Gorbachev's USSR: The Events That Led To The Collapse Of The Soviet Union | M.A.D World | Timeline
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- Опубликовано: 23 июн 2023
- The Cold War: When nuclear weapons kept the entire world on the edge of M.A.D. - Mutually Assured Destruction. As Russia, China and the USA flex their military muscles on the global stage today, ‘M.A.D. World’ takes a close look at the last time we were threatened by the might of world superpowers: The Cold War.
In this episode:
- Lead by Poland, Eastern European countries start to follow the Russian model and claim greater freedoms. For the first time in Soviet history, the government does not invade or attempt to crush dissent. Within 12 months almost every eastern European country is holding free elections and breaking loose from soviet oppression.
- A bureaucratic misunderstanding allows East Berliners to move across the border into West Berlin. Within hours the Berlin wall is being demolished to scenes of jubilation.
- One nation from former Eastern Europe has a chilling climax to its break from communism. President Ceaușescu tries to violently suppress the popular uprising but fails. The freedom fighters win and Ceaușescu is executed with his wife on Christmas day 1989.
- East Germany is one of the more severe communist regimes and despite attempts to keep the 2 Germanys separate, they become one nation for the first time since World War 2.
- Gorbachev’s drive to fix the Russian economy is spearheaded by two policies - perestroika, meaning ‘restructuring’ and ‘Glasnost’ meaning ‘openness’. But it may be too late. Many Russians are starving and impatient for a better life.
- Despite Gorbachev’s plan to create a more liberal Soviet Union, the soviet republics want to break free. Protests and violence erupt within many of these new nations as factions fight for power. By 1992, every republic has broken away. The Soviet Union is no more, the great communist experiment is dead and the Cold War is over.
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I'm old enough to have seen the Berlin Wall go up, and I never thought I'd see it fall. I sat on my couch and watched the live feed from Berlin of the wall being knocked down and had tears of joy going down my cheeks.
💛💙 me too friend . Pro-Democracy alll the way - then & now in June 2023 - proves that love wins.
I remember being in 4th grade (long after the wall had fallen) but a classmates mother came for career day to speak to our class, she was in the US army and brought pieces of the Berlin wall with her and when she told us how we were looking and touching a true piece of world history and the emotions she had when telling us about the Berlin wall.. that day is what sparked the life long love of history I have today ❤
I remember watching the wall come down and my mom felt the same as you. She never believed it would come down. She was in shock and crying.
@@shelbypatterson9140and now people have pieces of the towers to share
@@malibu13203 This and that, that and this.
I remember my mother waking me up in the middle of the night telling me to watch the TV. The wall was falling and people were crying. It's a wild memory I have as a child.
I was 12 years old in 1989 and remember this vividly, it was a wonderful time. This was what the world was like before Twitter and Facebook.
Or before tiktok.
This has to be the best series I have seen regarding this era. Thanks for the upload
I love watching them, Got to be on a PC with ublock though cause they flood them with ads if the views are good.
Exactly the right documentary for today, the 2nd part may come soon
I believe that's why putins been busy trying to retake all those little satellite countries back. He wants to restore the soviet union.
Living in Berlin/Germany, I will be for ever grateful for what Michail Gorbachev did while he was in power. Experiencing freedom and liberty is invaluable. May he rest in peace 🙏
Y u invaded Russia? Had Germany not invaded Russia history would be different
Of course.
@@wajahatshafi6626 Quit yapping, vatnik. Your completely schizophrenic whataboutism doesn't fly with Westerners.
@@wajahatshafi6626If us not invaded europe history would be different
@@wajahatshafi6626and 😢
Who would had thought 34 years later after he gave that speech in Heroes Square in Budapest in 1989 that Viktor Orbán would reverse to authoritarian rule. This should be a lesson for all of us never to take Freedom and Human Rights for granted. In any moment they can be taken away if we are not careful.
Great series, still relevant today
Lmao he was against Marxist and communist ideologies then and he still is today. Just because you moved to the other side of the Berlin wall doesn't mean he did.😂
@@DaculaboyHe is not a leftist dictator
WTH are you even talking about? just because he doesnt want to take part in this suicidal conquest against Russia and sees whats really happening in Ukraine, doesnt mean hes "reverted to authoritarian rule".
