Fall of The Soviet Union Explained In 5 Minutes

Multiple factors played a role in the fall of the Soviet Union or USSR, many placing blame on Gorbachev and his failed reforms with others viewing the event as inevitable due to the negative legacy of Brezhnev.
On the 25th of December 1991, the world watched as the most powerful communist country in history collapsed. Following the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR, dissolved into 15 independent states, marking the federations downfall and ending the Cold War, which had lasted 44 years between the East and the West.
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[@TheLifeGuide]

Thanks for watching! 😊Remember to *Like & Subscribe* if you enjoyed the video and stay posted on our *Community Page* for future videos. What factor do you think played the biggest role? *Perestroika?* Ending of the *Brezhnev Doctrine?* Comment down below and let us know!

[@EastAtLeast]

Brilliant video! Oss!

[@ShamanMcLamie]

The idiocy that is Communism. The Soviet Union was rotting from the inside out and was doomed to fail unless it could pull a China. I like to compare Gorbachev and his reforms as a Doctor giving a terminal patient experimental treatments to save them. Instead it put the patient in shock and killed them. Not enough Perestroika to grow the economy, but the Perestroika reforms were likely to have some bad side effects like initial rising prices and could have lead to a political backlash. Glasnost basically just opened a can of worms called Nationalism that tore the Union apart. Ending the Brezhnev Doctrine could only benefit the USSR since it had become apparent they couldn't win the Cold War. It meant they didn't need to spend as much on their military to prop up puppet governments also the USSR had become so dependent on Western finance and trade to keep their tottering economy afloat and putting down anti-Communist uprisings could have lead to crippling sanctions.

[@maxweber4818]

ShamanMcLamie First of all the Soviet Union was socialist not communist. That is why the name was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics not the Union of Soviet Communist Republics. The next point I'd like to make is that under Stalin the economy grew tremendously during an era of great economic turmoil for the capitalist world. The literacy rate increased from 20% in tsarist Russia to 99% after universal free education had been introduced. The life expectancy jumped an incredible ammount going from around 27 to 60. Infact after the collapse of the Soviet Uniin the Russian life expectancy dropped nearly 4 years. The era-of stagnation in reality had not been caused by the socialist system growing stale but the removal of many important socialist aspects of the economy such as collective farming which was disbanded under Khrushchev. There was a referendum held in the Soviet Union before the collapse around 1990s in which almost 90% of the Soviet Citizens voted to preserve it with a hugh voter turnout of around 80%. Yeltsin however, ignored these results, disbanded the U.S.S.R. and temporarily suspended the constition effectively making him a dictator. Ronald Reagan used to make jokes about getting a car in the Soviet Union but did you know that car ownership in Ukraine is now less than in Soviet Ukraine, with most of the cars that are owned being from the Soviet-Era. It seems to me that life has gotten considerably worse wince the collapse of the Soviet Union maybe that's why over 50% of Russians say they want it back!

[@brandonlyon730]

You forgot to take account of the Chernobyl incident and it's effect on the Union, the costs of trying to contain the radiation and repairing the damage has caused a severe toll on USSR economy and its confidence of its people.

[@JeanLucCaptain]

So basically the government was far too centralized and top heavy. And like all such things it caved under its own weight?

[@heeman82]

You didn't mention Rocky IV

[@X_A_ic]

Oh come on bro! That movie was literal propaganda during the cold war. I mean nowhere days we don’t think about it now since the cold war is over but still😂

[@mroctober2011]

True. There was a noticeable change in how the Russian public felt about Rocky during that fight, and also about how he felt about them. I think that essentially, everybody realised the fundamental truth in that it is better for two men to kill each other in sport, rather than a million men to kill each other on the battlefield. If a mere athlete can change, and a group of spectators can change, everyone can change their attitudes towards the geopolitical state of affairs at that particular time in history.

[@whatistruth8690]

Still a workout montage video movie though 🤣

[@Menaceblue3]

@@whatistruth8690 Gotta have training montage!🎵🎶 Montage!🎵🎶

[@appalachianbandit2528]

If I can change, maybe you can change- WE ALL CAN CHANGE

[@iammrbeat]

It makes much more sense to blame Brezhnev more than Gorbachev.

[@Bialy_1]

No its not, communism is the reason that USSR died.

[@christianchristian1286]

I'd disagree, an increasing feeling of nationalism added with the the political and social reforms happening at the same time meant that the failures of the political reforms could be protested by the now freely expressive people. Under Brezhnev's "social contract" any political failure (that wasn't kept hidden) was rarely objected by citizens, who were given a higher standard of living through no open opposition. Under Gorby, many corrupt officials were replaced by Russians. The central committee had only 1 non-Russian member and this increased nationalist thought as the people from the other 14 republics blamed Russians for their misfortune and this seeked independence, indeed Yeltsin took advantage of this and that led to the collapse of the union.

[@Hagser]

I wanna go to jail but im not criminal how do i do ?

[@-ahvilable-6654]

It was all built on cruelty and untrue, too bad it lasted for so long

[@DavidStickney]

This is obviously all Putins fault.

[@Skunkowork]

I was on that McDonald's line with my parents before we immigrated to the US in 1990. The line stretched around two or more blocks. This was a big deal because it was the first place which symbolized Russia's acceptance of Western culture and a slow change to capitalism.

[@No.1R]

Because that was the first shit food to enter . I still miss the milk and the kefir and the icecream and the smoked mackerel. Those were the days

[@nguyenhoanglong420]

​@@No.1R for free if it is Soviet Union !!!??? Nothing is free !! People who create that McDonald has some creative mind !!! Give him some money man !!!???!!! That's how business works !!!

[@VeteranAlpha]

@@No.1R That sounds like some shit old boomer food that you're listing us. Like milk? Who the hell would be excited to drink milk like it's the second coming of Jesus? EEEEEE.

