Question

Why did communism in the Soviet Union collapse in the late 1980s?

Consider:

Political factors: What did leaders in the Soviet Union, the United States, and Europe do to further the fall of communism?
Military factors: What effect did military policies and actions in the United States and in the Soviet Union have?
Economic factors: What effect did the economic situation in the Soviet Union have?
Social/cultural factors: What was the attitude of the people of the Soviet bloc countries? What impact did glasnost have? What was the impact of dissidents?

Answer 1

The divide between the extreme wealth of the Politburo and the poverty of Soviet citizens created a backlash from younger people who refused to adopt Communist Party ideology as their parents had and Americans president at the time basically blocked them out and their oil and gas revenue dropped dramatically


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