Look in a mirror at the actions of the West. Everyone who grew up in the west during the cold war is terrified of whats happening to us, how roles have shifted, how real totalitarian methods are being used!
🤔👊🔥❤✌
Democracy is good till the party i like comes to power 😂😂😂
The hubris of thinking that our world is no longer under threat presented here is amazing. We are still under the same nuclear threat, maybe even worse.
Threat yes. Worse no
By Putin!
Try not huffing paint
THIS IS GREAT WORK… A DOCUMENTARY THAT EVERYONE TODAY SHOULD WATCH AND SEE THAT WAR AND OPPRESSION IS NOT THE ANSWER
Couldn't agree more
Tell it to the US military, please. I'm sure the population of Yemen, Palestine, Libanon, Iraq, Siria, Vietnam, Corea, all agree with that too, and expect apologies.
@@Alehzinhah The US did nothing wrong compared to russia
@@truesosense7722 nothing? Really? Do you know anything about world history outside US? Because US directly caused the death os thousands worldwide, causing Dictatorships in Latin America, Iran, and many other countries...
Tell it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki at first @@truesosense7722
The world is so fragile. It's resilient at the same time, but it's probably more fragile than the average person realizes. We've came a long way, but still got a long way to go
That's very well said. I concur.
Do you think we will get there eventually or rip ourselves apart like we have been, before we have an honest chance?
@@obtuseangler768 might be optimistic but I think we'll get there. We've consistently throughout history gotten more and more civilized. We've had the ability to effectively end life on earth as we know it for nearly a century. And despite our differences and a few close calls we haven't done it yet. I think nuclear war is probably one of the greatest threats to civilization but the more time that goes by it's probably less and less likely that happens. The world is slowly but surely moving towards liberal democracy. And I think once the autocracies are gone that will also greatly reduce those chances. In the grand scheme of things a couple hundred years ain't nothing. Few hundred years ago we were enslaving each other and depriving certain parts of society of equal rights and democracy was just a pipe dream. I gotta think in 2 or 300 more we'll be even more fair and civilized. I hope lol.
Yeah, it’s too bad and sad at the same time, that we have been going backwards for the last three decades, and we are about to hit major global depression bc of the world government elitists
Thanks so much for posting
I love the videos about MAD World… keep going with this SAGA….. the best you’ve ever done…!! 👑🤙🏻🙌🏻
Ceaușescu mobilized supporters in a meeting in Bucharest meant to reminisce of his peak popularity, the denouncing of the crushing of the Prague Spring, on 21 of August 1968. He had a few days earlier returned from his last political visit, to Tehran. Instead, a large boom was heard in the square, and then people booed him. That day, him and Elena flew via chopper, but they were stopped and arrested
They got what they deserved.
There is a video showing the moment his world fell apart as he realized they were booing not cheering him...
He was stupid enough, he should learn from his friend "Deng Xiaoping" of the Chinese communist party.
Deng hold his guns tight at least two years and slowly moving away from emergency curfew .
To say that it was only the fall of the Berlin Wall that triggered the collapse of the Soviet Union is oversimplified. The first event that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union was the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev. His policies, aimed at trying to make the Soviet Union democratic, by trying to improve Communism by turning the policy of the Communist Party towards the Communist ideal, the one where everybody works towards greater good, where the nation as a whole would live in prosperity, people would have freedom of speech and peace. Additionally, not only did it stop participating in the Arms Race, but it wasn't going to prop up Satellite States any more.
While intended to make Communism more popular, it instead, led to those who were dissatisfied with the Communist system to vote enmass for Independence. As a result, the breakup of the Soviet Union really began with Lithuania declaring Independence in 1990. Gorbachev's reaction to this was telling, as he didn't send the military to forcibly take over Lithuania once again, instead implemented an economic embargo. Inadvertently, the last ditch attempt to reverse Gorbachev's policies, with the failed coup of August 1991, led to the remaining nations in the USSR declaring Independence one after the other, beginning with Estonia in the same month as the Coup attempt and ending with Russia and Kazakhstan in December that same year.
