end of the ussr Flashcards
when was the coup?
august 1991
who was involved in the coup?
eight communist officials who had formed the emergency commitee
why did the coup fail?
lack of support from the army
what was the aftermath of the coup?
-yeltsins support grew due to his opposition to the coup
-Nationalists in Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan had declared independence in September
-Yeltsin, along with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, signed the Minsk Agreement. The USSR was replaced with the CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States.
what did gorbachev introduce into soviet politics?
the ideas of ‘markets’ and ‘pluralism’
why did gorbachev not use violence?
he wanted to promote individual freedom
why did gorbachevs political changes not work for himself?
-Gorbachev was not able to win support from the Communist Party for his ideas. Internal resistance meant that his new ideas would never take hold in the country at large
-Gorbachev tried to introduce democracy but refused to stand for election himself to be President
what was yeltsins role in the fall?
-Yeltsin was able to develop a more powerful base of support by winning the election for the Russian presidency and the elections to the Russian parliament.
-By contrast, Gorbachev had never faced an election. Gorbachev became increasingly illegitimate.
-After the coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and seized its wealth.
-Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus decided to form the CIS, in opposition to Gorbachev’s Union Treaty.
