The rise in nationalism

The rise in nationalism

• Gorbachev's reforms
  • purges --> getting rid of the Brezhnevites and purge of local leaders he thought were corrupt was followed by his appointments of his own supporters which tended to be Russian --> this sparked resentment in the Republics
  • economic decline --> livings standards decreased in the Republics around the time that Russian leaders took over so they blamed them
  • Glasnost --> exposed how ethnic minorities had been attacked, showed how much better the West was and allowed nationalists groups to publish propaganda 
• Growing unrest 
  • 1988 --> nationalist protests broke out in Azerbaijan between Armenian and Azerbaijani nationalists
  • 1989 --> Uzbeks massacred the Muslim minority of Meskhetians --> Soviet authorities were unable to restore peace
  • 1989 --> Georgian nationalists protested against the rights of the Abkhazian minority --> Soviet authorities used force to restore peace but their actions were called the Tbilisi Massacre
  • Nationalism also grew in Russia + Chernobyl revelations led to a rise in environmentalist groups
  • 1988 --> "Popular Fronts" emerged in the Baltic States which were dedicated to gaining independence 
• The Sinatra Doctrine 1989
  • Gorbachev renounced the USSR's "right" to intervene in the affairs of other socialist nations
  • he said they should find their own path to Communism
  • led to revolutions across Eastern Europe culminating in the destruction of the Berlin Wall in Nov 1989
• Democratisation
  • allowed nationalists to organise themselves, win elections and assert their desire for independence 
  • March 1990 --> Parliament of Lithuania declare themselves independent --> Gorbachev calls it illegal and puts economic sanctions on them (lifted in the summer) but there was no resolution to the issue
  • May 1990 --> Yeltsin insists Russian laws are superior to Soviet laws
• Baltic independence
  • Estonia --> declare sovereignty in Nov 1988
  • Lithuania --> declare independence in March 1990, when economic sanctions failed force was used and 14 people were killed --> Ukrainian miners organised protests and Yeltsin told Red Army to disobey orders + began making Russian Army
• Treaty negotiations
  • Gorbachev proposed a new treaty in 1990 with a more decentralised union to be signed on the 21st August 1991
• The coup
  • 18th August --> 8 senior officials announced the establishment of the Emergency Committee to replace Gorbachev's government
  • Yeltsin headed resistance to the coup, demanding Gorbachev be brought back (had the support of the army)
  • Coup collapsed on the 21st August
• Break-up of the USSR
  • Yeltsin's authority strengthened by his role in the coup --> 23rd August he suspended the Communist Party and banned it on the 6th Nov
  • Gorbachev's authority was weakened as he stuck by the Party after the coup so the public lost faith in him
  • Fears that he would reverse his earlier reforms, more Republics declared their independence
• Independence
  • Gorbachev tried to save the USSR
  • 1 Dec 1991 --> Ukraine votes for independence
  • 21st Dec 1991 --> Yeltsin and leaders of Ukraine and Belarus signed the Minsk Agreement which replaced the USSR with CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)