Gorbachev held a short speech announcing his resignation, not only expressing sorrow at the fall of the Soviet Union, but frustration at past mistakes and hope for a more peaceful world.
Poland was first soviet satelite state to have free election. It took place on 4th of june 1989 while the fall of the Berlin Wall took place in November.
@@Blanka1100 exactly, and Hungary also had its revolution before East Germany (indeed, it was a reaction to Hungary removing their electrified barbed wire fence on its border with Austria, opening a relatively safe path for East Germans that wanted to leave for the West to do so and the regime of Erich Honeke reacted in an ultimately self-destructive manner, first by closing all its borders, even to other Communist States, and then allowing those who fled to the West German Embassy in Prague to transit through East Germany to the West)
Any Communist government will fail always they’re headed by humans and greed is too big of a temptation to resist There are no exceptions
@@SiVlog1989 It was NOT possible to reform the Stalinist bureaucracy and Stalin's followers. Gorbachev rose in the bureaucracy because Gorbachev as a child had written the most slavish praise of Stalin as the leader. A leader who had murdered all of Lenin's closet comrades. Stalin the butcher the leader of defeated revolutions and Gorbachev could not overcome what was rotten by restructuring the bureaucracy. Instead what happened is they adopted the neo liberal theories of Milton Freedman who advised on how to bring back capitalism and markets to unleash capitalist prosperity. Instead the only thing unleashed were depression like conditions and new laws making private ownership of property for use in exploitation the law of the land. It was they who became the new corrupt oligarchy and instituted shock therapy.
Incorrect. Soviet Union was already collapsing 10 years before Gorbachev. It failed because of unsustainable free healthcare for too many people, is what bankrupted the idiotic Soviet system.
I am so surprised by your great effort to teach us the previous documents many thanks to you all
Mikhail Gorbachev may be the most important character in the history of politics ! May he rest in peace !
Gorbachev is a traitor, he brought a lot of grief after the collapse of the USSR
Горбачев предатель и убийца миллионов.
@@user-fs8pp4uy4f He let that dying corpse to be burried. It was all stincking. It was his enemy that unburried it, put some strings on it and pretended it was alive.
@@user-fs8pp4uy4factually that was Stalin. Gorby just fixed it!
@@user-fs8pp4uy4f Not really his fault that Russia elected bad politicians
Gareth Evan’s is a remarkable thinker on foreign affairs. Excellent to see him being utilised.
The man changed the world.
Ohne thing that should be corrected is that Schabowski wasn’t a Soviet minister but an East German one. The draft from which he read was already approved by the Politbüro, but was marked not to get into effect until the next day, a line which he thankfully overread
Superb documentary touch on history of the late 80s!
Can u do a playlist of this series plz. So I can watch all episodes
I am just amazed to see government working together to accomplish something, anything.
OMG, swimming 30-35 miles in the ocean. That’s insane.
POV: your neighbor has been visited by the KGB and he *did* know something
I love this documentary so dearly.
Günter Schabowski wasn't a Sovjet Minister, but a German / DDR politician born in Berlin. 24.29 min. It was a wonderful evening, November 9th, it made me happy for all those people in the DDR. Free at last.
So interesting to watch history from all sides
Best documentary❤
i was in the 6th grade when the Berlin Wall fell. thinking back on that time & what has transpired since is both fascinating & haunting
Brilliant documentary
It's not achivable from 'above' to reconcile with and forget the past without truly facing its crimes. Gorbachev had to experience it when his good intensions brought about events that turned that part of the world into a direction entirely different from what he intended. People did not judge led by dry common sense but driven by a lot of emotions. It was clear that no good will but merely the military presence of the Soviets were keeping the Eastern Block together. That is, brutal force. Although by then, this force was smiling at the people, trying to win their hearts. And the people said NO. Greetings from Hungary and thank you for the video.
