Fall of the Soviet Union - Isabella T.
When Mikhail Gorbachev took over as General Secretary for the Soviet Union, he tried to change the already struggling economy and bad political situation using two parts. The first part called Glasnost allowed people to speak more freely and make the government more open. In some ways, this reform was good, because citizens could share their views and thoughts on ideas, but this also was an issue. People began to protest for independence and the media reported bad problems that were going on. The second part, Perestroika, meant restructuring. Gorbachev want the government to have a looser grip on the economy, so that the people could be more involved. However, a lot of the citizens were used to communism, so they struggled when it came to taking care of themselves.
Both of these changes caused people to rebel, starting with the Baltic regions like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Due to all of the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, the citizens of the country probably wanted out, so they would not be involved with any of it. Also, a lot of people may not have approved of Communism in the Soviet Union, because the people who were the wealthiest had many things taken from them, since there was no hierarchy. Others wanted to keep the country together though, so a group of Soviets captured Gorbachev and tried to take over. Unfortunately, the military did not support them, like the Soviets had expected, because soldiers did not want to kill or imprison their own people. The plan failed, but because of the reforms, the country collapsed and was divided up into 15 smaller countries. Russia, a new country created, was considered the successor, so they got to keep the nuclear weapons as well as receive a spot in the U.N.
This was one of the most important parts of the Cold War, because the collapse is what ended it. Without the Soviet Union, tensions between the U.S. and them no longer existed. Also, a lot of new countries were created, and communism was not as big of a threat, because it did not carry over to all of the areas.