As one of the few superpowers in human history, the Soviet Union's influence can be said to be very far-reaching. At the same time, there are a lot of disputes about why she died. People are very curious about why a hegemon that ruled half of the earth collapsed and disappeared overnight.
The Soviet Union has always been a very special existence. Strictly speaking, it is a political entity between an alliance and a country. Almost from the beginning, the Soviet Union was a product of Eastern European countries' mutual needs and solidarity. As time went by, the Soviet Union began to try to transition from a "Union" to a "State", but it failed to effectively integrate itself internally, and eventually went on the road to destruction.
The Union is the foundation of the Soviet Union
Just like her national anthem " Unbreakable Union ", the Soviet Union was screwed out by a large number of union republics . It is true that her predecessor was Tsarist Russia, but Tsarist Russia is still a nation-state with Slavs as the main body. This is not the case with the Soviet Union. It strongly resisted nationalism in the early days of its founding. The reasons are actually not complicated: First, the territory of Tsarist Russia is too large. The European part is indeed dominated by Slavs , but there are very few in the Asian part. Secondly, the Slavs were extremely divided due to historical reasons. Overemphasis on commonalities and ignoring differences would lead to catastrophe. This was also one of the most important factors why the tsar became so unpopular later.
Therefore, the Soviet Union has implemented a "franchise system" since the first day of its founding. Slavic nationalism is all old history. It directly grasps the essence and does practical things. Isn't it good for everyone to live together as a team? The "joint republics" that first agreed with this concept were: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus plus a Transcaucasian Federation. Among them, the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian families can be said to be the most closely connected.
For Russia, it not only has a vast territory but also a large population in Eastern Europe. What she is best at is agriculture and military. After all, the old foundation of the European military police is Russia. Less than half of the elite soldiers in Eastern Europe are Slavs living in Russia.
But there are also problems, that is, Russia has no direct land passage to Europe. Although the Russians established St. Petersburg as a port city after winning the Great Northern War, the dimension of St. Petersburg is still too high. A port that is frozen in winter is really not suitable for trade activities.
Then there are Ukraine and Belarus, their geographical locations are very critical. Ukraine not only has several high-quality ports represented by Odessa, but its land transportation can also directly connect to Western Europe. It would be an understatement to say it is the heart of Eastern Europe.
But Ukraine itself also faces a big problem: insufficient population. Although the land in Ukraine is fertile, tens of millions of people simply cannot use the land efficiently, even if various agricultural machinery appeared in the early 20th century. After all, production machinery still relies on workers.
And because Ukraine’s geographical location is so good, the surrounding powers have always been eyeing it. You must know that Kiev Rus was originally established in Rurik dynasty in Ukraine, but later it was forced to Moscow. The reason was that the military was not good enough, and it had to run away because it could not withstand it.
And at that time, if Ukraine wanted to further develop itself and complete its industrialization, it had to get energy from Russia - including but not limited to oil , coal and iron ore.
Belarus is actually the same as Ukraine, except that its geographical location is more important and its population is smaller. As for the Transcaucasus Federation, there is not much to say. It can be said that it lacks everything. The only purpose of joining the Soviet Union is to gain access to the Soviet Union.
The excessive impact of war and failure
As the founder of the Soviet Union, Lenin attached great importance to the alliance attribute of the Soviet Union, but his successor Stalin did not.Although Stalin was a Georgian , when he was in power, Stalin wanted to build the Soviet Union into a monolithic "superstate".
Coincidentally, at that time, all the Soviet republics were eager to establish their own industrial systems, so after several five-year plans, Stalin basically screwed the Soviet republics. Because as long as Russia exists as the core, all countries that join the Soviet Union can immediately obtain free energy. This temptation is huge even now, let alone at the time.
However, there are also unlucky things, that is, and World War II . During the Second World War, the Soviet Union moved a large number of industrial facilities originally located in Ukraine and Russia to the rear of Siberia due to war needs. Firstly, this is beneficial to national defense and security. Secondly, Siberia is extremely rich in energy minerals. The cost of making steel directly next to the mining area is definitely much lower than transporting the ore to Europe for processing.
After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union, as the victorious country, expanded its territory again. Everything from East Germany Poland Hungary got into my mouth. However, the core of the entire Soviet Union is actually Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. With such a big cake and so many new mouths overnight, it is a very difficult problem.
The result is Khrushchev began to decentralize power to the various republics as soon as it came up. The reason behind it is very simple: the founder of Yusanjia Russia and Belarus can no longer support you uncles. You can find a way to make a living on your own.
However, since Khrushchev, each republic in the Soviet Union has gained a certain degree of autonomy, except for military power. After all, no one wants to turn the real money used for construction into aircraft and tanks. Most of the Soviet soldiers are Russians and Ukrainians. Russia has contracted almost all the design work of Soviet weapons, while Ukraine is solely responsible for implementing Moscow's designs into real weapons. When
did this, resentment was aroused. For Russia, it has almost always provided energy and soldiers to the Union Republics for free. This energy and population are equivalent to waste and loss. And as the Cold War intensified, Russia's blood transfusion directly evolved into "bloodletting"
. Life was not easy for Ukraine, because Ukraine's geographical location is very important, and the Soviet Union also spent a lot of money on it. But the cost is that the factories that could have been used to make tractors were used to make tanks, and the ports that could have been used for trade were filled to the brim with warships .
As for Belarus, it is even more unlucky. During the Tsarist Russia era, Belarus could still count on Finns to help withstand the pressure of national defense. But during the Cold War, it Belarus directly became the front line of confrontation, and it was quite uncomfortable to be cannon fodder. The Soviet Union actually provided a lot of benefits and resources to Belarus, but if others want money and the Soviet Union wants life, there is really nothing to discuss.
Belarus’s problem is actually the most typical one. It can be said that except for the two member states of Russia and Ukraine, all other member republics are beneficiaries of the Soviet Union from an economic point of view. However, if a war breaks out that day, these small member republics will almost certainly be reduced to ruins. Therefore, when the Soviet Union was splitting up, the ones who jumped the most were these small Eastern European countries. After all, they were able to leave green hills without fear of running out of firewood.
It’s not that the Soviet Union had no way to solve this problem, but from the perspective of later generations, the method used by the Soviet Union at that time was too simple and crude: direct energy supply and continuous expansion of the army. This in turn has led to the two brothers Russia and Ukraine being overwhelmed.
Conclusion
The reasons for the final collapse of the Soviet Union are actually very complicated. The above can only be regarded as one of the reasons at best. Moreover, the opinions of the whole family should not be taken lightly. Seeing more, listening more and thinking independently are always the best ways to accumulate knowledge.
