эдуа́рд Амвро́сьевич Шевардна́дзе; pronounced ed-oo-ard am-vro-see-ye-vitch she-va-rd-nad-zuh) (born 25 January 1928) is a Georgian politician. ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... جمهوری دموکراتيک افغانستان This article is about Communist rule in Afghanistan (1978-1992). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The most far-reaching changes, however, occurred in 1989 when the Communist governments of Eastern Europe were overthrown one by one with feeble resistance from Moscow. The popular uprisings against the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe were partly inspired by Gorbachev's announcement in 1988 that the Soviet Union would abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine, and allow the Eastern bloc nations to determine their own internal affairs. The relatively peaceful collapse of communism in Eastern Europe led to German reunification in 1990 and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Comecon in 1991. Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange) and other former communist regimes (light orange). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Brezhnev Doctrine was a Soviet policy doctrine, introduced by Leonid Brezhnev in a speech at the Fifth Congress of the Polish United Workers Party on November 13, 1968, which stated: When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it... During the Cold War,the Eastern Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) comprised the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Albania (until the early 1960s, see below), the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. ... German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) took place on October 3, 1990, when the areas of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, in English often called East Germany) were incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany). After the GDRs first free elections on 18 March 1990, negotiations... Jump to: navigation, search Map of Warsaw Pact member countries. ... A Soviet poster reading COMECON: Unity of Goals, Unity of Action The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON / Comecon / CMEA / CEMA), 1949 – 1991, was an economic organisation of communist states and a kind of Eastern European equivalent to the European Economic Community. ...

Unintended consequences of reform

By 1989, the process of openness and democratization began to run out of control, and went far beyond what Gorbachev had intended. Perestroika and glasnost was exposing how a once revolutionary Communist Party had become moribund at the very centre of the system.

Relaxation of censorship resulted in the Communist Party losing its absolute grip on the media. Before long, much to the embarrassment of the authorities, the media began to expose severe social and economic problems which the Soviet government had long denied existed and covered up. Problems such as poor housing, alcoholism, drug abuse, pollution from outdated, Stalinist-era factories that were seldom updated, and petty to a large-scale corruption, all of which the official media had ignored, were now receiving increasing attention. Additional factors such as the economic side effects of perestroika and the mishandling of the 1986 Chernobyl accident also contributed to the growing backlash against the Soviet leadership. Jump to: navigation, search Roxane Censorship is the control of speech and other forms of human expression, often in the context of government control. ... Jump to: navigation, search Polish propaganda poster saying: Stop drinking! Come with us and build a happy tomorrow. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Pollution is the release of harmful environmental contaminants, or the substances so released. ... Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ... The nuclear power plant at Chernobyl prior to the completion of the sarcophagus. ...

The media also began to expose crimes committed by Stalin and the Soviet regime, such as Gulags and the Great Purges. In all, the very positive view of Soviet life which had long been presented to the public by the official media was being rapidly dismantled, and the negative aspects of life in the Soviet Union were brought into the spotlight. This undermined the faith of the public in the Soviet system and eroded the Communist Party's social power base, threatening the identity and integrity of the Soviet Union itself. Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Jump to: navigation, search Gulag (Russian: ГУЛАГ listen [â–¶]) is an acronym for Главное Управление Исправительно— Трудовых Лагерей и колонии, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or... The Great Purge is the name given to campaigns of repression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s which included a purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ...

The unintended political consequenses of glasnost reverberated throughout the union. In elections to the regional assemblies of the Soviet Union's constituent republics, nationalists as well as radical reformers swept the board. As Gorbachev had weakened the system of internal political repression, the ability of the USSR's central Moscow government to impose its will on the USSR's constituent republics had been largely undermined. Jump to: navigation, search An election is a decision making process whereby people vote for preferred political candidates or parties to act as representatives in government. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Nationalism is an ideology which holds that the nation, ethnicity or national identity is a fundamental unit of human social life, and makes certain political claims based on that belief, above all the claim that the nation is the only legitimate basis for the state and...

