1964-1985 since 1991






Ukraine 1985-1991



In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev assumed power; realizing the state of the USSR, he gave up the Cold War policy, withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, initiated domestic political and economic change. Non-communist political parties were permitted, free elections held in the republics of the USSR; the rouble was allowed to float, and immediately lost in value, at a dramatical scale.
Right at the beginning of Gorbachev's rule, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened, indicating the state of much of the USSR's industry.
While political life in Ukraine began to flourish, the economic situation of the Ukrainians, as well as that of other Soviet citizens, took a turn to the worse. The year 1991 saw a brief communist coup, which was overcome by the newly elected president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. By the end of the year, Mikhail Gorbachev resignd as president; no successor as appointed. The USSR dissolved; the Ukraine, somewhat accidentally, thus became independent.







EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles Post-War History of Ukraine, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, from Wikipedia
DOCUMENTS Historical Population Statistics : Ukraine, from Population Statistics (Jan Lahmeyer)
Ukrainian SSR, from World Statesmen
REFERENCE Paul Robert Magocsi, Ukraine, A Historical Atlas, Toronto : UP 1985 [G]
Kohut, Zenon E., Historical Dictionary of Ukraine, Rowman & Littlefield 2005, KMLA Lib.Sign. R 947.7 K79h
Article : USSR : Ukraine, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1985-1986 pp.1248-1250, 1986-1987 pp.1247-1249, 1987-1988 pp.1251-1253, 1988-1989 pp.1255-1257, 1989-1990 pp.1261-1263, 1990-1991 pp.1264-1266, 1991-1992 pp.1263-1265 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on March 13th 2006

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