[@inactive859]

Josef Stalin actually piss off

[@inbuckswetrust7357]

Western shit not culture :)

[@phazonclash]

The fact that Rocky won against Ivan Drago was the #1 cause

[@JK-zt4ym]

This video paints Gorbechov poorly as though he was incompetent. In fact he saw the writing on the wall and wanted to prevent civil war.

[@metros8169]

@Daniel Paul in a country with nuclear weapons? No country after a civil war is stronger, America became weaker, Libya, England and any Russia/ the soviet union were all weakened by civil war. A bloody conflict with multiple ethnicities would be bloody and violent . The economy would collapse and many countries would brake away from the soviet union. In no way would it become stronger.

[@GANCHO1997]

He's an incompetent traitor.

[@putikeswarasudarsono]

If you are a country like United States, the government can squander public money for military, yet people still owns their private wealth. But in dictatorship socialist society, where public money is ALSO people's wealth, no wonder such unproductive spending led to the economic collapse.

[@TheBayzent]

@Daniel Paul Nothing could have saved it. Communism is based on lazy people envying what others have, they can consider themselves lucky that they lasted that long.

[@derman-ps6re]

hk_97 Just like all the “Russians” who supported the Jewish bolsheviks.

[@MisterCCL]

It is commonly blamed too heavily on Gorbachev. He inherited a nearly impossible country to govern in its current state riddled with corruption and other instabilities. He took power and brought in reforms that were incredible ideas. Perestroika and Glasnost sought to bring more power to the people and make a more trustworthy country. It essentially took the totalitarian power away from totalitarians. In his time, the people loved him and the government hated him. As the totalitarians in the government didn't want their power taken away, they started going against him. This internal friction caused to much trouble that the USSR started to break from within. Gorbachev took many measures to try to fix things (some mistakes were made, but you try making the best decisions in a position like that.) as his country was being ripped from his hands. The final nail in the coffin was the 1991 coup. Fearing a civil war, he stepped down, and the USSR collapsed. He didn't cause it's death but he put it out of its misery. Given that he was the one at the top back in this time, he is generally blamed for the collapse and is a very unpopular figure in Russia and other former Soviet states today. It's also worth noting that Gorbachev was a great diplomat. The cold war would not have ended when it did without him and specifically him being in power. Reagan and Chernenko were both such hardliners, and if both of them had stayed in power simultaneously for a long period of time, things would have only gotten worse. Gorbachev is a truly misunderstood and great man.

[@infantjones]

The reforms of Gorbachev didn't do a thing to reduce corruption, it made it worse via the semi-privatization of the economy! The resulting instability is virtually solely to blame on Perestroika, the semi-privatization caused worker productivity to plummet (causing major shortages of goods) and led to the devaluation of the ruble, resulting in a serious decrease in real wages. Perestroika and Glasnost didn't seek to bring more power to the people, they were intended to enrich party elites and economic managers. As a result, the instability among the populace skyrocketed, where it was fairly typical beforehand. To claim that "the people loved him and the government hated him" is incorrect to the point that it is effectively the reverse of the truth of the situation. His approval rating was high at first due to the promises he made, but once those promises came to fruition his approval rating among the population plummeted to the lowest in the history of Soviet approval polling, while after the collapse and into today he is consistently ranked in polls as the worst political leader of the Soviet Union/Russia. This trend of him being ranked as the worst began years before the collapse. The dissolution of the Soviet Union was an extremely unpopular move at the time, it is still just as unpopular today as nostalgia for the USSR remains strong. The legacy of Gorbachev is rightfully one of ruin, one of massive corruption and economic inequality, one of a complete disregard for the public will. He stood against the Soviet people, not for them.

[@dirkstrickland135]

Gorbachev wasn't misunderstood. He got his Nobel Peace prize for single handedly destroyed the west's biggest enemy.

[@zhang-boyu]

Gorbachev is believed in China as most of the last emperores of dynasties in Chinese history, a leader leading a country that is destined to collapse, and did something unclear to boost the fate to come. If Soviet Union hadn't collapsed in 1991, It would have fallen several years later.

[@siegfriedia9986]

soviet idiots invaded afghanistan (graveyard of Empires). that was the real reason why the ussr collapsed. gorbatschow wasn't the one who decided for this disastrous invasion.

[@edgehognet3290]

How can you misunderstand a piece of shit?

[@Wilantonjakov]

Don't forget, Chernobyl caused a huge amount of government spending that put the Soviets into even further debt.

[@SmugCanadian]

Yea this was the final nail in the coffin I think.

[@alx6987]

He’s in shock, get him to the infirmary

[@daltonsanders212]

Chernobyl was a tragedy but I don't think you should be getting your information on the Soviet Union from an American TV series. Talk to some Russians and read some books written by them.

[@Wilantonjakov]

Dalton Sanders who are you addressing? If it's me, I haven't watched the TV series.

[@adamf663]

plus the aristocracy had been buying luxury items on credit.

[@yourneighbour5738]

*Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.* -Vladimir Putin

[@Cancerium]

Whoever believe this anti propaganda made by capitalist president, has no soul.

[@anotherthink9236]

@@Cancerium true

[@user-fg4yz7fy7z]

@@Cancerium Whoever is beating the shit out of innocent people who are putting good true comments on youtube, has no brain or soul

[@user-fg4yz7fy7z]

I agree with the last part but most Russians don't want the soviet union back at all..

[@varunishere]

Wow

[@AndyBruinewoud]

One factor not mentioned here was Chernobyl. Not just the casualties and the costs of cleaning up, but it sowed doubt into the public's mind about soviet superiority.

[@sixthgatebass]

Andy Bruinewoud 31 people died from Chernobyl

[@3DHDcat]

Not really

[@FrostedSeagull]

Andy, You are correct. People often cite the Afghanistan War but it was Chernobyl that sent the USSR completely broke. Hundreds of thousands received radiation poisoning. The Chernobyl clean up cost billions and affected the Afghanistan War as helicopters were recalled.