At least now we are free from the dictatorship. I am happy and will never join urss
I think I get what you are saying. One reason Gorbachev failed was because he was not seen as a good Russian for being "honest". In the Russian culture if someone designs a new missile from scratch that is awesome - meh no big deal. Probably won't get noticed. And probably won't get built. But if a Russian were to steal the plans of such a missile from one of the NATO countries, then he is made a hero and the missile will get built. That's just the culture of Russia, and has been that way for hundreds of years. Russia doesn't design anything "new". They steal a design of whatever they need from one of its enemies. Check out my comment for even more detail about that and what America did during the cold war. Finally. take care (Just like Russians don't need no edukation or training to be great soldiers and military leaders. Russian men only need Russian Vodka to be great soldier. lol. and it's so funny because it's 100% true of the Russian perspective.)
I love it when the Soldiers declare peace.
Apparently reality is circular...nothing can ever be resolved for good; the same rotten patch of the wheel comes round again.
When the documentary mispronounces names and has an Australian talking about European politics, you know you’re in for a good one
I enjoy watching these types of documentaries.
Excellent doc ❤
I'm old enough to remember the Berlin wall coming down, but was far to young to understand the significance.
that was me but 9/11
I watched it happen on TV. I didn't understand, but I knew it was important.
Yeltsin almost started WWIII once. Not by any military or political act, but, when staying in Washington, he disappeared one night from the guest home he was staying in..until he was found on Pennsylvania Ave, drunk and in his underwear at midnight, trying to hail a cab to get a pizza.
Classic Yelstsin
When they put pineapple on his pizza, he almost went Defcon 4.
@@charlesmagee1853 and who could blame him, pineapple on pizza? WTF 🤨
@@BamBamSrpepperoni and pineapple is great!
@@charlesmagee1853 Aren't we always in Defcon 4 status?
loved the look on the dictator of Romania's wife's face as hes giving that speech on the balcony to a group of dissenters. She could see what was coming at that moment.
I was born in 1979 and I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Collapse of the Soviet Union.
Commandant hats look warm for the winter
i went from Ireland to live in Berlin in 1984, in 85 i moved from west Berlin to east berlin,i lived through the demos against communist rule.went thru the checkpoint the first night the border was opened,Bornholmer Brucke,bridge,district Pankow,was on the wall with hammer and chisel.lived there till 2019,returned home to ireland only to see drug gangs running the island,drug dealers on every street,politicians corrupt,the police useless,Ireland is under siege,at least in communist east Berlin,we had no drug cartels.
People snitched on their neighbours to the secret police and 44:45
There is a piece of THE WALL with a painting of Reagan on it, in the Devore area, of San Bernardino, just off the 215. It stands 12.5 feet high, and is in Ronald Reagan park. Going North, get off at Palm, go right to Irvington, turn left, down a little ways on left.
Like many of us, I remember all this.....its ashame where things are today with Russia. Infact things are much much worse than they were during the Cold War....
What s the problem with Russia TODAY?
@@anagrosu8269 Nothing.....I'm going on about the situation.
@@anagrosu8269либерализм.
@@anagrosu8269 Its military commits war crimes and tries to invade countries
@@chriswilde7246go on coward. Russia is doing fine, the people live much better lives today than during the cold war.
Perfect episodes, I’ve witnessed events shown here, however it’s not as simple as it looks like. There were thousands of secret russian agents across Eastern Europe and after 1990 majority of them went into business, banking and by keeping files- had an influence over political decisions.
Fun fact: Ceausescu was not a brutal dictator at all(that is pure USA propaganda), he loved his country Romania and what he wanted most, was independence from both USSR and USA, that were interfering in the state affairs.
But he certainly knew how to keep his people in poverty while Elena was flying around in the helicopter. Talking about love for his nation. Ceausescu was hanged by his own people, and so was his wife. I have been to Romania after the Curtain came down and what I saw was staggering with awe...
The Berlin Wall came down because of shoddy workmanship.
Lol
It wasn't a US wall
damn camp labourers, neither like working in Germany nor Russia /:
@@stevejohnson6593 camps? What?
🙈😂
It is so eery to be watching this at a time in history when the world is on the doorstep of WW3.
Chernobyl was also a big factor which was the beginning of the Soviet Union's collapse
Yeah, agreed. It had been am embarrassing and EXPENSIVE factor, even.
the background melody is extremely familiar but i can't put my finger on the name , i think its some version of sweet dreams
Im I the only one that realizes these are decades old documentaries that were simply purchased by Timeline?
