The Fall of the USSR Explained in 16 Minutes

How does a superpower with 290 million people and tens of thousands of nuclear warheads disappear in six years, without a single battle? This documentary-style explainer follows the fall of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991: the Baltic Way human chain, Gorbachev's reforms, glasnost, the 1989 revolutions, the August 1991 coup attempt, and the agreement that ended the USSR in December 1991. IN THIS VIDEO • Why the empire ran on fear, money and a story • Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign and the oil price drop • Chernobyl and the end of official silence • The 1989 miners' strikes • Why Russia's own sovereignty declaration mattered • The Belovezha Accords and Gorbachev's resignation • Outside pressure or inside decay: what mattered more? SOURCES (to verify the facts) Baltic Way, 2 million people, 675 km (Guinness World Records): guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/690394-longest-human-chain-multiple-countries US Dept. of State, Office of the Historian: history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/collapse-soviet-union The 1991 coup, Belovezha and the end (Univ. of Illinois): seventeenmoments.web.illinois.edu/1991-2/the-end-of-the-soviet-union/ Vilnius, January 1991 (RFE/RL): rferl.org/a/lithuania-soviet-crackdown-1991-kremlin-rewriting-history/31043914.html Levada Center polls on the USSR collapse (The Moscow Times): themoscowtimes.com/all/60039 Some figures are estimates and historians still debate them. Made for education and historical analysis. Subscribe to InkHistoryChannel for more deep dives. Which moment do you think sealed the USSR's fate? Tell us below. #USSR #SovietUnion #History