| The Soviet Union or Union of Soviet Socialist | | | | reached its height during the authoritarian rule of |
| Republic is existed from 1922 to 1991. As an | | | | Josef Stalin in the 1940s and 1950s, contributed to |
| offshoot of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the | | | | the economic decline. |
| Union grew to a union of fifteen republics. The | | | | The Soviet leader at the time, Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Soviet was the foremost communist country | | | | responded by instituting reforms such as glasnost |
| during those times. It came to rival the United | | | | and perestroika. The reforms made it possible for |
| States as superpowers. | | | | Soviet citizens to enjoy certain freedoms such as |
| The collapse of the Soviet Union began when it | | | | right to information. These reforms have |
| failed to invade Afghanistan during the 1980s. The | | | | significance since these were indications that the |
| Afghan invasion was an attempt by the Union to | | | | once authoritarian Soviet leadership is gradually |
| have a significant and strategic influence in the | | | | losing its political power within its borders. |
| Middle East which was the major oil supplier in the | | | | The republics within the Union also contributed to |
| world. The Afghan War lasted until the Soviet | | | | the collapse. Once granted by the Soviet , some |
| pullout in 1988. This led to the decline of Soviet's | | | | of the republics began holding referendums on |
| influence in world politics. | | | | whether to remain with the Soviet Union or |
| Also, in late 1980s, the communist countries in | | | | secede. |
| Eastern Europe known as the Iron Curtain began | | | | In March 17, 1991, a referendum was held to |
| to crumble. Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, | | | | determine the preservation of the Union. Nine out |
| East Germany, Poland among others toppled its | | | | of the fifteen republics voted to preserve the |
| communist governments. The culmination of this | | | | Union. This made the Soviet into a looser |
| is the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in Berlin, | | | | federation. |
| Germany in 1989. This led to the further | | | | A coup led by hard-line communists aimed at |
| diminishing of Soviet Union's political power. | | | | restoring the central government's control over |
| While these world events where happening, social | | | | the republics failed in August 1991. This event led |
| unrest due to declining economic conditions began | | | | to the increase in the popularity of Boris Yeltsin, |
| to take root among the fifteen republics of the | | | | president of Russia, while diminishing the influence |
| Soviet Union. Decades of oppression, which | | | | of Gorbachev. |