The rise of nationalism under glasnost soon reawakened simmering ethnic tensions in various Soviet republics, further discrediting the ideal of a unified Soviet people. For example, in February 1988, Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region in the Azerbaijan SSR, passed a resolution calling for unification with the Armenian SSR. Violence against local Azeris was then reported on Soviet television, which provoked massacres of Armenians in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait. Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijani: Dağlıq Qarabağ or Yuxarı Qarabağ, literally mountainous black garden or upper black garden; Russian: Нагорный Карабах, translit. ... State motto: ÕŠÖ€Õ¸Õ¬Õ¥Õ¿Õ¡Ö€Õ¶Õ¥Ö€ Õ¢Õ¸Õ¬Õ¸Ö€ Õ¥Ö€Õ¯Ö€Õ¶Õ¥Ö€Õ«, միացեք! Official language None. ... Categories: Caucasus geography stubs | Cities in Azerbaijan ...

Yeltsin and the dissolution of the USSR

Gorbachev has accused Boris Yeltsin, his old rival and Russia's first post-Soviet president, of tearing the country apart out of a desire to advance his own personal interests.

On February 7, 1990 the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union agreed to give up its monopoly of power. The USSR's constituent republics began to assert their national sovereignty over Moscow, and started a "war of laws" with the central Moscow government, in which the governments of the constituent republics repudiated all-union legislation where it conflicted with local laws, asserting control over their local economies and refusing to pay tax revenue to the central Moscow government. This strife caused economic dislocation, as supply lines in the economy were broken, and caused the Soviet economy to decline further. Gorbachev and Yeltsin This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Gorbachev and Yeltsin This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... February 7 is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sociologists usually define power as the ability to impose ones Will on others, even if those others resist in some way. ...

Gorbachev made desperate and ill-fated attempts to assert control, notably in the Baltic Republics, but the power and authority of the central government had been dramatically and irreversibly undermined. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania declared the restitution of independence and announced that it was pulling out of the Soviet Union. However, the Red Army had a strong presence there. The Soviet Union initiated an economic blockade of Lithuania and kept troops there "to secure the rights of ethnic Russians." In January of 1991, clashes between Soviet troops and Lithuanian civilians occurred, leaving 20 dead. This further weakened the Soviet Union's legitimacy, internationally and domestically. On March 30, 1990, the Estonian supreme council declared Soviet power in Estonia since 1940 to have been illegal, and started a process to reestablish Estonia as an independent state. 11 March is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ... This article is about the armed forces of the Soviet Union. ... January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in Leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

On March 17, 1991, in an all-Union referendum 78% of all voters voted for the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form. The Baltics, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova boycotted the referendum. In each of the other 9 republics, a majority of the voters supported the retention of the Soviet Union. Jump to: navigation, search March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ...

In June 1991, direct elections were held for the post of president of the Russian SFSR. The populist candidate Boris Yeltsin, who was an outspoken critic of Mikhail Gorbachev, won 57% percent of the vote, defeating Gorbachev's preferred candidate, former Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov, who won 16% of the vote. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow (last) Chairman of the Supreme Council Boris Yeltsin Established In the USSR:  - Since  - Until November 7, 1917 December 30, 1922 December 12, 1991 Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 1st in former Soviet Union 17,075,200... Jump to: navigation, search Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin listen ( ♫) (Russian: Борис Николаевич Ельцин) (born February 1, 1931) was President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. ... Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov Николай Иванович Рыжков (1925-) was a Russian politician and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (or Premier of the Soviet Union) from 1985 to 1991 during the eras of glasnost and perestroika under Gorbachev. ...

The August Coup

For further details see Soviet coup attempt of 1991. During the Soviet Coup of 1991, also known as the August Putsch or August Coup, a group of hardliners within the Soviet Communist party briefly deposed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to take control of the country. ...

