Why The Soviet Union Really Collapsed

On 25 December 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned on television, and that evening the Soviet flag came down over the Kremlin. Less than seven years earlier, he had taken over a nuclear superpower meaning to make it work better. This film follows him from Stavropol to the Politburo, through the anti-alcohol campaign, the oil shock, Chernobyl and glasnost, the first competitive elections and the Congress broadcast live, the revolutions of 1989, the republics' push for independence, Yeltsin's rise, the August coup by his own appointees, and the agreements that ended the union. 0:00 The last broadcast 1:45 From Stavropol 2:36 The succession 4:56 Acceleration, vodka and oil 7:13 Chernobyl 9:23 Glasnost 14:55 The first free vote 17:43 Eastern Europe goes 21:09 The republics 26:11 The last winter 31:12 The coup 36:42 The end of the union 40:10 How he lost it Research draws on Soviet records and press reports, the National Security Archive, US intelligence assessments, and histories by Archie Brown, William Taubman, Vladislav Zubok, Serhii Plokhy and Chris Miller. Archive film: Central Television (USSR) / Gosteleradiofond, the Reagan and Bush presidential libraries, ITN, BBC News, rbb, LRT, ERTIS, TV VITA and others credited on screen. Satellite imagery: Esri, Vantor, Earthstar Geographics. Reagan Library (cropped):    • President Reagan Walking in Red Square wit...   CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Teterin & Potulov / Mos.ru (cropped): https://www.mos.ru/news/item/75526073/ CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... #Gorbachev #SovietUnion #History