Collapse of the Soviet Union
"The chief task was to stop the arms race before it brought utter disaster. However, after the collapse of communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, any rationale for having nuclear weapons disappeared."
--Joseph Rotblat, describing how the nuclear arms race inevitably caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1995
Before
After
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The toll of the arms race threw the Soviet Union into economic turmoil, forcing Gorbachev to implement his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), giving rights to Soviet people and freedom to its satellite states. The Soviet Union collapsed on December 25, 1991 and the satellite states gained their independence.
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Propaganda poster advertising perestroika
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Glasnost was what weakened the CPSU and therefore weakened the Soviet Union, by giving people democracy which fueled their opposition to the CPSU. Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost, or “openness”, caused the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 to a fairly large extent. |