From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the 1991 coup

In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), explores the role Yeltsin played in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Dr Bacon takes us from the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of nationalism in the new republics, and how Yeltsin became Russia’s first elected head of state. He discusses the way that Mikhail Gorbachev was then sidelined leading to the 1991 Soviet coup and the eventual declaration of an independent Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia, leading to the dissolution of the Soviet system.