Dissolution of the Soviet Union: History of the Soviet Union, Perestroika, Glasnost, Reagan Doctrine, Predictions of Soviet Collapse

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 64. Chapters: 1991 Soviet coup d'etat attempt, 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Alma-Ata Protocol, Andrei Amalrik, Belavezha Accords, Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, Democratisation in the Soviet Union, Era of Stagnation, Georgian independence referendum, 1991, Glasnost, Helene Carrere d'Encausse, History of the Soviet Union (1982-1991), Moldovan Declaration of Independence, Moscow Music Peace Festival, Perestroika, Predictions of Soviet collapse, Reagan Doctrine, Russian presidential election, 1991, Soviet Union legislative election, 1989, Soviet Union referendum, 1991, Soyuz (faction), Ukrainian independence referendum, 1991, Union of Sovereign States. Excerpt: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991 by declaration 142-H of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. This declaration acknowledged the independence of the twelve republics of the Soviet Union that subsequently created the Commonwealth of Independent States. On the previous day, 25 December 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned, declaring his office extinct, and handed over the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. That same evening at 7:32 P.M. the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin and replaced with the Russian tricolor. The dissolution of the world's first and largest Communist state also marked an end to the Cold War. In order to revive the stagnant Soviet economy, in 1985 new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began a process of increasing political liberalization (glasnost/perestroika) in the communist one-party state. However, this liberalization led to the emergence from 1986 onwards of nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the diverse republics of the Soviet Union. It also led to the revolutions of 1989 which saw the mainly peaceful (Romania excepted) toppling of the Soviet imposed Communist regimes of the Warsaw Pact, which in turn increased pressure on Gorbachev to introduce greater democracy and autonomy for the Soviet Union's constituent republics. Under Gorbachev's leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to a new central legislature, the Congress of People's Deputies, although the ban on other political parties was not lifted until 1990. The 17 March 1991 referendum showed 76.4% of Soviet citizens voting to retain the Union, however Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Georgia and Armenia did not participate. The Baltic states, illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, pressed their claims to the restoration of their independence,