For some it was a big surprise. For others, something that was coming. But what many agree on is that the dissolution of the Soviet Union marked a milestone in the history of the 20th century. Few predicted the rapid disintegration of one of the most influential countries after World War II, which at its peak occupied one-sixth of the world's territory. The so-called USSR went from disputing world leadership with the United States to collapsing in a process that resulted in 15 independent republics. But I want to explain to you first how such a powerful bloc came to be. And to do that, you have to travel back in time to the beginning of the 20th century. We are in Russia. There is a lot of hunger and poverty. Europe is plunged into the First World War when the Russian Revolution breaks out in 1917. The so-called Bolsheviks rebel and overthrow Tsar Nicholas II. They thus put an end to a centuries-old monarchy and prevailed after a bloody civil war, with the Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin as their leader. In 1922, a treaty between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia - present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. A communist bloc where private property did not exist , the State controlled everything and was impossible to oppose. And after a spectacular expansion, he came to draw this map that integrated 15 republics. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The Soviet Union was 2.5 times the size of the United States and 6 times that of India. In addition, it had access to and control of natural resources such as gas and oil, which made it an energy powerhouse. But while Lenin was the architect of the USSR, his successor Joseph Stalin began a process of transformation in the late 1920s that would consolidate it as an industrial and military power. Stalin transformed the agricultural country into an industrialized one, focusing on strategic sectors such as oil, steel, chemicals, mining, automotive, aerospace, electronics, and telecommunications. At the same time, he carried out a brutal repression that cost millions of lives and political prisoners. But it was undoubtedly the end of World War II that made the USSR emerge as a great power. With its decisive military power, it joined forces with the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to defeat the Nazis and Japan. Of course, this alliance between two completely opposing ideologies—capitalism and socialism— was like mixing oil and water. So after the war this “uncomfortable” association did not last long. The USSR began installing its system in the territories it had liberated from the Nazis in parts of the Baltic countries, something that displeased the West, led by the US. This area of Soviet influence ended up drawing the so-called Iron Curtain on the European map . Thus began the so-called Cold War, a confrontation that lasted decades. The Soviet Union and the United States competed in almost everything, from the space race, to economics, to sports, to bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. During this time, the USSR's influence also expanded to countries that, although not part of it, were undisputed allies, such as the GDR, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. And outside Europe in countries like Cuba, Angola or Vietnam. However, although it was projected externally as an invincible power, internally, in the 1980s, the USSR was on the verge of collapse. And what was his Achilles heel? The economy. Specific figures are not available because the system was very opaque, but by the early 1980s, productivity was plummeting. There was a shortage of basic necessities. "The census was somewhat more reliable and indicated that there was a very high infant mortality rate and a short life expectancy due to the living conditions. Because contrary to what was previously thought and what some people still idealize about the Soviet Union, the standard of living was very low." Furthermore, although Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin's successor, made political reforms, the totalitarian spirit of the USSR persisted. And with it the discontent of the people. This was the scenario when the man who would put an end to the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in 1985. But that wasn't his plan: Gorbachev wanted to modernize the Soviet system with his famous perestroika, which in Russian means "restructuring." He made radical economic changes that brought the Soviet system closer to capitalism. It loosened centralized control of many businesses, allowing some farmers and manufacturers to decide for themselves what products to make, how many to produce, and how much to charge for them. The creation of businesses such as restaurants and privately owned shops was also allowed. Of course, the process met with resistance from the Russian Communist Party leadership, which did not want to lose control. A large part of the population also suffered from having to start paying dearly for things that were previously subsidized by the state, such as food. But at the same time Gorbachev initiated a process of democratization. He called for the only democratic elections the USSR ever held, in which he was elected president and political dissidents opposed to the system were elected at the polls. "The dynamics of change could only come from above because it was a totalitarian system of absolute repression of any hint of freedom of expression. The changes started from above because that's what perestroika announced. But it was the pressure from below that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union and ended the Soviet system. And that pressure from below materialized in a symbol: the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which many historians say would have been unthinkable without the reforms that were taking place in the Soviet Union. And then there was a domino effect: the fall of the wall fueled revolts against Soviet rule. And by 1990, all the republics of the Union had approved declarations of national sovereignty. Latvia, Ukraine, and Moldova were among the first republics to declare their independence from the USSR. And the process accelerated in 1991, when 11 Soviet republics made the decision to become independent. And the Communist Party was dissolved. Until early December 1991, The presidents of Russia (Boris Yeltzin), Ukraine (Leonid Kravchuk), and the representative of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus (Stanislav Shushkevich) signed the Belavesh Agreement, which ended the Soviet Union and established the Commonwealth of Independent States. Days later, Gorbachev had no choice but to resign as president of the USSR, a state that had ceased to exist after almost 70 years. Thus, 15 independent republics emerged, as well as four self-proclaimed states that have yet to be recognized: Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. But the truth is that almost three decades later, the shadow of what was the USSR remains. And Russia, the largest of the former Soviet republics, is a highly influential player in the region and the world. In any case, the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 marked the end of the bipolar world and the beginning of a more multilateral era.