Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union (1988–1991) was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union, which resulted in the end of its existence as a sovereign state. The process began with growing unrest in the Union’s various constituent republics developing into an incessant political and legislative conflict between the republics and the central government. Lithuania became the first republic to declare its independence, in 1990, followed by fellow Baltic states Estonia and Latvia. In late 1991, the leaders of three of the Union’s founding and largest republics (the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR) declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed, and 11 more republics joined them shortly thereafter. These declarations led to President Mikhail Gorbachev having to resign his office and what was left of the Soviet parliament formally acknowledging what had already taken place.