1991: An Amazing Year!

History is replete with examples of the rise and fall of once great empires. December 1991 saw the end of a two super power world with the fall of the Soviet Union. In December, “as the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries” (Cold War Museum). The United States was overjoyed as its enemy was, “brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War which had hovered over these two superpowers since the end of World War II” (Cold War Museum). The split of the Soviet Union made extremely large transformations in the world’s political and economic situation, which resulted in a reduction of global nuclear weapons, world economic cooperation, and the commercialization of once classified military technology.

In Moscow on July 31, 1991, President Bush and Gorbashev, the leader of the Soviet Union, signed the START treaty to reduce nuclear weapons on both sides to 6,000—which was a 30-percent reduction of the previous amount being used. This was the first large-scale reduction of nuclear weapons in the history of the Cold War. As a result of this treaty, “The dangerous category of missiles with multiple independently targeted warheads (MIRVs) was reduced by half” (End of the Cold War). On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned from presidency and the Soviet Union was officially broken up. All the former, “dependent republics within the old USSR proclaimed their independence, secured international recognition, and were admitted to the United Nations” (End of the Cold War). As a result of the strong working relationship between President Bush and Michael Gorbashev, as well as the relationship between Baker, the Secretary of State, and Foreign Minister Shevardnadze, the Soviet Union began to drastically reduce its military spending.

This cooperation between Gorbashev and the West led to a backlash by the Soviet military and resulted in a failed coup attempt, which ended Gorbashev’s rule and resulted in the final collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia, no longer the Soviet Union, was now under a new leadership. Boris Yeltsin became the head of Russian republic and continued to integrate with the Western world. Russia took over the permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and was invited to join the G-7 gathering of the world’s largest economic powers, therefore making it the G-8. This created a level of cooperation and communication between the two countries that did not exist during the Cold War.