WHY DID USSR COLLAPSE | HISTORY GROWTH DECLINE END
Global Affairs Session 29 5 May 2026 HOW AND WHY THE USSR COLLAPSED The rise, achievements, structural weaknesses and final dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union transformed a largely agrarian empire into an industrial, military and scientific superpower, but its centrally planned economy, closed political system, costly arms race and unresolved national tensions gradually weakened the state. Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms exposed these problems while loosening central control, and the failed August 1991 coup accelerated the USSR’s final dissolution.