Key Leaders
This Soviet leader introduced glasnost and perestroika.
Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?
This policy promoted greater openness and freedom of information in the USSR.
What is glasnost?
This decades-long rivalry dominated Soviet foreign policy after World War II.
What was the Cold War?
The Soviet Union officially dissolved in this year.
What is 1991?
This nation emerged as the largest successor state to the USSR.
What is Russia?
This Russian politician became the first President of the Russian Federation in 1991.
Who was Boris Yeltsin?
This policy sought to restructure the Soviet economy.
What is perestroika?
This military alliance, led by the United States, opposed the Soviet bloc.
What is NATO?
By 1991, this many republics made up the Soviet Union.
What is 15 republics?
The end of the Soviet Union effectively ended this global conflict.
What was the Cold War?
This Soviet leader's policies of military expansion and economic stagnation contributed to problems in the 1980s.
Who was Leonid Brezhnev?
Gorbachev introduced these reforms largely to address this major national problem.
What was glasnost and peristroika?
This expensive competition strained Soviet resources throughout the Cold War.
What was the arms race?
This failed event in August 1991 accelerated the collapse of the USSR.
What was the August Coup Attempt?
Many former Soviet republics faced this difficult transition in the 1990s.
What was the shift from a command economy to a market economy?
This leader was briefly held under house arrest during the August 1991 coup attempt.
Who was Mikhail Gorbachev?
Increased freedom under glasnost encouraged people in Soviet republics to demand this.
What is greater autonomy or independence?
This 1989 event symbolised the collapse of communist control in Eastern Europe.
What was the fall of the Berlin Wall?
These movements within republics such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia challenged Soviet authority.
What were nationalist or independence movements?
The breakup of the USSR led to the emergence of this number of independent states.
What is 15 independent states?
This leader stood on a tank outside the Russian parliament building and became a symbol of resistance to the 1991 coup.
Who was Boris Yeltsin?
These two policies unintentionally weakened Communist Party control.
What are glasnost and perestroika?
Soviet involvement in this 1979-1989 conflict is often compared to America's experience in Vietnam.
What was the Soviet-Afghan War?
On December 25, 1991, this event marked the symbolic end of the Soviet Union.
What was Gorbachev's resignation and the lowering of the Soviet flag over the Kremlin?
Historians debate whether the Soviet collapse was caused more by economic problems, political reforms, or this growing force.
What is nationalism?