[@WiscoMTB37]

@@sixthgatebass if other countries wouldn't have found radiation isotopes being released, I doubt Russia would have even said anyone died. It just makes them looks weak. And in all reality there have been more Russian reactor failures/contamination than any other nation

[@varidian694]

Andy Bruinewoud Chernobyl was the spark that ignited the fire

[@mrvk39]

Let me explain this more coherently and logically. Oil prices following OPEC have collapsed in the late 1970s-early 1980s depriving USSR of a large % of their exports, which created a big economic strain domestically. Gorbachev saw this and needed economic reforms to save USSR. Big cuts to military budgets were necessary for this but they could come only if the Cold War and the arms race with the US came to an end. Reagan refused to do so without seeing also political reforms in USSR. So, Glasnost and Perestroyaka were launched simultaneously to make deals with US possible. But once political liberalization took place, it got out of control and political/nationalistic movements tore the country apart and swept Gorbachev aside.

[@mrvk39]

I think I need to better explain what I've said above. Big military cuts came, but, they came after USSR launched reforms. These reforms is what caused rebellions to break out. Gorbachev already withdrew from Afghanistan by that time.

[@NUCLEARARMAMENT]

USA-backed intelligence services infiltrated the USSR back in the 1960s, resulting in communist party functionaries to capitulate to the international capitalist cabal via the implementation of revisionist economic reforms, infiltration of the communist party with capitalist and fascist sympathizers who eventually gained footing in securing power for themselves; not including actions the least of which resulted in the stagnation the technological development of the Soviet Union's advancement in central economic planning via the use of Soviet domestic computer technology and consequent interconnected networks which would have enabled far more efficient economic planning in contrast to the extant, rank-and-file, immensely bureaucratic centralized planning system that materialized in the post-Stalin era during the period of "de-Stalinization" sought by Krushchev's succeeding entourage of revisionist dopplegangers that illegitimately gained power in the power struggle that promulgated following Stalin's death in 1953. These revisionist parasitical cliques in the elite ranks of the communist party implemented various reforms that resembled capitalistic, market-style privatization and decentralization of the Soviet economy, causing it to slow down significantly in economic growth, eventually leading to stagnation after short-lived growth during Khrushchev's and Brehznev's rule occuring between the middle of the 1950s and early 1970s. The final blow was dealt when Mikhail Gorbachev, a Western-backed puppet who had successfully entered the upper ranks of the CPSU was chosen to head the party and thus the nation as the General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1985, who was only about to begin dismantling entirely the Soviet socialist system the proletariat had spent decades constructing and fought two World Wars and a Civil War in the first half of the twentieth century to secure and maintain; alas, the reforms were passed and ultimately led to the destruction of the country and its economy and was subsequently plundered by the West after its productive assets had been exhausted by foreign capitalists during the Perestroika period and following the illegal dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

[@mrvk39]

LOL you forgot about the Yeti..... KEY part in all of this!

[@NUCLEARARMAMENT]

markv1 You can deny it all you want, but I'd love to see you try and deny the truth dispelled in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iH_FoGNonc-GnsU

[@mrvk39]

LOL yes, I need to see some loser youtube video that is the ULTIMATE TRUTH.. never mind books, history, eyewitness accounts, press reporting, universities, etc etc - nope.. one youtube video is the ANSWER LOL How uneducated morons like you even get to learn how to type?

[@laugesteffensen8768]

afghan war and chernobyl cleanup was a dirty expensive business that costed the soviet economy alot if not crashing!

[@kittu1974]

Agree with you

[@TheTruthfulAsshole]

Bingo.

[@KiloMafia9]

Benjamin Franklin L

[@mouadidelhadj6343]

You forgot to mention two additional causes : Afghanistan and Chernobyl

[@SIoyvenheaven1T800m101]

Afghanistan, yes. Chernobyl, no.

[@skankhunts42]

SIoyvenheaven1 Chernobyl yes, massive economic consequences

[@SIoyvenheaven1T800m101]

Bepis No, what caused their collapse was an increase in defense spending. It went from 13% of GDP in 1981 to over 25% in 1985. Reagan’s policies of the defense buildup caused their collapse, as well as Afghanistan and withholding of international loans and wheat. Not to mention of Saudi Arabia increasing oil production and South Africa increasing gold production, hurt the Soviet exports dramatically. Chernobyl had very little effect.

[@nahbro104]

@@SIoyvenheaven1T800m101 nonononono, Gorbachev said himself that the Chernobyl's accident was one of the main events that caused the fall of the USSR, not only the cost, but the proof that the Soviet Union wasn't as strong and as proporous as they pictured themselfs to be

[@SIoyvenheaven1T800m101]

pascogiguere Wrong. The Soviet Union was bankrupt by the end of 1985 thanks to trying to compete with the US in an arms race. I also forgot to mention SDI, another reason for the Soviet collapse. Gorbachev admitted it was Reagan and the defense buildup that ended the Soviet Union. Saying Chernobyl led to the demise of the Soviet Union is revisionist history.

[@dizzywillow2162]

i went to Vladivostok in the '90s. it was a wakeup call to me. it was scary. it was quite a beautiful place full of men with rotting teeth, skinny and malnourished, buying vodka from vending machines, and cold. i will never forget it. I dont want to live in that world.

[@ArthurD]

DizzyWillow \ things improved unmeasurably since then, you wouldn't recognize V-vostok if you went back. It's open port city now, full of young freeminded people.

