Map: Soviet Union (1985-1991)

This map illustrates the final years of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), spanning from Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to power in 1985 to the union’s ultimate dissolution in 1991. It highlights the vast geographic extent of the Soviet empire and the internal political movements that signaled its end.

The Republics of the USSR

The map identifies the administrative divisions that made up the largest country in the world, color-coded to distinguish the various republics:

Naming the Soviet Era

A unique feature of this map is the identification of cities named after prominent communist leaders, many of which were renamed shortly after the Soviet collapse:

The Path to Dissolution

The table on the right, titled “Declaration of Sovereignty,” serves as a countdown to the end of the Cold War. It tracks the legal steps taken by each republic to assert their own laws over those of the central Soviet government: