The Dissolution of the USSR 

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My mom told me that she was taking a course on the soviet union at university when the collapse happened. Apparently, when they came in the day after, the teacher told the class "so, I guess this is a history class now".

Fun fact about Gorbachev, he was the first (and only) leader of the USSR that was actually born in the USSR, the rest were born in the Russian Empire.

For me personally, the cold war officially ended on January 1, 1998. That was the day the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, appeared in a pizza hut television commercial. IMO, that is a legitimate major event in world history.

I'm pretty sure the real reason was that in the summer of 91 the metal band Pantera played a show in Moscow that was so heavy the Soviet Union collapsed under it's weight

Here's an fascinating perspective on this: As a teenage intern, I got to attend a talk in California by a retired KGB colonel. During the Q&A, I asked him why the USSR fell. I asked this question of many people with inside knowledge, fascinated by the diversity of conflicting answers I got. The KGB colonel's astonishing answer was: "Yuri Andropov's crackdowns on corruption." His reason was the Soviet system was horribly corrupt, but not the KGB because that was where the serious Soviet ideologs went. So when Andropov, head of the KGB, came to power, his priority was ending corruption, and he fearlessly arrested scores of corrupt officials. But what he didn't understand was the corruption was the only thing making the system function at all. Bribery helped people get around stupid, counter-productive, naive rules and regulations. Workers could buy high-quality boots, clothes, tools, etc that actually worked unlike the state's production quota garbage. Illegal businesses let people earn extra money and buy necessary goods/services. Even many state industries depended on black market supplies -- which were often produced in the state's own factories but off the books and using black market inputs. So the lesson is, when you create a completely irrational system of rules, you absolutely depend for survival on rule-breakers. Andropov killed the USSR by cutting off its illegal lifeblood.

I was a sophomore in high school when the USSR dissolved. I remember thinking that we would never again live in fear of a major war again. It was my father, a Vietnam War veteran, who said "son there's always someone else to fight".

About the 5 year plans there was a nice joke going around those days that: the 5 year plan had to be completed in 4 years, three person job had to be done by two men for one man pay. :)

I was 5 when the USSR collapsed, still remember having to be told repeatedly in school that the maps were wrong and the USSR didn't exist anymore... we still had maps with the USSR on until senior school which was 1997!

I was a sophomore in high school when this happened (in the USA). For two days we watched the news in every class. Scenes of people standing on the wall in West and East Berlin, hugging each other and full of joy, made me well up with tears. It still does.

I am surprised that you have not created yet another channel - Soviet Projects - and I would watch the hell out of it

I was one of the many guys that worked on the Minuteman nuclear missile underground sites. Nobody was happier than us to see the end of the cold war!

How long did the Soviet Union last? 69 years Nice

“They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work”- Soviet worker

I remember the day that the Soviet Union officially ended. What stood out to me was what an anti-climax it was. By that time it was over in all but name. There was a feeling of, “oh, it’s still around?”

The fact that the dissolution of the USSR did not lead to a full civil war like Yugoslavia is a massive diplomatic achievement

I got to see a piece of the Berlin Wall on my last visit to Bulgaria. I remember calling my dad (a German American) in 89 to tell him the wall was finally down. It's still emotional. This was really good, Simon. Thanks.

I saw the thumbnail and literally said “Now this is a Megaproject”

“It’s Christmas Day…” tell us how you really feel about the fall of the Soviet Union, Simon. 😂

I lived in Russia during the 80s and 90s. It was a crazy fucking time.

Megaprojects idea: mount rushmore or the unfinished crazy horse monument

Suggestion: Thrust SSC. Because who doesn’t like supersonic cars?

Definitely want the other 12 5 year plans, either here or side projects

Boris Yeltsin made that iconic speech on top of the tank, and that was probably the last day he was sober in the next decade. His next most memorable public appearance was him conducting an orchestra, and let us not forget an iconic meeting with Bill Clinton who almost died from laughing at his shananigans.

Story time. I have a number of friends who lived in Moldova when they were younger. During the collapse of the Soviet Union (which Moldova was a part of ), times were rough because all the infrastructure and currency basically collapsed overnight (central planning sucks). That means no food was coming into the cities. Those who lived there were barely scraping by. My one friend had a cat and they had to feed her beans for a few months until entrepreneurs realized that they could now own businesses and import food so that the people could eat. My other friend who lived in he village told me they did much better than the city folk, because they basically had everything: vegetables, dairy and meat (cow, chickens, sheep and goats are common there). Having a farm (which pretty much everyone in the village has) saved them from starving. Those in the cities who had village relatives also fared somewhat better, because the relatives could bring some food. Rough times.