[@DanovYT]

If you visited Russia anytime during the 1990s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, you would have seen the effects of its collapse, not its existence. To conflate the conditions of the former Soviet republics with those of the post-Soviet states during that decade is simply a misunderstanding of history. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Soviet_Union_GDP.gif *Edit:* You can see here why the Russians like Putin so much. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Russian_economy_since_fall_of_Soviet_Union_GDP_PPP.png Nationalists like Yeltsin who work with the west have constantly put the interests of their people under in favor of capitalist exploiters, such as the oligarchs that Putin subjugated when he rose to power. When a leader refuses to kneel to the interests of western capitalists, they are then demonized through domestic mainstream media, all of which they covertly own and operate. Such a thing did not happen to a western pawn like Yeltsin, who not only economically crippled Russia, but also its people, financially. This is the backdrop to the image of Vladivostok you seem to remember so well. Putin, though, is still a capitalist, no matter how you cut it. But, it's clear that he shows a greater commitment to the Russian people than a "nationalist" like Yeltsin ever could.

[@boozecruiser]

Danov the conditions were brewed in the USSR. The reason they had 'plenty' was because they could exploit their satellite and integrated states to no end. Of course there had to be adjustment to that afterwards

[@ArthurD]

Perrie oh, satellite states were SOOOO exploited... Latvia has best education in USSR in 80s. And best living conditions, and highest wages. Tell me more how evil USSR exploited its satellite states.

[@AnnoNymus]

Satellites didn't do shit for the Soviet economy, while the Soviets pumped a fuckton of capital into its satellites.

[@engrfka]

Dammit those power plant engineers at Chernobyl broke down the whole Soviet Union in just a few minutes 😮

[@ZanderCage]

Hahaha that's what Gorbachev and his comrades claimed, in order to hide the weakness of Gorbachev for a true reformation and liberation of the Soviet economy. Soviet Union did not collapse from Chernobyl but from the nature of Socialism. As Margaret Thatcher said once....“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”. The rest are successfully explained at the video.

[@apogeelord7013]

@@ZanderCage Even Chernobyl is also the reason becoz, public began to loose trust in their government, and the entire cleaning up process was too expensive.

[@ZanderCage]

@@apogeelord7013 Yes of course it played some role but i do not believe it was the main reason of the USSR collapse. Chernobyl destroyed the image of the perfect state that whatever it said was correct and fair and it can handle easily every challenge. They tried to hide it but it was inevitable.

[@Crytoif]

@@ZanderCage It was one of the dominoes

[@jara7428]

U here after hbo

[@monarchist1838]

It’s the host with the most glasnost!

[@ericg3832]

ERB reference! Lol all late

[@hsysupremacy5728]

Assholes made a mess and the war got cold

[@exyios8493]

@@hsysupremacy5728 shook hands with both ronalds Raegan and McDonalds

[@hsysupremacy5728]

@@exyios8493 no doubt, if you're name end with IN.. time to get out!

[@ashithrao6767]

@@hsysupremacy5728 I had the balls to let Baryshnikov dance, playa! Torn down that wall like the Kool-Aid Man Oh yeah! You two need yoga, you need a shower And you all need to learn how to handle real power!

[@dwchen1]

The Chinese was smarter by introducing open door and market based economy earlier in 1978 after experiencing total economic and cultural destruction under Mao Zedong. Gorbachev was too late to make any changes.

[@daltonsanders212]

So they lynched some landlords, big whoop.

[@at9871]

Gorbachev wasn't able to implement anything fully. Much like you saw with FDR and the new deal during the great depression in the US, the political nepotism and reluctance to change made normal recovery options incapable of fully delivering like they have in other nations.

[@gabenewell3955]

AA ANIMATIONS well ya do what you gotta do

[@bryantricardo1165]

Also Deng Xiaoping keep it grips CPC tight politically while reform economicaly, bottom-up reforms. Gorbachev on the other hand reforms both economically and politically to sudden top-down reforms and caused CPSU lost it grips.

[@carvercapitalequitypartner122]

@@daltonsanders212 -and only 30 million died thru starvation. The Great Leap backwards. I will live to see the fall of the evil CCP.

[@mr.personhumanson6871]

Gorbachev wasn't cheeki breeki enough to keep the Soviet Union intact

[@kirillazarov6865]

You won't believe, but that's actually kinda true - he was a sellout. That's not a cheakey-breakey thing to do.

[@Chensoman]

Mr. Person Humanson Ah nu cheeki breeki iv damke

[@squamish4244]

There was nothing he could do. it was too late. Gorbachev gets blame for being there when it went down, when he should probably be credited for helping to avoid a bloodbath or a cynical f-you to the world nuclear war by communist hardliners.

[@squamish4244]

Well okay then. But seriously, that is an interesting argument. He (obviously, but still) maintains to this day that his attempts at reform were exploited by opportunists. Who are now billionaires. In THE most income-unequal country on earth.

[@Killjoy45]

Hah hah. Soviet Union was already doomed, when they allowed someone like Stalin to rise in power. So bye bye socialist paradise. You won't be missed.

[@ren2871]

My Grandfather was a member of the Communist party, was a deputy in the Baku local government and had met Gorbachev on multiple occasions in the Kremlin. Communists like my grandfather blame Gorbachev for the inevitable. Gorbachev took over as leader when the country was already on the brink of collapse and when the Reagan administration was hell on bringing the USSR down. Reagan forced the USSR's hand by increasing military spending to the point that the USSR could not keep up. My other grandfather (on my dad's side) who was a nuclear engineer was also a member of the communist party till about 1980, before he de-registered himself. My grandparents also refused my dad to be a komsomol (a communist youth boy scout), so the tensions were there already before Gorbachev took over. On a different note, it is so important to reinstate how corrupt, inhumane and absurd the communist regime was. Imagine growing up in a system where you had to wait 10 years to be approved for government housing in a shitty apartment complex, where there was no food in the stores, where corruption and nepotism was swept under the rug, communist leaders lived like kings while the rest of the country starved to death, doctors made as much a janitor. Imagine in the USA if scientists and engineers in the FDA, CDC or transportation board had to report to a mill worker with no education, just because that mill worker was a member of the Democratic or Republican party. This is essentially how the Soviet Union functioned, dumb people were given control and the ability to silence smart people.

