How far Gorbachev and Yeltsin can be seen as responsible for the collapse…

There is no single cause of the collapse of the USSR between 1985 and 1991. The question asks how far two leaders, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, can be held responsible, and how far they were responding to pressures beyond their control. Before you go on, pause and decide what responsibility might mean here: causing collapse, accelerating it, or failing to prevent it. Gorbachev's reforms were intended to revive the system, not dismantle it. Glasnost loosened censorship, while perestroika restructured the economy. Both unintentionally weakened party control and central authority. His refusal to use large-scale force in the Baltic states and elsewhere further eroded Moscow's authority, as nationalist movements pressed for independence. Yeltsin's agency worked differently. As Russian president he used his position to challenge the Union itself. The failed August 1991 coup discredited the old order, and Yeltsin's resistance made him the dominant figure. He then promoted the Belovezha Accords, which dissolved the USSR in December 1991. Notice the sequence: the coup and the dissolution are separate events. But collapse was not only a matter of personalities. Economic decline, nationalist demands across the republics, and the Soviet system's own contradictions all pressed on both leaders. These forces set limits on what either could do. That is why a judgement must weigh agency against structure rather than simply choose one. Here is how a comparative judgement works. Take Gorbachev: he weakened the USSR through reform and restraint, but he did not intend its dissolution. Take Yeltsin: he actively pushed the Union towards its end in 1991. Which is the stronger claim about the final collapse? Pause and consider, then compare: responsibility for weakening the Union is not the same as responsibility for ending it. Three errors to avoid. First, blaming Gorbachev alone, which ignores Yeltsin and structural pressure. Second, confusing the August 1991 coup with the December 1991 dissolution: the coup discredited the old order, while the accords ended the Union. Third, treating responsibility as a simple yes or no, when it is a matter of degree, and of intention versus consequence. To sum up: Gorbachev's reforms and his restraint undermined communist authority; Yeltsin's challenge after the August coup and the Belovezha Accords ended the Union; economic decline, nationalism and institutional weakness shaped both. A strong answer weighs each and reaches a supported judgement on how far the two leaders were responsible.