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According to the scholar Marcel H. Van Herpen, the end of the Soviet Union marked the end of the last European empire, and some authors called it the death of Russian colonialism and imperialism. [173] As the Soviet Union began to collapse, social disintegration and political instability fueled a surge in ethnic conflict. [174]
The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, [b] was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the CPSU at the time.
The General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, declared in his opening speech that political reform was the key issue. [2] [3] Gorbachev wanted to achieve the "democratization of the life of the state and society", and wanted the Soviet Union to "move along the path of the creation of a socialist state under the rule of law".
Perestroika (/ ˌ p ɛr ə ˈ s t r ɔɪ k ə / PERR-ə-STROY-kə; Russian: перестройка, IPA: [pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə] ⓘ) [1] was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associated with CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "transparency") policy reform.
While Gorbachev wanted to preserve the Soviet Union and Marxist-Leninist ideals, he recognised the need for significant reforms. He decided to withdrew troops from the Soviet–Afghan War and met with United States president Ronald Reagan at the Reykjavik Summit to discuss the limitation of nuclear weapons production and ending the Cold War .
Just moments before that, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation in a live televised address, drawing a line under more than 74 years of Soviet history.
On 24 December 2021, Gorbachev said that the United States "grew arrogant and self-confident" after the collapse of the Soviet Union, resulting in "a new empire. Hence the idea of NATO expansion". He also endorsed the upcoming security talks between the United States and Russia, saying, "I hope there will be a result." [521]
“The collapse of the Soviet Union was one of those occasions in history that are believed to be unthinkable until they become inevitable.” Gorbachev’s resignation 30 years ago marked the end ...