It was a time before 1991, when USSR itself is a big country and India proudly called USSR as best Geo-political friend. But in 1991 USSR gets divided into 15 different countries. At that time many reports get published about getting India Orphaned- Economically, Politically and Strategically. On the other hand the rival i.e. United States became confident with this act, as after USSR only Superpower left is US.
On January 1, 1991, the USSR was the largest country in the world, covering some 8,650,000 square miles (22,400,000 square km), nearly one-sixth of Earth’s land surface. Its population numbered more than 290 million, and 100 distinct nationalities lived within its borders. There were many factors that led to the collapse of the soviet union are Political, Economical, Military and Social.
- Political Factor- It was time when Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His domestic goals were to revive dying Soviet economy and to streamline complicated government bureaucracy. When his initial attempts at reform failed, then he came up with policies of glasnost(to encourage dialogue i.e. openness) and perestroika(introduction of quasi free market i.e. structure it again). The policy of glasnost became a point of criticism of whole soviet governmental structure. The State loose control on both Media and Public sphere and democratic reforms movements streamed out in every part of soviet union. In the end, Gorbachev’s reforms and his abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine hastened the demise of the Soviet empire.
- Military factor- Soviet Military budget had been increasing since early 1970’s, which is 10 to 20 percent of total GDP. However military budget was consistently doubted. Military was prioritized even when it came to research and development sector. Other technological sectors and entrepreneurs were ignored and funneled into defense industries.
- Nationalist movements and social factors- Soviet union was composed of 15 different radical republics. Across the nation there are huge diversity, as dozens of ethnicities, languages and cultures. With this, many of them are incompatible with one another. Minorities were being bullied which created tensions within soviet union.
- Economical Factor- The soviet economy was world’s 2nd largest in 1990, but there are huge shortage of consumer goods. Because soviet union was focusing on strategic goods, which created lack of resources to grow economic capacity of the nation. The estimation was done that the soviet black market economy was equivalent to more than 10 percent of GDP of soviet union. Not proper management of fiscal policy fueled inflation into the economy and made country vulnerable to external factors. Oil and natural gas played an important role in soviet union economy, as soviet was ranked as one of the top producers of the world during 1970s and80s. Help in Reduction in the price of oil by United States dried up the capital in the economy.
- Invasion of Afghanistan- Among the reasons for the fall of USSR, the invasion of Afghanistan was one of the poorest decisions made by soviet government. Invasion of Afghanistan creates lack of trust among other developing nations as soviets were supporting developing nations to maintain their freedom. Other nations thought that the same way they also get invaded. This also create internal conflicts between soviet republics and soviet government. By the time, they ordered Red Army to withdraw from Afghanistan, the economic and military resources were drained.
Apart from these factors there are dozens of small factors which took part in collapsing Soviet Union. Poor decisions and Mismanagement of resources divide USSR into 15 different nations.