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ESSAY - In light of differing interpretations, how convincing do you find the view that the USSR fell because nationalism posed too great a challenge for the soviet government after 1989?£7.49
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ESSAY - In light of differing interpretations, how convincing do you find the view that the USSR fell because nationalism posed too great a challenge for the soviet government after 1989?
Level 5 Answer
Full length essay from question in the textbook, find relevant sources in the textbook.
Marked by teachers, achieved 18/20
(A* History Student)
In light of differing interpretations, how convincing do you find the view that the USSR
fell because nationalism posed too great a challenge for the Soviet government after
1989?
There is much debate within historians as to whether the Soviet union collapse because of the
role of nationalism. There is no doubt that the challenge of nationalism played a significant
role in the fall of the USSR since there was clear dissatisfaction in certain areas of the USSR.
The significant of the impact of nationalism can be seen in regions such as the Nagorno-
Karabakh and the Baltic Republics where extreme violence occurred in response to the Soviet
government’s failing authority. Extract 7 highlights the extreme reactions of the Baltic states
but draws attention to the economic problems when it claims that “management of the
economy and decline of living standards [were more influential] that issues related to
independence”. Extract 8 includes nationalism in its interpretation but states that it “does not
in itself prove that the division of the USSR along national lines was an inevitable event”.
The truth behind these interpretations is difficult to entangle but it is evident that nationalism
had a role to play in the collapse of the USSR.
Extract 7 acknowledges that the role of the Baltic States was significant in terms of
demonstrating the challenge of nationalism. In the explanation of the Baltic States’ issues,
Marples states that the “protests focused on the illegality of the Nazi-Soviet Pact”. Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania had a different history to the rest of the regions within the Soviet Union.
They had been independent before their incorporation in 1945 after the second world war and
many viewed the USSR as an occupying force. On the anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact,
citizens from the Baltic Republics formed a human chain that covered all 3 states in a protest.
Extract 7 also refers to the role of Gorbachev, and states that he ‘could have negotiated [their]
departure… and still maintained the union’. Marples placed blame on Gorbachev’s
“hesitation” that enabled this nationalism to ‘filter down to the other republics’. Indeed, the
public opinion from the Baltic States, as well as Georgia, were the strongest out of all of the
regions of the USSR as well as the first to actively oppose the USSR. But Gorbachev’s
indecision meant that the issues of nationalism were allowed to grow which further
undermined the soviet government and continued to pose a challenge to the USSR.
Therefore, although the Baltic States are a prime example of nationalist pressure as Extract 8
states “it does not in itself prove that the division of USSR along nationalist lines was
inevitable”. A referendum in 1990 showed that all the regions, except Baltic States and
Georgia, wanted to remain in the USSR, thus making the view that nationalism posed too
great a challenge less convincing.
Extract 8 claims that “national unrest in turn fed into political and economic turmoil” which
is in reference to the failings of Gorbachev’s political and economic reforms: perestroika and
glasnost. Smith claims that the nationalism problem was “linked to economic and political
upheaval” which contributed to the weakening soviet government as glasnost enabled
disparities in living standards to be seen and criticisms of the government was now allowed.
Moreover, this is supported by Extract 7 – “the dissatisfaction… lay more with the
management of the economy and the decline of living standards”. The economic decline of
the 1980s affected everybody in the USSR and the poorer living standards combined with the
ability to criticise the government through glasnost meant that the soviet government
experienced significant opposition to their rule. In addition, the government had justified its
legitimacy to rule through the ‘social contract’, whereby the government would provide
employment and material benefits in return for a compliant population. Failure to uphold this
undermined their position of power in society and opened up the doors for criticism. The
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