What Actually Happened Right After The Soviet Union Collapsed

It was years in the making, but when it actually came, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 occurred suddenly. In the immediate aftermath, the Russian people hoped for blue jeans and other Western goods - and the freedom that came with them.

Their hopes were not fulfilled as Russia underwent a dramatic transformation from a planned economy to the market economy via a highly controversial “shock therapy” process. Amid the wild fluctuations in currency value came a constitutional crisis, a widely condemned invasion of Chechnya, and the rise of a new breed of politician.

#USSR #SovietUnion #WeirdHistory

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Basically what best describes how Yeltsin handled Russia was during a visit to the White House in 1994, he went onto the street at night in just his underwear asking for pizza while drunk...

he also almost started a nuclear incident. American and Norwegian scientists were sending a rocket to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard, they notified neighboring countries of it. Russia was notified, but the radar technicians who were checking on it didn't (they thought it was a Trident missile) and thus the country was put on high alert with the nuclear fleet ready. The nuclear briefcase/Cheget was activated, and Yeltsin was a button away from war. He thankfully didn't.

[DataJuggler]

2:30 My mom lived in Mexico in the 2000's - 2010's. It was common knowledge a hit could be arranged for $500, so everyone was nice to everyone else.

[judeinLA.]

A months salary for a pair of Levi’s?!
I wouldn’t be surprised if history repeats itself.

[daemon.running]

You know the price of a barrel of oil being super cheap is what actually led to this sudden increase in gas prices.
Price per barrel was negative briefly in 2020, and it killed small drilling operations, and allowed OPEC to regain control over oil after they lost control in the late 2000s.

[OvelNick]

I had never thought about disarmament of the Soviet's nuclear programs in the sense of the educated, capable engineers and scientists that were now unable to afford bread. Riding the bus one way to work was nearly a months wages. So it wasn't just the already built hardware but it was the minds holding the knowledge to make them. It's incredibly easy to stand on principals, morals, and ethics when your family has, at the very least, the necessities to live. When you've got a family that know what it feels like to be truly hungry those lines could get a little muddied. Understandably.

[nickd]

Nobody forget there are hundreds of unaccounted nuclear warheads as well a literal crap ton of other munitions and weapons (i.e. C4, stockpiles of assault rifles, literal warehouses pf ammunition, etc.) that just went missing, out there still, unaccounted for.

[WilhelmScreamer]

Its nice to see this story not ending when the disolution went into effect

[GiantTinyBalls]

After the collapse, most people went to bed.

[Island_Line_Rail_Productions]

Russia was not the only country in the USSR...why does everyone forget this?

[TheTigerfan]

As someone who is thoroughly fascinated by Chinese history, is there any way you could do a video on what life was like during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)?

[gibusspy]

The 1993 Constitutional Crisis deserves a whole video of it's own. There was much more than Yeltsin pulling up to Parliament with a tank.

[kariannecrysler]

I would love an episode for each country in our world today. And how they came to be. This could cover a year of videos

[davidstrelec]

Freedom doesn't mean you can choose between 25 brands of the same product which are controlled by a handful of corporations

[annehersey]

My friends visited Russia in 1979. At the border, cars and suitcases were thoroughly checked for Levi's and Western magazines which were promptly confiscated if found. In order to not have a vehicle robbery, every time they parked their car, they removed and hid all outside mirrors and any inside radios/stereo equipment-these were the top black market items. They drove to Russia from West Berlin and if they strayed off the main roadway, a black car would follow them and turn them around-they had one path available to get where they were going. They liked the people they met but shopping entailed long lines for little merchandise.

[channellegendarium]

The unfolding of this story reminds me very much of a retelling of George Orwell's "Animal Farm." A man who played a nearly heroic role in the fall of the USSR took power and quickly began acting like the regime he overthrew. Promises are made and never kept and a slightly different oligarchy takes power.

[JohnnyAngel]

Russia's problems go deep and are cyclic. When I think of Russia, I remember that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink".

[TheDustypoptart]

“War and Peace” was written by Tolstoy… not Dostoyevski

[carlborman]

I'd love to see you talk about the kanesatake oka war 1992. Thanks great channel and that narrator sarcastic tone is incredible love it . Cheers from montreal

[alexdawson]

Pretty much what happened to countries that were part of the eastern bloc. In Romania it was very similar, except no disilution of the parlament and no war. Poverty was v high, inflation hit 150% brieflt in the early 90s, people were without jobs, coruptio was v high ( still is) criminality was also v high

[Uzair_Of_Babylon]

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job