[@tseosesike9494]

Highly informative and relevant information all in a short period of time. Hours of research all in a 5 minute clip. Wow

[@maxpettet5664]

Top Ten Anime deaths

[@gen_henry9836]

Max Pettet *Saddest

[@Fluskar]

^Salty

[@pieniadz9156]

Henrique Ribeiro Top Ten Happiest Moments in Anime*

[@NoName-gp3zr]

Max Pettet Happiest*

[@postiron4616]

че пацаны, ониме?

[@threeone6012]

they went broke 3 words

[@Novusod]

Socialism doesn't work 3 words.

[@russian_bomb4202]

I would donate money to then

[@threeone6012]

Why don't you send all of your money to the politicians in North Korea or Cuba?

[@russian_bomb4202]

Why would i do that

[@russian_bomb4202]

Why would i do that

[@honeybadgerstudios21]

Mhikail Gorbachev actually said that he believed the fall of the Soviet Union was because of Chernobyl

[@Uncharted_Lamb]

Matthew Phillip Prater i think he meant that Chernobyl symbolized what was wrong with the USSR

[@Nazeem2010]

A quote taken out of context.

[@honeybadgerstudios21]

Nazeem that’s a bit harsh, I’m not claiming to be an expert on it, so why don’t you enlighten me

[@Nazeem2010]

@@honeybadgerstudios21 That was a bit harsh on my part. Sorry friend. I've edited my post.

[@firsttosee7481]

Just because there is a bloody HBO-series about it doesn’t mean that you have to fucking exaggerate the severity of the whole event

[@joeboyd8702]

That was really well put together. Thanks.

[@erockstoenescu6171]

This is easily one of my favorite new channels. Please keep making videos. Your video on Greek mythology was absolutely brilliant and helped me learn more in a shorter time then any teacher or book ever did. Also, I love your intros it reminds me of a television show or channel.

[@rodolfocerrato688]

I wonder how the USSR would have been like if Trotsky came into power instead of Stalin after Lenin died

[@uyuman1]

Probably WW2 with USSR against UK, France and maybe US and Nazi Germany. Trotsky believed in worldwide communism unlike Stalin who believed in communism in one state. The USSR would probably be like the US in the cold war in its pro communist interventions.

[@Mocsk]

+Rodolfo Cerrato good scenario - it would collapse in a vicious civil war with massive international intervention. Bad scenario - it would collapse in a world war started by Trotsky in the name of the revolution. Might have been even worse than WW2 in terms of casualties and destruction. Luckily, Stalin made sure he didn't come into power.

[@diegodiego3164]

You say it like Stalin was a man send by the gods that totally didn't starve everyone nor destroyed any politcal opposition in the name of the "revolution"

[@Mocsk]

+Diego Diego in no way, shape or form was he what you imply by saying "man send by the gods", there isn't a shadow of a doubt he was a bloody dictator. However, no, he did not starve anyone - quite the opposite, he managed to destroy the pattern of severe famine every 10-12 years he inherited from the monarchs and made sure no one in USSR ever has to starve again (I hope you're not one of those lunatics who believe in the conspiracy theory that he somehow created the hunger in Ukraine, Southern Russia, Kazakhstan, and parts Poland and Romania in 1932-33). And no, he did not destroy political opposition in the name of the revolution - quite the opposite, to avoid revolution, a second civil war and a loss in WW2. Trotsky was the one who pushed for global socialist revolution at any cost, the fire of global revolution in which Russia has to burn as fuel or something like that (can't remember the exact quote). Stalin was against that and for dealing with internal problems, developing socialism in one separate country, and achieve global revolution through natural progress and USSR's example, instead of global proletariat war as Trotsky wanted.

[@diegodiego3164]

However, yes, he did starve everyone, while not everyone died of starvation under his rule, many citizens were still starving, specially the states that weren't ethnically Russian (See Holodomor, intentional or not, i think it's safe to say that the one at fault is the USSR), and you can't really feed everyone other than a few states when your nations is as big as Russia, specially with "equal" distribution (we all know the ones that got the most was the goverment, so no equal in there.), and while it's understandable to execute prisoners after a revolution, during his time any possible coup or civil war was not possible, however he being a crazy, lunatic, megalomaniac insecure dictator he belived that literally everyone was a traitor to the "revolution".

[@gregkeelen8428]

He tried to fix his communism with capitalism😂

[@victwenty2324]

idiot he was destroying communism deliberately

[@armandomercado2248]

Under communism man exploits man. Under capitalism it's reversed.

[@malaklranal1681]

@@regor182 🇺🇸a!

[@andriidiuh7826]

China did it successfully

[@henrysun5660]

*Cough* CHINA

[@Mark1Mach2]

Very informative and succinct. Reading all this on wikipedia would take days and one can really grasp the complexity of it all.

[@dasherx1070]

I lived in the late soviet union after when it fell i moved to Finland if you ask me im really glad that soviet union fell

[@Mitzfing]

Anonymius03 *Liberal American College Student:* uh actually..

[@Feffdc]

Quel Russians would disagree with you

[@JeanLucCaptain]

Ya, only problem is now that we need that super power to check the aggression of the US. They've taken over in the power vacuum.

[@dasherx1070]

Jean-Luc Martel i think your kind of right

[@vksepe]

China's there now. Russias mostly irrelevant apart from its nuclear arsenal.

[@esotericlifestyle5425]

I love how the comments in these videos usually know what they’re talking about and a lil more background info, and everyone shares thoughts and ideals while under a rap vid for example; is another world. Love you all, love life!