Faced with growing republic separatism, Gorbachev attempted to restructure the Soviet Union into a less centralized state. On August 20, 1991, the republics were to sign a new union treaty, making them independent republics in a federation with a common president, foreign policy and military. The new treaty was strongly supported by the Central Asian republics, who needed the economic power and markets of the Soviet Union to prosper. However, the more radical reformists were increasingly convinced that a rapid transition to a market economy was required and were more than happy to contemplate the disintegration of the USSR if that was required to achieve their aims. In contrast to the reformers' lukewarm approach to the new treaty, the conservatives, still strong within the CPSU and military establishment, were completely opposed to anything which might contribute to the weakening of the Soviet state. August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A treaty is a binding agreement under international law concluded by subjects of international law, namely states and international organizations. ... Jump to: navigation, search President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

On August 19, 1991, Gorbachev's vice president Gennadi Yanayev, prime minister Valentin Pavlov, defense minister Dmitriy Yazov, KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov, and other senior officials acted to prevent the signing of the union treaty by forming the "State Committee on the State Emergency." The "Committee" put Gorbachev (vacationing in the Crimea) under house arrest and attempted to restore the union state. The coup leaders quickly issued an emergency decree suspending political activity and banning most newspapers. Jump to: navigation, search August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Gennadiy Yanayev (born 1937) was Vice-President of the Soviet Union and leader of the August Coup of 1991. ... Valentin Sergeyevich Pavlov (September 26, 1937 - March 30, 2003) was the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union from January to August 1991. ... Dmitry Timofeyevich Yazov (Язов, Дмитрий Тимофеевич in Russian) (born 1924), Russian military figure, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1990). ... Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (Крючков, Владимир Александрович in Russian) was born in Volgograd in 1924. ... The Crimea (officially Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Russian transliteration: Avtonomnaya Respublika Krym, Russian: Автономная Республика Крым, Ukrainian: Автономна Республіка Крим, , pronounced cry-MEE-ah in English) is a peninsula and an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea. ...

While coup organizers expected popular support for their actions, the public sympathy in Moscow was largely against them. Thousands of people came out to defend the "White House," then the symbolic seat of Russian sovereignty. The organizers tried but ultimately failed to arrest Boris Yeltsin, who rallied mass opposition to the coup.

After three days, on August 21, the coup collapsed, the organizers were detained, and Gorbachev returned as president of the Soviet Union. But Gorbachev's powers were now fatally compromised. Neither union nor Russian power structures heeded his commands. Through the fall of 1991, the Russian government took over the union government, ministry by ministry. In November 1991, Yeltsin issued a decree banning the CPSU throughout the Russian republic. Jump to: navigation, search August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ...

After the coup, the Soviet republics accelerated their process towards independence, declaring their sovereignty one by one. On September 6, 1991, the Soviet government recognized the independence of the three Baltic states. In December 1, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence from the USSR after a popular referendum in which 90% of voters opted for independence. September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Formation of the CIS

Map of the CIS

On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian republics met in Belavezhskaya Pushcha to issue a declaration that the Soviet Union was dissolved and replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Gorbachev became a president without a country. On December 25, 1991, he resigned as president of the USSR and turned the powers of his office over to Boris Yeltsin. The next day, the Supreme Soviet voted to dissolve itself and repealed the declaration written in 1922 that had officially established the USSR. By the end of the year, all official Soviet institutions had ceased operations. Image File history File links CIS-Map_2. ... Image File history File links CIS-Map_2. ... December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Białowieża Primaeval Forest, known as Belavezhskaya Pushcha (Белавеская пушча) in Belarus and Puszcza Białowieska in Poland, is an ancient virginal forest straddling the border between Belarus and Poland, located 70 km north of Brest. ... The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (in Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств (СНГ) - Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv) is a confederation or alliance consisting of 11 former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. ... Jump to: navigation, search December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1922 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

The four principal elements of the old Soviet system were the hierarchy of soviets, ethnic federalism, state socialism, and Communist Party dominance. Gorbachev's program of perestroika produced radical unanticipated effects that brought that system down. Gorbachev successfully built a coalition of political leaders supportive of reform and created new arenas and bases of power. He implemented these measures because of economic problems and political inertia that clearly threatened to put the Soviet Union into a state of long-term stagnation. Jump to: navigation, search A federation (from the Latin fœdus, covenant) is a state comprised of a number of self-governing regions (often themselves referred to as states) united by a central (federal) government. ... Jump to: navigation, search The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ...