Or bits cut together from a few documentaries. I think so too, some cuts also hint at TV advertisement breaks.
I wonder what Queen Marie of Romania would have thought about the whole thing. Maybe, "it's about time".
When I hear Bush talk, I realize just how well Dana Carvey did of his impressions.
You win for one of the stupidest comments in RUclips
One side ended the war
Others side started the war
He was so happy
Because he thought that he would be boss of the world
Isn't this series made for Amazon Prime?.
No it dates back further than that, still a good doc though
The destalinization policy of glasnost and perestroika caused the dissolution of the Soviet Union because the Soviet communist party did not have visionary figures like the Chinese communist party which opened itself in 1978
Part 8 ? Where is 1- 7 ? Any chance?
I remember seeing Regan yelling, "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall". A while later it actually WAS torn down. It was unbelievable.
Gave me goosebumps.
Gorbachev was the closet democratic Russian leader in Russian history.
He was willing to make compromises to his own Soviet Republics who wanted more autonomy, and he had a hands off approach to his Eastern European political subjects (which costed him by 1988).
Günter Schabowski was a German SED secretary and journalist. Pretty mistake as it was one of the most famous press conferences in the world!
when you talk about berlin wall, you should talk about Eduard shevardnadze !
Gorbachov was type of person " giver not taker". He wanted the best for Soviet Union. Unfortunately his social democracy approach brought peace but also chaos and destruction in his country. USSR wasn't ready for democracy because they aren't Czechs, Poland or Hungarians. Russians didn't have civilian society through history.
Who are you ?
His approach to change was born out of the fact bc the system was financially bankrupt and also otherwise not sustainable. He wanted to implement slow change to prevent the events that now did happen due to factors beyond his control. Nothing else.
An IT security executive is who i turn to for all my Soviet Bloc and USSR information. 😂
I was nine when the wall went down I remembered my parents watching the live coverage at that age I had no intellectual or political interest to understand the meaning of it all but there where mixed opinions amongst the people in East Berlin some didn't like the pressure of the idea in living in a world of consumerism guided by superiority in the more you own
Love Regan. Read art of war. The greatest leader to win without min. Losses to your people & enemy.
I was living in Finland when the Baltic States rose up against the USSR. It was wild watching TV news broadcasting images of Soviet tanks marauding through the streets of Tallinn, our close neighbor across the Baltic Sea.
I miss the cold war
Granted there was always the scare of WWIII those were pretty tame times next to WWI, WWII & even the present..
The irony is the collapse of the USSR, was bad for ordinary Americans. Led to deindustrialization, rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.
Lmao ok.
🙈😂
I was 11 years old when I saw photos in Life Magazine, of the commencement of erecting the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent airlift of supplies by American and British planes.
Uh, the airlift was in *_1948._* That was the *first* time the USSR tried to cut off Berlin. The difference then was that Stalin didn't order a wall to be build but blocked the land corridors that allowed rail and road access to Berlin from West Germany.
BGM IS GOOD
Rocky 4. Rocky defeated communism. This is common knowledge.. hahaha. Great show though
You can't forget Apollo. Wasn't for Apollo dying. I doubt we would have had a Rocky 4
hahaha what? He did defeat communism, him and his pudgy drunk buddy, i was there
What happened in Poland then, happened in Ukraine 2014. Only Putin intentionally reacted different from Gorbachev.
Not rly ukraine had elections since 90' also and they had i believe 2 pro western leaders.. then the leader who campaigned with promises of further westernization changed his mind and people replaced him..
What happened in Poland was organic. What happened in Ukraine in 2014 was a CIA backed Coup.
И правильно сделал. Украину нужно сравнять с землей. И Польшу тоже.
@@maksim05makarovThe only thing that's razed to the ground is your feeble economy and fragile pride. Russia is a failed state.
While there are many similarities there are also many striking differences. Not exactly a repeat entirely, but familiar themes are present, yes.
I was in Estonia in August 1991… interesting times!
East German youths crossed over, and were buying all the Led Zeppelin albums they could get their hands on!