[@ncrveteranranger9126]

The anthem playing in the end always gives me chills

[@innersmilebydrsanjeevmonga9369]

Good way to show the full history in just 5 minutes Great video

[@J4KER]

I am from Slovakia, we were part of the USSR together with Czech Republic as Czechoslovakia, I am so glad that I was born in 2003 and I did not experience the terror and propaganda of communism, I cant believe that a lot of old people are argumenting about how good it was, because everyone had money for survival. I would not be happy with just surviving, I want something more, see the world, grow as a person and have my own opinion and that was not possible during USSR, so glad it no longer exists.

[@Melanth89]

There was no single cause for the collapse, but rather many compounding causes owing to outside pressure and the slowly mounting failures of communism: *Cold war level military spending compounded by the enormous and long-term mobilisation to deal with the Chernobyl disaster broke the bank, which had been in dire straits in any case. By the late 80s the Soviet military was stripped to the bone, and could barely afford fuel or ammunition enough to conduct training exercises. Compound that with the large losses of manpower and material in Afghanistan, and further loss of material to irradiation in Ukraine, their military was likely incapable of prosecuting the Cold War had it gone hot at that point. *The planned economy model never really worked as intended. No supply function to tell the producers what to make, combined with incompetent and inefficient beauracracy ensured that the Soviets always had plenty of crap nobody needed, but were falling short of daily essentials- and when things did arrive, they were in arrears. Attempts to address this were constantly fouled by mis-management. The 80s were a time of bread lines. The soviet beauracrats could mandate the production of a million tractors, but it would do fuck all to improve the amount of bread on your table because the people in charge ultimately did not understand the relationship between those things. *Agitation and resistancewithin the wider Warsaw Pact countries. Most of these had never been particuarly happy about communist rule, with Poland and Hungary especially resistant to centralised Soviet authority. They had been on the brutal receiving end of Russian imperialist ambitions for some time, and the public within them were primed for revolt. With the Soviet loss in Afghanistan and economic decline, they were smelling blood in the water and some were already beginning to distance themselves. *Political instability and factionalism within the Soviet government itself, driven by a rift between hardline communists and reformers who recognised the failures of communist dogma. Included in this was the wavering and flareups of resistance within SSR member states; the bloc was already in its early stages of disintegration. *Influences of Western culture and media, which were available as black market items and transmissions via radio, which could be tuned into despite attempts by the Soviet government to jam them. Especially following the revolts in communist China, many younger people especially were beginning to see that the grass was greener on the other side. *But most of all I think, people were simply sick of the murderous, corrupt, incompetent governmnet that had brutalised them for nearly a century. They knew there were better ways of running a nation, that it didn't have to be always fear or want or the unceasing threat of black cars rolling up outside your house at night. Even many who still believed in the ideals of communism say it as being perverted by the party officials for their own gain. Chernobyl and the coverup, and subsequent unmasking of that coverup at such a terrible human cost was the straw that broke the camel's back. A country of the People that was quite happy to see tens of thousands of them die on a point of pride couldn't really be said to be upholding the socialist ideal.

[@lavishlyenigmatic]

Aptly summed up in 5 minute !!great video !!

[@howtodad1358]

I was so very surprised that you did not even mention the USSR's bloody defeat in Afghanistan, which was a major factor in their ultimate decline.

[@TheTeodorsoldierabvb]

As much as the Vientam war would be a major decline for the US :D they are comaprable on almost every level, yet one still stands. Conclusion? It plays no part

[@BigSmartArmed]

It was a drug war against the flow of heroin into USSR that CIA set up

[@arcverson4963]

The difference is that the US dollar was dominant in the world so the US can print as much as it they need to cover the war's costs and rest of the world would be the one who actually pays the actual price since.

[@tickle296]

And then we had the 26/11. The Frankenstein bombed twin towers of Manhattan, numerous innocent lives lost. What an irony? Look in the mirror comrade before commenting.

[@adilosafi6400]

​@@TheTeodorsoldierabvb capitalism economy have the ability to recover yes the us lose so much in Vietnam war but they withdrawal and recovery but ussr economy hard to recover

[@moodydude565]

Hell yeah Lithuania!

[@deimantasvaitkus9823]

It was good times for us. Now we dont have nothing... Suicide number 1 in Europe. Wages sh#tty. Average 700 euros. Food prices so expensive, we lay more then in Germany, UK, Framce or other west Europe.. It was okay, now no good.

[@tomasjasiunas1911]

@@deimantasvaitkus9823 I have no idea what you're talking about since life is hundreds of times better now than it was under the tyrannical Soviet regime, obviously it's not perfect and there are and always will be things to improve.

[@rojus4755]

We became free so our children could immigrate, its a country with a population that is decreasing, when i moved to Canada, the pop was at 3mil, now its 2.5. Very stagnant economy and has no way of growing with people leaving.

[@PijusONLINE]

@@rojus4755 And yet it's growing. Perhaps you were a drag on the economy.

[@WakaWaka2468]

Is a shithole

[@dannybodros5180]

Chernobyl was also a crucial reason for why the USSR collapsed. It cost the Soviets 15 billion dollars to deal with the radioactive aftermath. That is a colossal amount of money.

[@hoduyo1640]

You gotta upload more!

[@madihanaaz8213]

Wow what a explanation of fallen You are great👍👏😊 you helped me in preparing points for debate thanks🌹❤

[@dalirkosimov2576]

*Communism.exe* _is experiencing problems_ *Communism.exe* _has crashed_ _installing_ *Capitalism.exe*

[@baruchben-david4196]

They never had Capitalism.

[@Titano_Tarocco]

@@baruchben-david4196 they have it right now

[@malaklranal1681]

@@Titano_Tarocco Capitalism or like oligarchy? I thought they had oligarchy. Last time I looked at it.

