El colapso de la URSS
Fernando Díaz Villanueva
39,399 views
The dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is one of the most momentous events of the 20th century, comparable in magnitude to the two world wars or the Bolshevik Revolution that gave rise to the Soviet state itself in 1917. In just six years, between 1985 and 1991, an empire stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific, which had held the entire world in suspense for more than four decades of the Cold War, crumbled without a conventional war, a foreign invasion, or a revolution. What occurred was something more complex: a combination of ill-conceived reforms, unsustainable economic pressures, the awakening of long-suppressed nationalisms, and a ruling elite that had lost faith in its own project.
It all began with Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in March 1985. Gorbachev was a young man by Kremlin standards, energetic, and convinced that the Soviet system could be reformed from within without abandoning socialism. His two major programs, perestroika and glasnost, aimed to modernize the economy and create a space for greater transparency. What Gorbachev failed to foresee was that these reforms, far from strengthening the state, would ultimately destroy it.
The process was neither uniform nor predictable. The Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) were the first to gain independence. In the Caucasus, ethnic violence between Armenians and Azerbaijanis foreshadowed the collapse of the Soviet-era coexistence. Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus followed slower but equally irreversible paths. In Central Asia, tensions took different forms, ethnic clashes erupted, and the Soviet-era ruling class survived by changing its allegiance. The 1989 miners' strikes in Donbas and Siberia revealed that discontent was not confined to the national peripheries, but had also taken root in the heart of the Russian working class, the very class that was supposedly the foundation of the regime.
The crisis reached its point of no return in 1991. Boris Yeltsin, elected president of the Russian Federation, became Gorbachev's main internal rival. The attempted coup of August 1991, led by a group of hardliners within the Party and its security apparatus, ended in a resounding failure that accelerated the process of dissolution. Following the failed coup, the Soviet republics declared their independence one after another, like dominoes falling on a chessboard that no one controlled anymore. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR, and the red flag with the hammer and sickle was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time. The Soviet Union had ceased to exist.
The consequences were enormous and continue to this day. Economically, the transition was chaotic and painful. Post-Soviet conflicts (from Chechnya to Transnistria, including Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia) raged for decades and are still not entirely over. Historiography has extensively debated the causes of the collapse. Some emphasize the weight of structural factors, others point to Gorbachev's personal decisions, and still others highlight the decisive role of international pressure and the arms race. What is certain is that the dissolution of the USSR changed the world map, and its effects continue to shape 21st-century geopolitics.
On The Counter Seal:
0:00 Introduction
4:08 The Collapse of the USSR
33:20 O2 - http://o2online.es/
1:25:09 The Mercenaries
Bibliography:
"The End of 'Homo Sovieticus'" by Svetlana Alexievich - https://amzn.to/47TGYnC
"Imperium" by Ryszard Kapuscinski - https://amzn.to/4dx5Xkk
"Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick - https://amzn.to/4lERYec
"Armageddon Averted" by Stephen Kotkin - https://amzn.to/4snVcWn
· Telegram Channel: https://t.me/lacontracronica
· "Against Pessimism"... https://amzn.to/4m1RX2R
· “Hispanics: A Brief History of the Spanish-Speaking Peoples”… https://amzn.to/428js1G
• “The Counter-History of Communism”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE
• “The Counter-History of Spain”… The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Country in 28 Episodes… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i
• “Against the French Revolution”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ
• “Luther, Calvin, and Trent: The Reformation That Never Was”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK
Support La Contra on:
• Patreon… Patreon: diazvillanueva
• iVoox… https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contrac...
• Paypal… https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva
#FernandoDiazVillanueva #USSR #Communism
20 Comments
"Sabemos que nos mienten, ellos saben que nos mienten, ellos saben que sabemos que nos mienten, sabemos que ellos saben que sabemos que nos mienten... y sin embargo, siguen mintiendo",,,
El colapso de la URSS
Fernando Díaz Villanueva
39,399 views
The dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is one of the most momentous events of the 20th century, comparable in magnitude to the two world wars or the Bolshevik Revolution that gave rise to the Soviet state itself in 1917. In just six years, between 1985 and 1991, an empire stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific, which had held the entire world in suspense for more than four decades of the Cold War, crumbled without a conventional war, a foreign invasion, or a revolution. What occurred was something more complex: a combination of ill-conceived reforms, unsustainable economic pressures, the awakening of long-suppressed nationalisms, and a ruling elite that had lost faith in its own project.
It all began with Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in March 1985. Gorbachev was a young man by Kremlin standards, energetic, and convinced that the Soviet system could be reformed from within without abandoning socialism. His two major programs, perestroika and glasnost, aimed to modernize the economy and create a space for greater transparency. What Gorbachev failed to foresee was that these reforms, far from strengthening the state, would ultimately destroy it.
The process was neither uniform nor predictable. The Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) were the first to gain independence. In the Caucasus, ethnic violence between Armenians and Azerbaijanis foreshadowed the collapse of the Soviet-era coexistence. Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus followed slower but equally irreversible paths. In Central Asia, tensions took different forms, ethnic clashes erupted, and the Soviet-era ruling class survived by changing its allegiance. The 1989 miners' strikes in Donbas and Siberia revealed that discontent was not confined to the national peripheries, but had also taken root in the heart of the Russian working class, the very class that was supposedly the foundation of the regime.
The crisis reached its point of no return in 1991. Boris Yeltsin, elected president of the Russian Federation, became Gorbachev's main internal rival. The attempted coup of August 1991, led by a group of hardliners within the Party and its security apparatus, ended in a resounding failure that accelerated the process of dissolution. Following the failed coup, the Soviet republics declared their independence one after another, like dominoes falling on a chessboard that no one controlled anymore. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR, and the red flag with the hammer and sickle was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time. The Soviet Union had ceased to exist.
The consequences were enormous and continue to this day. Economically, the transition was chaotic and painful. Post-Soviet conflicts (from Chechnya to Transnistria, including Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgia) raged for decades and are still not entirely over. Historiography has extensively debated the causes of the collapse. Some emphasize the weight of structural factors, others point to Gorbachev's personal decisions, and still others highlight the decisive role of international pressure and the arms race. What is certain is that the dissolution of the USSR changed the world map, and its effects continue to shape 21st-century geopolitics.
On The Counter Seal:
0:00 Introduction
4:08 The Collapse of the USSR
33:20 O2 - http://o2online.es/
1:25:09 The Mercenaries
Bibliography:
"The End of 'Homo Sovieticus'" by Svetlana Alexievich - https://amzn.to/47TGYnC
"Imperium" by Ryszard Kapuscinski - https://amzn.to/4dx5Xkk
"Lenin's Tomb" by David Remnick - https://amzn.to/4lERYec
"Armageddon Averted" by Stephen Kotkin - https://amzn.to/4snVcWn
· Telegram Channel: https://t.me/lacontracronica
· "Against Pessimism"... https://amzn.to/4m1RX2R
· “Hispanics: A Brief History of the Spanish-Speaking Peoples”… https://amzn.to/428js1G
• “The Counter-History of Communism”… https://amzn.to/39QP2KE
• “The Counter-History of Spain”… The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Country in 28 Episodes… https://amzn.to/3kXcZ6i
• “Against the French Revolution”… https://amzn.to/4aF0LpZ
• “Luther, Calvin, and Trent: The Reformation That Never Was”… https://amzn.to/3shKOlK
Support La Contra on:
• Patreon… Patreon: diazvillanueva
• iVoox… https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-contrac...
• Paypal… https://www.paypal.me/diazvillanueva
#FernandoDiazVillanueva #USSR #Communism