
For Want of a Nail — The Small Republic that Shattered an Empire
‘Without the Balts, there was no real argument for denying other republics the right to exit. Without Ukraine, there was no basis for a Slavic-majority Soviet Union. After a couple of rounds of confused negotiations Moscow simply retreated, and left its imperial project for the time being. The Soviet Union dissolved on 25 December 1991, leaving behind only the Commonwealth of Independent States…’