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Spencer Level

Last updated on May 24, 2023

Topics: Political Science

Abstract

Although ethnic nationalism and democratization contributed greatly to the downfall of the Soviet Union, the primary catalyst of Soviet collapse was the Soviet-Afghan War. The conflict exacerbated existing ethnic and cultural divides in the hinterlands of the Soviet empire, and the dramatic Russian loss broadcasted the fact that the Red Army was not invincible to foreign powers and internal dissidents alike, emboldening the first breakaway republics and enabling the eventual ...