Seeing this episode title my first thought was: "Danny, NO!"

Now that you mention it, a Biographics on Gorbachev might be an interesting idea 🤔

2:25 - Chapter 1 - Revolution 5:30 - Chapter 2 - The creation of the soviet union 6:40 - Mid roll ads 7:50 - Chapter 3 - The cold war 10:25 - Chapter 4 - The decline of the soviet union 14:30 - Chapter 5 - Mikhail Gorbachev 15:50 - Chapter 6 - The sinatra doctrine 16:30 - Chapter 7 - Revolutions of 1989 18:15 - Chapter 8 - The final collapse 21:20 - Chapter 9 - The end

Could we get a video about the East German Stasi? The stuff they got up to and the reach they had seems like it would fit as a megaproject.

Last week: "Why Magellan was an asshole." This week: "Sponsored by Magellan!"

Hey Simon you should have mentioned this critical part of the story. Vladimir Lenin had been exiled and was living in Switzerland. The Germans decided the only way to stop the war in the east was with a weapon of mass destruction. Vladimir Lenin himself. He was put on a train and secretly sent to the Eastern front and they made sure he got through the lines. They knew he would cause so much chaos that Russia would stop fighting. It's mind-blowingly ironic that the Germans are directly responsible for creating the Soviet Union. Maybe this story would be a good video in itself. Check it out

I remember in 1989 I had recently been getting interested in history and I checked out a book from the local library about the Berlin Wall. Before I was able to return the book the wall came down. It was a wild ride after that.

I remember my social studies teacher said "what was current geopolitics yesterday in now added to the pages of history, we now need new books"

Very interesting video! Just one (and important) point - there was no uprising in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The thing was that the terror of late 40s and entire 50s was gone, the opression was starting to melt away. It wasnt about people swinging guns and protesting, it was a gradual change from top to bottom. The politicians decided to open borders, to abolish censorship, to release the political prisoners, but there were no plans of the country leaving the socialist ideology. It was supposed to be "socialism with human face", basically every modern western socialist wet dream. People actually supported it and stood behind their politicians for the first time since 1945. Of course, when soviets sent bunch of armies to destroy these plans and start so called normalisation, things went rapidly bad. The 1968 events were our chance to repair the country after devastating changes in industry and agriculture forced upon us by the soviets, we could have get back to where we used to be - a solid country easily comparable to Germany, Austria or Finland. The fact that the Prague spring was demolished sent us down the spiral of destruction and poverty. Luckily we were given another chance some 20 years later and things got SIGNIFICANTLY better, but still - where could have we been if it wasnt for the 1968 invasion..

The Soviets were worker assemblies and they were not comprised of Bolsheviks - at least not in the majority. Most of them were Social Revolutionaries or Menshaviks. The Bolsheviks took them over by force.

I was about 25 when all this happened. I never thought I would ever live to see a day that there was no USSR, no Warsaw Pact, no Iron Curtain, no Cold War. I thought that it would always exist, that I would live out my life and the Cold War would still be going on. Still hard to believe.

I remember the news showing the Berlin Wall coming down. It was HUGE. Not just in size, either.

I feel like the withdraw from Afghanistan would go quite well with this, especially now its over

Simon you have so many channels putting out so much content. Sometimes its okay to put out videos that might not do so well but you still find interesting. You are allowed to do things because you want to not just for profit

I remember that as a child I had a board game called "Turista mundial", similar to monopoly but with countries instead of properties. And I could never finish the game as the board said USSR but the card in the stack said Russia, so that was always the one left to finish. My naive younger self didn't know they used to be basically the same thing

21:18, I like how you used, "Säkkijärven Polkka," a Finnish folk song that was (no joke) used to jam Soviet radios, so a 3 harmonic cord wouldn't be able to activate mines in once was Finnish land ceded to the Soviet during the Winter War, but was reoccupied by Finnish forces during the continuation war, where the song was used to jam Soviet radios so that a 3 harmonic cord wouldn't be able to activate mines in the village.

11:37 I'd also add here the Hungarian Revolution of '56 where people demanded the withdrawal of the Russian Armed Forces. Although in the end the revolution was crushed, many were executed and more had to flee the country, but it also led to a bit looser relation to the Kremlin than other countries in the Warsaw Pact. I'm not sure if it's mega enough, but maybe a side project...