[@BanditN]

SorryButImAmerican No Offense No they are capitalists. Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Which makes Russia capitalist

[@AngelaVullo]

boooo

[@sedatmehmed4371]

Cannot blame Gorbachev only for the collapse of USSR. In fact Gorbachev tried to modernize the political system but the senior members of the party were not happy with this. That would mean they will have to actually work to stay on power and do things for the people. Gorbachev's measures were too little too late. Chernobyl played a big part on this - 18 billion dollar bill (50 billion adjusted to inflation) for the cleaning wasn't exactly helping the already poor economy at that time

[@sanjayraju988]

Why this channel doesn’t have more subs is beyond me.

[@Martoto94]

Nice vid bro. Friendly tip though, it’s *nuclear* ,not *nucular*

[@nddavi58]

summary of gorbachevs achievements whilst in office: opening a mcdonalds in 1990 😆

[@georged-taylor902]

There was no fall of the Soviet Union. It lives on in our hearts forever

[@ccr_enjoyer]

In hearts of edgy kids probably

[@anonymous-vg7kc]

@@ccr_enjoyer this ain't it chief

[@martynasl9964]

@@ccr_enjoyer Edgy kids that has no idea how communism works*

[@acutechicken5798]

@@martynasl9964 Classless, stateless, moneyless society with collective ownership over the means of production. Automation would have advanced enough to get rid of enough human jobs that work would become voluntary.

[@Dallas-wu6st]

Wow! Anyone that thinks the Soviet Union is something to admire is a psychopath! It was a brutal and totalitarian system that was amoral and needed to die! It repressed and murdered millions of its people. May man stay free and learn from the disaster of socialism!!!!!

[@ikGREENY]

Good vid.. well done.

[@MalleusImperiorum]

Gorby: Our economy grows too slowly. Let's destroy it. Genius. Yeltsin, later *between drinking sessions*: our citizens live worse than the Japanese. We need market economy right now. *Life standards drop to 1930s* *surprised Pikachu* *takes a shot of vodka* *God bless America*

[@IkOAus]

You people who are enjoying the benefits of medical care, social support, parental leave, unions, sick leave, free education (in some countries including university) and so and so are basically enjoying the benefits of what USSR pushed for. All of this were first introduced by USSR and adopted by other countries as they feared of growing popularity of communist/socialist political parties.

[@elleodurkin8518]

Most of your assertions are false. "Medical care" and "sick leave" were provided by some "unions" decades before the creation of the Soviet Union. And the "people's budget" of the UK of 1909 is a full decade BEFORE the creation or supervention of the USSR. Are you attempting to argue that effect precedes cause, or are you ignorant of history?

[@sutirthhadas]

I can hear my FBI agent crying over my PC.

[@AskDr.Stupid]

Your opening theme reminded me of the London 2012 game for Xbox 360, which I played maybe twice back in 2012. Funny how the mind works sometimes.

[@jamesmiller3142]

That was interesting. Thanks

[@TeamBevontation]

One of the greatest events in recent history

[@Robbstark2024]

Hoàng Nguyên defiantly not tragic, had to happen

[@lekkek]

One of saddest events in recent history

[@3diastatos132]

Communism is a fucking curse for humanity. It's the worst kind of fascism, even worst than nazism...

[@lekkek]

Communism isnt a kind of facism...

[@amanpre3t]

PiTiGi ESC step up your ism game brah

[@FengLengshun]

Whoo, when you just subscribed and enabled bell notification yesterday and the channel suddenly posted a new video~

[@ganapatihegde1024]

Very nice vlog!

[@tildayeldah]

Fantastic video- really useful for my A levels thank you! x

[@Nazeem2010]

This video is so much better than the Infographics one.

[@satyamtekriwal7376]

We will always remember Soviet union, because of Red Alert 2 and 3 Kirov Reporting

[@pnjwck]

Nice no ads!

[@vinidaireedy2982]

What is the instrumental used here?

[@jackof1]

The decision to not repress Solidarity in Poland in 1980 was the first major “stand-down”, far earlier than the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence

[@marlonmendez5176]

Excessive military budget. Unresponsive and corrupt government. Economic stagnation. ...hmm...why does this sound so familiar?

[@alphasiera1757]

what would you suggest to prevent this from happening?

[@alexeysidorenko4634]

Surprisingly accurate.

[@Crashed131963]

When your on a waiting list to buy a Lada you know the system is broke,

[@anhtoyn]

Lol. I got an adventure communist ad

[@argokatniss27]

2:48 If im not mistaken, i saw Boris Yeltsin.

[@peterpisspotty3052]

Great video

[@stervi2]

677 champagne socialist students dislike this

[@Boooooooooo541]

206 more SJWs have entered the chat

[@nikka00]

Don't forget, that the first brick was pulled out by the Poles. 04.06.1989, first semi-free elections in soviet block. Won by Solidarity Movement.

[@cantthinkofaname812]

99%

[@thomascartwright2775]

nice vid thanks

[@Falconsgang8988]

Awesome video very educational

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

We should thank Gorbachev. He freed the states and ended the Cold War... He did change some aspects in life. Most underrated leader...

[@Novusod]

Gorbachev won the Nobel peace prize so he was thanked by the world.

[@kelo7580]

Americans starting every war Kim should nuke their ass

[@NUCLEARARMAMENT]

USA intelligence services infiltrated the USSR back in the 1960s, resulting in communist party functionaries to capitulate to international capitalists via stagnating the technological development of the Soviet Union's advancement in central economic planning via the use of Soviet domestic computer technology and consequent interconnected networks which would have enabled for more efficient economic planning than the extant rank-and-file bureaucratic planning system that materialized in the post-Stalin era during the period of "de-Stalinization" sought by Krushchev's succeeding entourage of revisionist dopplegangers that illegitimately gained power in the power struggle that promulgated following Stalin's death in 1953. These revisionist parasitical cliques in the elite ranks of the communist party implemented various reforms that resembled capitalistic, market-style privatization and decentralization of the Soviet economy, causing it to slow down significantly in economic growth, eventually leading to stagnation after short-lived growth during Krushchev's and Brehznev's rule occuring between the mid-1950s and early 1970s. The final blow was dealt when Mikhail Gorbachev, a Western-backed puppet who had successfully entered the upper ranks of the CPSU was chosen to head the party and thus the nation as the General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1985, who was only about to begin dismantling entirely the Soviet socialist system the proletariat had spend decades and fought two World Wars and a Civil War in the first half of the twentieth century to secure and maintain; alas, the reforms were passed and ultimately led to the destruction of the country and its economy and was subsequently plundered by the West after all its capital had been exhausted by Western capitalists during the period of Perestroika and following the illegal dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

[@bloodybunny5745]

He is a great leader that freed the states from poverty but some people think he was a failure for not keeping the USSR

[@NUCLEARARMAMENT]

WW11 Stalingrad He caused more poverty than had ever been experienced thanks to his insolence. His backwards capitalist reforms caused more damage to the Soviet economy than the Germans that invaded the country in World War II.

