Dissolution of the Soviet Union
- Date
- August–December 1991
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Soviet Union / Eurasia
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
The Soviet Union disintegrated over the course of 1991. In August, communist hardliners attempted a coup to halt Gorbachev's reforms and a new union treaty; the coup failed within days, fatally weakening the central government and accelerating the independence declarations of the Soviet republics.
On 8 December 1991, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords, declaring the USSR dissolved and creating the Commonwealth of Independent States; most remaining republics joined under the Alma-Ata Protocol on 21 December. Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president on 25 December 1991, transferring control of the nuclear arsenal to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin. The state formally ceased to exist on 26 December 1991. The dissolution ended the Cold War, produced fifteen independent successor states, and left the United States as the sole superpower, reshaping the global order.
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Empires active in August–December 1991
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Yugoslavia1918 CE – 1992 CE
Related politics & governance events
- German reunification3 October 1990
- Fall of the Berlin Wall9 November 1989
- Revolutions of 1989 across Eastern Europe1989 (Autumn of Nations)
- The end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's election in South Africa27 April 1994 (election); 10 May 1994 (inauguration)
- Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika1985–1991 (from 11 March 1985)
- Iranian RevolutionJanuary–February 1979
Further reading
If you read one book
Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
Pulitzer-winning reportage on the USSR's collapse.
Get it on Amazon →Also worth reading
- Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union — Amazon →
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union
Prize-winning, gripping account of how the USSR came apart in 1991.
Get it on Amazon → - Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000 — Amazon →
Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
Short, sharp, highly readable explanation of why the Soviet system imploded.
Get it on Amazon →
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