The Republics and The Dissolution of The Soviet Union
In the final decades of its existence, the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics and they were called Soviet republics. The republics played an important role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Under Mikhail Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika were intended to revive the Soviet Union. However, they had a number of effects which caused the power of the republics to increase. First, political liberalization allowed the governments within the republics to gain legitimacy by invoking democracy, nationalism or a combination of both. In addition, liberalization led to fractures within the party hierarchy which reduced Soviet control over the republics. Perestroika allowed the governments of the republics to control economic assets in their republics and withhold funds from the central government. Finally, by December 15th, all 15 republics declared independence.
Throughout the late 1980s, the Soviet government attempted to find a new structure which would reflect the increasing power of the republics. These efforts proved unsuccessful, and in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed as the republic governments seceded. The republics then all became independent states, with the post-Soviet governments in most cases consisting largely of the government personnel of the former Soviet republics.
Map of the Union Republics from 1956-1991 |
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soviet socialist republic |
member since |
population (1989) |
pop./ USSR pop. (%) |
area (km²) (1991) |
area/ USSR area (%) |
capital |
independent state |
No. |
|||||||
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic | 1922 | 7008147386000000000147,386,000 | 700151400000000000051.40 | 700717075400000000017,075,400 | 700176620000000000076.62 | Moscow | Russia | 1 | |||||||
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1922 | 700751706746000000051,706,746 | 700118030000000000018.03 | 7005603700000000000603,700 | 70002710000000000002.71 | Kiev (Kharkov before 1934) |
Ukraine | 2 | |||||||
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic | 1924 | 700719906000000000019,906,000 | 70006940000000000006.94 | 7005447400000000000447,400 | 70002009999999999992.01 | Tashkent (Samarkand before 1930) |
Uzbekistan | 4 | |||||||
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic | 1936 | 700716711900000000016,711,900 | 70005830000000000005.83 | 70062727300000000002,727,300 | 700112240000000000012.24 | Alma-Ata | Kazakhstan | 5 | |||||||
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1922 | 700710151806000000010,151,806 | 70003540000000000003.54 | 7005207600000000000207,600 | 69999300000000000000.93 | Minsk | Belarus | 3 | |||||||
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic | 1936 | 70067037900000000007,037,900 | 70002450000000000002.45 | 700486600000000000086,600 | 69993900000000000000.39 | Baku | Azerbaijan | 7 | |||||||
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1936 | 70065400841000000005,400,841 | 70001880000000000001.88 | 700469700000000000069,700 | 69993100000000000000.31 | Tbilisi | Georgia | 6 | |||||||
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic | 1929 | 70065112000000000005,112,000 | 70001780000000000001.78 | 7005143100000000000143,100 | 69996400000000000000.64 | Dushanbe | Tajikistan | 12 | |||||||
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1940 | 70064337600000000004,337,600 | 70001510000000000001.51 | 700433843000000000033,843 | 69991500000000000000.15 | Kishinev | Moldova | 9 | |||||||
Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic | 1936 | 70064257800000000004,257,800 | 70001480000000000001.48 | 7005198500000000000198,500 | 69998900000000000000.89 | Frunze | Kyrgyzstan | 11 | |||||||
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1940 | 70063689779000000003,689,779 | 70001290000000000001.29 | 700465200000000000065,200 | 69992899900000000000.29 | Vilnius | Lithuania | 8 | |||||||
Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic | 1924 | 70063522700000000003,522,700 | 70001230000000000001.23 | 7005488100000000000488,100 | 70002190000000000002.19 | Ashkhabad | Turkmenistan | 14 | |||||||
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1936 | 70063287700000000003,287,700 | 70001150000000999991.15 | 700429800000000000029,800 | 69991300000000000000.13 | Yerevan | Armenia | 13 | |||||||
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1940 | 70062666567000000002,666,567 | 69999300000000000000.93 | 700464589000000000064,589 | 69992899900000000000.29 | Riga | Latvia | 10 | |||||||
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic | 1940 | 70061565662000000001,565,662 | 69995500000000000000.55 | 700445226000000000045,226 | 69992000000000000000.20 | Tallinn | Estonia | 15 |
Read more about this topic: Republics Of The Soviet Union
Famous quotes containing the words soviet union, republics, dissolution, soviet and/or union:
“Today he plays jazz; tomorrow he betrays his country.”
—Stalinist slogan in the Soviet Union (1920s)
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (18261877)
“...that absolutely everything beloved and cherished of the bourgeoisie, the conservative, the cowardly, and the impotentthe State, family life, secular art and sciencewas consciously or unconsciously hostile to the religious idea, to the Church, whose innate tendency and permanent aim was the dissolution of all existing worldly orders, and the reconstitution of society after the model of the ideal, the communistic City of God.”
—Thomas Mann (18751955)
“One difference between Nazi and Soviet camps was that in the latter dying was a slower process.”
—Terrence Des Pres (19391987)
“One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape ... it allows us to fix our emotions on events at the moment they occur, it permits a union of heart and mind and tongue and tear.”
—Marilyn French (b. 1929)