The Last Hundred Days Of The Soviet Union

This book was written by and is about the second to last Soviet Foreign Minister, Boris Pankin. While the USSR collapsed in December 1991 he was the Soviet Ambassador to the United Kingdom. One of the most interesting points of the book was when Pankin described how in one minute millions of people lost their country and many found themselves in different countries.

I had never really thought about that before. That a non-Russian working in an All-Union (Soviet) position were now not only unemployed, but also in another country. An example - not from the book - is Edvard Shevardnadze. He is an ethnic Georgian and was the last Soviet Foreign Minister. Overnight in December 1991, Shevardnadze found himself without a job (since there was no more USSR there was no need for a Soviet Foreign Minister)and in a foreign country (he was in Moscow, Russia and not in his native Georgia when the Soviet Union collapsed.)While Shevardnadze did well - he became President of Georgia - many ordinary former Soviets had a more difficult time loosing their country, their jobs and learning that everything they had once been taught and believed to be true was a lie.

I still can not believe that no one predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse in 1991 - especially after seeing how the Communist leadership throughout the Iron Curtain were collapsing. They may not have known exactly when it would happen (the month or year) or whether it would be violent or peaceful, but all the signs from the late 1980s onwards pointed to the Soviet Union collapsing.