But by using structural reforms to widen opportunities for leaders and popular movements in the union republics to gain influence, Gorbachev also made it possible for nationalist, orthodox communist, and populist forces to oppose his attempts to liberalize and revitalize Soviet socialism. Although some of the new movements aspired to replace the Soviet system altogether with a liberal democratic one, others demanded independence for the national republics. Still others insisted on the restoration of the old Soviet ways. Ultimately, Gorbachev could not forge a compromise among these forces.

End of the Cold War

As the Soviet Union was unraveling, Gorbachev and U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a U.S.-Soviet strategic partnership at the summit of July 1991, decisively marking the end of the Cold War. President Bush declared that U.S.-Soviet cooperation during the Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991 had laid the groundwork for a partnership in resolving bilateral and world problems. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation claimed to be the legal successor to the USSR on the international stage. Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born June... See also: 2003 invasion of Iraq and Gulf War (disambiguation) C Company, 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment, 1st UK Armoured Division The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. ...

Post-Soviet restructuring

For details see also History of post-Soviet Russia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Russian Federation became an independent country. ...

To restructure the Soviet administrative command system to effect a transition to capitalism, Yeltsin's shock program, employed days following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, cut subsidies to money-losing farms and industries, decontrolled prices, moved toward convertibility of the ruble, and moved toward restructuring the largely state-owned economy. Existing institutions, however, were abandoned before the legal structures of a market economy that govern private property, oversee the financial market, and enforce taxation were functional, despite the fact that the two major components of a macroeconomy are a banking system and the state budgetary system. Jump to: navigation, search In common usage capitalism refers to an economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned and operated, and where investment and the production, distribution and prices of commodities (goods and services) are determined privately in a free market, rather... In economics, shock therapy refers to the sudden release of price and currency controls, withdrawal of state subsidies, and immediate trade liberalization within a country. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1997 Russian Federation one rouble coin, obverse and reverse 1898 Russian Empire one rouble bill, obverse 1898 Russian Empire one rouble bill, reverse The ruble or rouble (Russian рубль; see note on spelling below) is the name of the currencies of the Russian Federation and Belarus (and...

Market economists believed that the dismantling of the administrative command system in Russia would raise GDP and living standards by allocating resources more efficiently. They also thought the collapse would create a movement outward towards production possibilities by eliminating central planning, substituting a decentralized market system, eliminating huge distortions through liberalization, and providing incentives through privatization.

Russia currently faces many problems that the planners in 1992 did not expect, including the 25% of the population that now lives below the poverty line, the drop in life expectancy, a low birthrate, and the drop in GDP, which halved after the USSR's collapse. In the eyes of many of the older generations in Russia, life under the old Soviet system was more secure than it is today. These problems led to a series of crises in the 1990s, which nearly lead to election of Yeltsin's Communist opponent in the 1996 presidential election. Presidential elections were held in the Russian Federation in 1996. ...

Jump to: navigation, search // De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era For further details, see Nikita Khrushchev After Stalin had died in March 1953, he was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and Georgi Malenkov as Premier of the Soviet Union. ...

External links

• Reform, Coup and Collapse: The End of the Soviet State by Professor Archie Brown
• Soviet Archives collected by Vladimir Bukovsky
• The Soviet Union Disintegrates by Frank E. Smitha

Vladimir Bukovsky early photo Vladimir Bukovsky (Russian language: Влади́мир Константи́нович Буко́вский; b. ...

Further reading

• Helene Carrere D'Encausse, The End of the Soviet Empire: The Triumph of the Nations, Basic Books, 1992, ISBN 0465098185

• Ronald Grigor Suny, The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Stanford University Press, 1993, ISBN 0804722471