I was 11 when the Berlin Wall fell. I still get a little choked up when I see images of it.

I was part of a group that travelled to the USSR in mid December 1991. The first thing I did when I got to Moscow was to go to the airline office and change my return flight to early January. I was in Moscow when the change happened, although I didn’t hear about it until a radio report at breakfast time. The broadcasters were discussing Gorbachev’s resignation when they started playing music. I almost spit out my cereal. It was the Beatles singing “you say you want a revolution…”.

I can't remember where I originally found Simon but it was probably 2 years ago and I genuinely enjoy the human side to his more recent videos, scripted content is good but showing a little personality is much more relatable.

Very good description of the history of the collapse of the USSR. As one of the founders of the American/Soviet Film Initiative I spent a lot of time between Los Angeles and Moscow working on joint productions between, respectively, the United States and the Soviet film industries from about 1983 to 1990 or so. The first major production resulting from the modernization of Mosfilm was, as I recall, "Russia House" starring Sean Connery. (I could be mistaken, as it was a long time ago) Anyhow, I was also in the Kremlin when Eduard Schevardnadze (Foreign Minister and head of our sister organization, ASK) publicly denounced the Communist Party - to huge applause!

I earned my Cold War Era bachelor's in International Relations in 1984. Lovely placemat.

Since then, best dash cam footage on the planet👍👌🥰✅

Calling A1 skyraiders and P63 kingcobra's jets is fairly inaccurate :')

Really liked the video it was great for the time frame. However i think this would be even better as a 4 part extended video. This is really cool

Doing a Megaproject video on the dissolution of the USSR implies that it was actually planned,and this amuses me to no bounds. Anyone familiar with the practical consequences of the Soviet planned economy knows that, if the Soviets had planned for it to collapse, the USSR would still be around today.

I love the fact that it got called the Iron curtain because of a speech made by Churchill to an american college (if memory serves) "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has decended across the continent" Also ironic is the fact that the closest the world ever came to nuclear war was actually after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a Norwegian weather satellite was sent up and someone in the russian military had forgotten to relay that information to the commanders. So Boris Jeltsin was actually sitting with his finger on the launch button as it were when they finally managed to stop it. (Again, my memory may be wrong about that. But i seem to remember reading about it)

I'm glad you have found your place.... Excellent as always

"it rollercoasted wildly" is a great euphemism for "second biggest genocide in human history"..

I was stationed in Berlin when the collapse occurred. I'd been in Country for 3 days when all of it first started my only thoughts were to a conversation I had with my Father the week before, he told me about the TET Offensive in Vietnam. As it happens he was on day 3 in Saigon when it broke out.

You sir, produce some of the best shows in RU-vid. Cheers to You and your great content

This needs to be done again, but it needs to be BLAZED! Such potential.

I know *I*’want to see the rest of the 5 year plans. Can’t wait!

Check out "Bald and bankrupt" he travels all around ex soviet Europe. When he asks the last Soviet generation "What has democracy brought" they usually reply "Debt and unemployment"

Fantastic history vid. Loved it.

What a joyous moment.

I was impressed that my father lived from 1920 to 2005 and all the change he witnessed. He was impressed that his mother lived from 1882 to 1960 and all the change she saw. All the actual change I've seen is that we've managed to raise a generation that never learned anything about 1917-1991.

Russia declaring independence from the Soviet Union is like a kidnapper declaring liberty from the captivity he orchestrated himself.

Another magnificent tour-de-force, Mr. Whistler!--all compressed into 22 mon., 40 sec.; very well done indeed!

I was watching the fall of the Berlin wall live on TV as a kid, with a well-known reporter (Mrs. Coudenhove-Kalergi [sp?]) lost for words and crying. While I didn't really get what was going on, I still remember being deeply touched by that event - and am to this day, tbh, thinking back.

A very good short summary of a very huge change in history that the world is still trying to adapt to. If you need a permanent job sign a contract to do a detailed examination of the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. as I am sure that such a project could last forever as there were so many factors involved! Thank you again for a good video!

I remember those days. It was amazing. From the fall of the Berlin wall to the collapse of the Soviet empire. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief that the cold War was over. It was a hopeful time. We were watching history happen right before our eyes!

Really wish that all this channels content would be organized into some playlists. Is love to catch up especially on areas of interest but it's not that convenient to browse right now on mobile

Good morning comrades ! You are a riot! Good video, short and to the point.

