When did the Soviet Union dissolve?
Quick answer
The Soviet Union officially dissolved on December 26, 1991, when its parliament voted to end the union. The day before, on December 25, President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, and the red Soviet flag over the Kremlin was lowered and replaced with Russia’s tricolor. Its 15 republics became independent countries.
The final months
| Date (1991) | Event |
|---|---|
| August 19–21 | Hard-liners attempt a coup against Gorbachev; it collapses after mass protests led by Boris Yeltsin |
| August–December | Republics declare independence one after another |
| December 1 | Ukraine votes overwhelmingly for independence |
| December 8 | Leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus sign the Belovezha Accords, declaring the USSR no longer exists |
| December 25 | Gorbachev resigns on television |
| December 26 | The Supreme Soviet formally dissolves the union |
Why it collapsed
- Economic stagnation: shortages, inefficient state planning and low oil prices
- Glasnost and perestroika: Gorbachev’s reforms allowed more open criticism and economic change, weakening Communist Party control
- Nationalism in the republics, especially the Baltic states
- Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe; see when the Berlin Wall fell
- The costly war in Afghanistan (1979–1989)
The 15 former Soviet republics
| Region | Countries |
|---|---|
| Baltic | Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania |
| Eastern Europe | Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova |
| Caucasus | Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan |
| Central Asia | Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan |
Russia took over the Soviet Union’s seat on the UN Security Council and its nuclear arsenal. The Central Asian states include the largest landlocked country.
The Soviet Union in brief
The USSR was founded in 1922, five years after the Russian Revolution. It was the world’s largest country, a communist one-party state, and the United States’ rival during the Cold War. Learn more in what communism is. Its achievements in space are covered in which country sent the first human into space.
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