Very difficult question there, something that most historians are still arguing about. People like to blame Gorbachev for everything but he took over a sinking ship at that point (and then fucked up his reforms, he should be blamed for that). Simple answer is that they got economically and militarily outcompeted by the the capitalist west, which lead to internal conflict that suddenly caused the whole government structure to collapse. The complicated answer is why that happened.
There are a lot of reasons people give: revisionism, corruption, too much repression, poor economic planning... it's a whole field of study. Truthfully it's a combination of those sorts of things that lead to collapse, I don't think you can point to one thing or one decision and say things would have been different if it was changed (except the Secret Speech by idiot Khrushchev)
Personally I like to blame computers. The USSR just missed the computerization revolution in the 70s and early 80s, which really could have reinvigorated their economy. They were still focused on massive public works style projects to create growth which was... well there's a reason capitalists don't do them anymore, no money in it. The Soviets also suppressed some scientists and engineers that probably would have been useful for computer development.
Hope that makes sense. Also hope you see that much like the "Fall of Rome" it is a complicated question with a lot elements to it. All power to the Soviets!
Very difficult question there, something that most historians are still arguing about. People like to blame Gorbachev for everything but he took over a sinking ship at that point (and then fucked up his reforms, he should be blamed for that). Simple answer is that they got economically and militarily outcompeted by the the capitalist west, which lead to internal conflict that suddenly caused the whole government structure to collapse. The complicated answer is why that happened.
There are a lot of reasons people give: revisionism, corruption, too much repression, poor economic planning... it's a whole field of study. Truthfully it's a combination of those sorts of things that lead to collapse, I don't think you can point to one thing or one decision and say things would have been different if it was changed (except the Secret Speech by idiot Khrushchev)
Personally I like to blame computers. The USSR just missed the computerization revolution in the 70s and early 80s, which really could have reinvigorated their economy. They were still focused on massive public works style projects to create growth which was... well there's a reason capitalists don't do them anymore, no money in it. The Soviets also suppressed some scientists and engineers that probably would have been useful for computer development.
Hope that makes sense. Also hope you see that much like the "Fall of Rome" it is a complicated question with a lot elements to it. All power to the Soviets!