Hopefully, in a short while, you can do a video on the dissolution of Russia!

I actually really liked the 1st 5 year plan video. Was wondering what happened to the other 12 videos I thought would follow 🤔

I’ve been watching for a while now and Simon’s beard is becoming a mega project 🤣

I have to commend you for the excellent choice of music in this episode!

Fun fact, even Canada was deployed as an ally of Britain to support the White Army during the civil war

Dissolution of the PRC next hopefully?

Love your videos, they are always well produced and interesting. Quick note: at 8:35 the map is incorrect, as it shows eastern Austria as a non-existent country behind the iron curtain.

Subscribed! Kudos to Yeltsin for backing the right horse. Talk about right place right time

1991: *Finally, world peace at last. No more enemies to fight.* 2001: *Some jerk with a beard ruined everything with a few stolen aircraft.*

SUGGESTION: Not so much for Megaprojects: In the ancient world, mercury was regarded as a precious metal (and is still relatively expensive, today), BUT: how did they handle it without dying left and right? Even moderate exposure to small amounts of raw mercury can be deadly, and it occasionally even kills people in modern times. How did the ancients use/trade/handle the stuff?

Good overview. The one thing that was omitted that was worth mentioning: Lithuania declaring independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990 + the subsequent Soviet blockade and the campaign of intimidation that lasted for almost 1.5 years (until the USSR collapsed after the August 1991 coup).

Simon I would quite happily watch a 20 hour video on all the 5 year plans and soviet history... Get on that

You should do the Alaskan Pipeline.

to me, the beginning of the Fall of the USSR started on April 26 1986. Chernobyl. absolutely imo the beginning of the end. Thank you Valery Legasov, the true hero

Excellent overview of an amazing time - Linda Australia

I love your videos! Could you please do a video on the downfall of Boeing? Also, you’ve saved me a lot of money. I basically got ride of cable and a bunch streaming services because you have so much content!

I remember watching Gorbachev lowering the Soviet flag and raising the Russian Tri-Color on live TV that magical evening of 25 Dec 1991. I was trying to put together a LEGO set that I got that morning and pestering my father for help. He kept shooing me away, absolutely riveted by what he saw on the TV. I decided to pay attention myself because normally the only thing that he paid that close attention to on TV was sports. That's when I saw Gorby changing the flag. I was just shy of my 10th birthday, so I didn't fully understand what was taking place. However, I did know that the world just changed and that the idea of nuclear war with Russia was now MUCH less likely to happen. *BEST. CHRISTMAS. GIFT. EVER.* #WorldHistory #USSR #DeathToCommunism

"rouge" officials rather than "rogue" officials actually makes sense here :V

I'm at school listening to you videos in the background while working and that Russian ascent just made my day

I remember watching the news and seeing the Soviet flag lowered, as well as before that, when the Berlin Wall fell, because my parents made sure, even though I was really little, that I saw those events and appreciated their significance.

I'm the 8th viewer, WHAT A GODDAMNED THRILL !!!...I Feel that much closer to the bald chaperone of wisdom and facts !!!

Kind of insane how many people died for this, compared to the American Civil War. Over 1000 times more. What?!

Please do a Megaprojects video on Lukla Airport. I have no clue how they could build an airport and town out of asphalt and concrete in a mountainous town with no road access.

I was born in the East Bloc and came to America as a child. I was a college student in the late 80s. If you told me in 1988 that next year the Berlin Wall will be down and in 3 years the Soviet Union would end, I would not have believed you. This took everyone by surprise, even people who understood the system. When the wall came down, I was shocked. I never imagined I would live to see it. I am very happy it happened. I only wish the collapse were decades sooner.

Hi Simon! Is there any chance you'll cover forward swept wing aircraft like the SU-47 or the X-29?

Video idea in the same time period: The german reunification or a bit more specific, the huge infrastructural campaign run after it also known as 'Verkehrsprojekte Deutsche Einheit (VDE)'

Found another one of simon's channels. Imagine that. Man is a beast

You should do a mega projects about each of the revolutions!

The impact of Desert Storm on the Soviet Psyche was also ignored.

Gorbachev King of Pizza Commercials and Ending Comunist Superpowers

I can imagine a guy in a Moscow apartment with a decent view of the kremlin waking up to take wizz only to see outside his window a different flag fly over the kremlin he must have felt confused and delirious