Cold War · 1985-1991

1991: the end of the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the Soviet Union with glasnost and perestroika. Instead, the Baltic republics demanded independence, a coup failed in Moscow, and on 25 December 1991 the Soviet flag came down over the Kremlin. Students compare the 1960 and 1994 maps and find fifteen new states.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1994
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the Soviet Union with glasnost and perestroika. Instead, the Baltic republics demanded independence, a coup failed in Moscow, and on 25 December 1991 the Soviet flag came down over the Kremlin. Students compare the 1960 and 1994 maps and find fifteen new states.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what Gorbachev meant by glasnost and perestroika.
  • Describe how the Baltic republics led the way to independence.
  • Compare the maps of 1960 and 1994 and name the fifteen states that replaced the Soviet Union.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1994

One state, fifteen

Open the map in 1960 and look at the USSR. Then move the slider to 1994. Count the new states from the Baltic Sea to Central Asia. Which is the largest?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1994

The Baltic Way

Zoom in on Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. On 23 August 1989 about two million people joined hands in a chain from Tallinn to Vilnius. Trace the line and estimate its length.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1994

Moscow, August 1991

Zoom in on Moscow. In August 1991 hard-liners tried to seize power while Gorbachev was on holiday. Ask the atlas: "What did Boris Yeltsin do during the coup of August 1991?"

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Gorbachev wanted to save the Soviet system by opening it up. Why did openness make it weaker instead?
  2. The nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 was hidden for days. How did it show why glasnost was needed?
  3. The Baltic states had been annexed in 1940. Why were they the first to demand independence?
  4. During the coup Yeltsin climbed on a tank and called for resistance. Why did the coup fail?
  5. Some people call 1991 a liberation, others a catastrophe. Why do people in Russia and in the Baltic states see it so differently?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Peter the Great, who built the Russian Empire. Then compare: in 1991 Gorbachev lost the empire he was trying to reform. Could he have done anything differently?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.