[@vinnieg4014]

I am Russian & thank God the Soviet Union fell apart

[@sageg5036]

V F I'm shocked

[@Holiday48000]

The old communist Soviet Union thug, Comrade Stalin murdered more of his own people than all the deaths of WWI & WWII combined.

[@chenteddy1575]

I wish the same thing to come asap to the fucking communist china.

[@chrismott4248]

China is barely communist anymore. The government claims to own all of its land, owns all banks, and rules the media. Otherwise, you can start your own business and fight for your rights against the government without being killed, like what Stalin's administration did.

[@iceman5882]

You are not russian enough.

[@lawrenceatkinson5884]

In the mid 80's I was working in the plastics industry and I met a European plastics expert who supplied me wth high grade chemicals. He told me a story; his one customer was in the USSR. He did a courtesy visit and spoke to the USSR factory manager. "Are you happy with my product and what do you use it for? It's an unusual chemical." The manager replied, "Oh, we don't know why we get the chemical. The drums just arrive each month. When the store is full we tip it into the river." Economic central planning at its best.

[@Mikesman1000]

all these photos. reminds of my childhood... :')

[@jpbarrera9588]

0:46 general secretary of the “communist” party wearing Cartier gold glass frames

[@MrRedsjack]

Is it cartier? Not Cartovich?

[@TruthIsToBlame]

0:12 to real start

[@geopolitics406]

Nice video.

[@sreerag3354]

Very clear explanation

[@rafterrafter5320]

Mister Gorbachev,tear down this wall!!!!! Said good Reagan and he apparently listened!!!!!🤣🤣🤣

[@gort9374]

Where real men cried

[@jamesxm4240]

True Comrade Trash Country with a trash millitary

[@t-lore140]

@moist potato Was zum Teufel redest du da du scheiß Nazi , die Russen haben FÜR die Sowjetunion gestimmt, gegen das Volk , wurde diese Entscheidung gefällt, du Hitlerspinner.

[@ackchyually9461]

from happiness

[@gabenewell3955]

J͙A͙M͙E͙S͙'X͙M͙ most powerful country to ever exist and defeated hitler try again bitch

[@shahirani4762]

Gabe Newell this country uses American supplies to win as they lacked resources to build their weapons.

[@OSTARAEB4]

What ornate hall is that with Gorbachev at the rostrum at 3:06? Is that part of the Kremlin block that was recently torn down or is this some hall at Moscow State University?

[@markknopfler6660]

This video does not mention one of the largest external reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union: the long-term trough in oil prices starting in 1985 that continued for several years. That blew a hole in the Soviet economy as hydrocarbons were their largest export commodity.

[@v4lr1xeyt58]

1991 Alcatraz Island Prisoners Stomps Their Jail Cells Because Of The Fall Of The Soviet Union

[@olegdepapa]

It was so bad, they had to close down the prison

[@wildfire488]

You forgot to mention that Afghanistan played a big role as USSR lost there and other countries under USSR rule took advantage.

[@robdrake4442]

Great video but one of the most important factors that led to the demise of the soviet union, that is often overlooked, was the book Gulag Archipelago. This book really pulled back the iron curtain and offered a glimpse in to the utterly monstrous and evil nature of the union. Admittedly the book generally covers an earlier period of the union when it was governed by Lenin and then Stalin, but the book was only released in 1973, and from this the world got a much clearer picture of what brutal totalitarian communism looked like, and how completely desperate life was in the USSR. It would make sense that these revelations helped spark the feelings, particularly within the satellite states, to move away from communism and more towards the western ideologies.

[@benji4281]

Excellent

[@paulvaygen8934]

You missed 2 of the most important factors - The Afghan war and the Chernobyl disaster.

[@skankhunts42]

Paul Vaygen the most important factor was the stagnation of the Soviet Union

[@KaiserFranzJosefI]

@@skankhunts42 Both are byproduct of that stagnation

[@ganjafi59]

The Life Guide: Soviet Union the most powerful communist nation in the world China: Am I a joke to you?

[@freedomvanguard8185]

5:14 the tanker guy om the bottom-right has quite a strong arms

[@pushingglasscoast2coast425]

5:12 this man is the definition of shoulder gainzzzz

[@mna9211]

Gorbachev was visionary and revisionist leader. He tried his best but he failed to reform the USSR.

[@putikeswarasudarsono]

It is obviously due to unproductive military spending

[@user-tk5ve2pz6m]

By: *Pepsi*

[@brenstevens774]

Great vid

[@rohitbadial5782]

Anybody know the name of the music in the back ?

[@xxxxxx7469]

searching for the same :/

[@BulletShelby]

"Stagnation thrived". Scratching head emoji.

[@Miakel]

Chernobyl played it's part. Forcing the USSR to open up about their regimes and systems plus the debt

[@user-rc2vh9iy6i]

In video you are talking about Breznev's stagnation period and showing photos from late 80s (period of Gorbachev's market reforms).

[@rinzuala8758]

'Slavsya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye' playing in the background made me cry