Why Russia Didn't Recover Like Germany or Japan – Sarah Paine

To me, the most interesting question is not why the Soviet Union ultimately collapsed - it's how a brutal, centrally planned, stupendously inefficient, colonial land empire survived for so long. I was surprised to learn about the central role that oil played in sustaining (and eventually dissolving) the Soviet Union. By the 1950s, the Soviet system was in a crisis. Soviet growth rates had started to slow significantly as compared to the booming West. USSR's heavy‑industry based economy was energy‑starved. The 1953 CIA‑backed coup in Iran blocked Soviet access to Iranian oil.