History of the United States II / Unit 16 USH2 2289 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
The End of the Soviet Union
The idea
In July nineteen ninety-one Bush and Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, committing both nations to cut their nuclear arsenals by twenty-five percent. On December twenty-fifth, nineteen ninety-one, Gorbachev resigned, and the Soviet Union ended its existence that month. The Yawp gives the causes: a stagnant economy, a costly and disastrous war in Afghanistan, dissident factions in Eastern Europe and internal dissent.
In practice
Former Soviet republics joining a Commonwealth of Independent States to coordinate their trade and security.
Where people slip
The sources date the Commonwealth differently: Digital History places its founding in December nineteen ninety-one by Russia and most other republics, the anchor in January nineteen ninety-two by twelve former republics. Containment, begun with Kennan's telegram in unit thirteen, had run forty-five years from nineteen forty-six.
Your place on the trail
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