"Wörth it"
This whole thing is fascinating.. you can see the look on his face the moment he saw that revolution was right downstairs😂😂😂😂 it was like uh oh then GTA mode grab a helicopter..
Did Gorbachev sold his country and the way of their life.
Uh they had a life ? 😂
Whys Putin there in Gorbachevs entourage? Wasnt he already in politics at that time?
I remember watching the wall go dowm on tv as a 13 year old, of course i didnt recognize the signifigance of it at the time but it was absolutly huge! But it seems that we have lost years of good relations because of putin but maybe someday we will get another gorbachev
Indeed, it is beneficial to you... Imagine that under one "president" your country will fall to pieces, you will lose your former influence in the world, your economy will be destroyed, the country will plunge into poverty and hunger, oligarchs will privatize people's (state) property and houses, and banditry will continue everywhere for 10 years. years, then you'll (probably) be able to understand what we've been through... Soviet people wanted changes and a better life, looked to the West and thought that life would get better under capitalism, but in the end your whole world turned out to be plastic and an empty wrapper. America lives by exploiting the countries of the periphery, pumping resources out of them in exchange for green papers. The West does not understand what the USSR is, and is unlikely to understand... It is easier for you to believe in tales about the Gulag, imposing stereotypes based on dubious facts on us... Gorbachev and our entire leadership (to spite the people) destroyed not only the country, but also the entire civilization... The plastic world has won! (E. Letov)
I was 13yrs old as well. I also didn't realize what a huge significance it was. Gorbachev was an amazing man. May he R.I.P
Надеюсь что у нас к власти придет русская версия гитлера и сравняет всю Европу с землей.
@@jenniferagey8867I was 7. My parents told me I was watching HUGE historical events unfold in my lifetime. I watched the wall fall with no context of how important that was.
The best Human being of the century.
You can't help but smile at peace
Gorbachev did a lot to help the world. And Putin has taken us back to Stalinist times
Вас это кого??
Gorbachev sold out
Да где вы сталина увидели ? Мне нужен у власти Сталин, но его нет.
@@maksim05makarovMao can offer you a great leap forward I heard
Correction: The USSR dis not collapse, they Agreed to disolve the Warsaw pact as they understood for peace, at that time with Nato with existing members & boundries, both parties were no longer at threat to each another.
I heard it was financially collapsing & it was better to steer it down than let it crash down.
I LOVE history
I survived the Cold War! 💪 🇺🇲
We all did
Which wasn't really cold.
I think I want to move to stillwater I have not lived there since 1980
This video provides an in-depth analysis of the Cold War, a period when nuclear weapons caused global tension and the fear of Mutually Assured Destruction. It draws parallels to the current situation where Russia, China, and the USA are displaying their military strength on the world stage. 'M.A.D.
George Herbert Walker Bush. I'm surprised he was voted in for one-term as POTUS. But I thought Mikhail Gorbachev was a good leader of the USSR. And had certain visions for the Soviet Union's public or society was never ready for and show'd to much weakness during a time the public wanted "strength" from him. Then we got Boris Yeltsin for the crazy Russian 1990's, and now are uber favorite mention Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
I remember the so called Peace Dividend we were supposed to have but the military industrial complex prevailed
The narrator 😍😍😍
The love of money did not end so well...
Avarice
PEACE..no need for nothing else
🙏🏼
H.W. fell in love with Gorby... GeeDubyuh swooned in the eyes of Putin.
Reagan was President He said “Gorbachev Take down this wall” why is that not mentioned what’s with Bush taking credit?
i remember in the 80s east germany and the spviets were unbeatable in tne winter
6:05 Is that Victor Orban?
🙈😂
18:40 Is that who I think it is?
No Innovation, No Modernization, Death Knell
Stop blurring the photos. We all know what this is good grief.
I am not sure shame of wall up or down we all have different mindset. But I spent equal time both sides . This was 1979
I find much cheaper to live in east Berlin than West Berlin not my intention to stay either of the country . Because I was born & raised in common wealth nations
Wow. Amazing that a tiny minority in each country went from being in control of each of these nations and immediately began to be a tiny group in control of these nations. 😅
"Those who hold power are most afraid to lose it." - Emperor Palpatine, probably not correctly quoted