The collapse of the USSR: external influence or internal conspiracy?

Officially, the collapse of the USSR, the date of which fell on December 8, 1991, was issued on the territory of the Bialowieza Forest, and more specifically - in the Viskuli estate. Then the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian leaders put their signatures on the Agreement, according to which the Commonwealth of Independent States was created . A little later, on December 21, eight more former republics joined them. Thus, the collapse of the USSR occurred 69 years after its founding.

The collapse of the USSR

Now there is no unanimous opinion on the main reasons for the collapse of the Union . Some suggest that this was facilitated by the fall in oil prices on world markets, which was initiated by the US government. Others believe that the betrayal of Mikhail Gorbachev led to this. Still others believe that what happened is the fruit of public discontent with the authoritarian method of government in the country and the protracted socio-economic crisis. It is also widely believed that the collapse of the USSR happened due to a number of technological disasters and military-political defeats of the state. There are other assumptions.

The collapse of the USSR Gorbachev

Conspiracy theory today is very widespread. According to her, the collapse of one of the most powerful countries in the world occurred as a result of the consistent and lengthy work of the intelligentsia, which was opposed to the state. Proponents of another theory are sure that it was the Americans who provoked the collapse of the USSR. Gorbachev played a significant role in it, providing them with a legitimate field of activity for his “perestroika”. This process, in their sincere conviction, was intended primarily to change ideological policy. Representatives of the domestic intelligentsia, who were the advanced detachment of everything new, were radically tuned and focused on Western states. In the mid-eighties of the last century, these people in their activities sought to revise historical events, giving them a different meaning. For example, the socialist revolution of 1917 was called a coup. Many believed that they were right.

USSR collapse date

However, many historians do not agree with the fact that the collapse of the USSR was initiated by external factors. They are led to such a conclusion by the fact that the Soviet political elite, beginning in the mid-sixties, less and less believed in their official ideology and gradually turned into admirers of bourgeois values. Moreover, when resolving issues of various levels in all areas of activity, “telephone law”, bribery and corruption flourished. Many citizens joined the Communist Party not from ideological considerations, as before, but only so as not to lose the opportunity to make a career. All this, together with the decline among the population of confidence in the socialist system of the state, could not but undermine it from the inside. So this version has a right to exist.

Thus, it is very difficult to say for sure that one of the above reasons is the one that caused the collapse of the USSR. There is no doubt that the answer to this question should be approached comprehensively. In other words, the collapse of such a powerful state, most likely, led to the totality of all these events.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/G8590/


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