There are only two countries wielding knives and forks on the table for the partition of Iraq, China and the United States, and Britain and France, which are powerless, and it is unlikely that they will do much at the political and military levels except to send business groups to fight soy sauce. In fact, there is another country that is majestic and large enough, and it has enough involvement with Iraq, but at this time it cannot be involved at all, because this country is already in a dying throes, and this country is the Soviet Union.

While the multinational forces were busy cleaning up the madmen, in fact, the Soviet Union was not idle at all, and at this time there was an event that is considered to be quite important in the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Vilnius incident.

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, one of the most hostile countries among the Soviet republics. Lithuania was ruled by several neighboring powers, such as Russia, Poland, and Germany, for a long time, and became independent briefly after World War I, but it was controlled by the Bolsheviks, established Soviet power, and then became part of the Soviet Union.

Historically, the Soviet Union has carried out many targeted purges and repressions against Lithuania, causing a large number of population losses, and it is no wonder that Lithuania, even though it is a republic of the Soviet Union, is resentful of the Soviet Union.

Before the outbreak of the Gulf War, in the spring of 1990, Lithuania was actually eager to declare independence, and although the Soviet Union certainly disagreed, it did not take measures so quickly, and it was not until the spring of 1991, almost a full year later, that the Soviet Union began to act.

In fact, the Soviet Union cannot be blamed for its sluggishness, because the Soviet Union does not care about the small role of Lithuania at all, and they have an even bigger problem, that is, the split in the party.

In order to emulate the Western political system, he was determined not only to open up the ban on newspapers, but also to change the system of collective responsibility to the system of individual heads of state. Gorbachev was elected the first president of the Soviet Union by 1,834 votes (out of 2,486 votes), and in May 1990, Gorbachev was sworn in as president of the Soviet Union for a five-year term. It's just that just when Gorbachev was trying to accomplish his great task of perestroika in a new capacity, he was challenged like never before.

In the course of the reforms of the Soviet system, the importance of the Russian Federation began to rise sharply, and the authority of the Central Committee was being weakened. Thus, the contest for the chairmanship of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation became a very important matter. However, at this time, the CPSU was already seriously divided, and because Gorbachev opened a crack, all kinds of chaotic people began to huddle together in a righteous and bright way, and formed a political force to counter the core rule of the CPSU.

At this time, the CPSU had formed three forces: the "mainstream" (centrist) represented by Gorbachev, the "radical" represented by Yeltsin, and the "traditionalism". The radicals, led by Yeltsin, naturally wanted to abolish the Soviet Union and re-exist in the form of a capitalist state in the face of Russia; The traditionalists criticized Yeltsin's rightism and were seriously dissatisfied with Gorbachev's perestroika, believing that they deviated from Marxism-Leninism and socialism. On the contrary, Gorbachev stood in the middle and did not please the two, and both sides wanted to kick him out.

On May 16, 1990, the First Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation opened, and out of 1,060 deputies, the "democratic Russia" that supported Yeltsin held less than a third of the seats. On the contrary, the mainstream faction of the CPSU has a strong advantage, and the "Russian CP" alone occupies 355 seats. An even greater advantage is that 75% of the first secretaries of the regional committees of the CPSU and the chairmen of the regional soviets of the Russian Federation are "elected" as people's deputies, so that the mainstream voice is actually very strong in the congress of deputies.

However, an election that seemed to be a sure win had problems in the selection of candidates because of Goe's unsurprisingly crude political manoeuvres and methods, and the candidates put forward by the mainstream could not compete with Yeltsin in terms of prestige. In this way, Yeltsin received 503 votes in the first round of voting, more than 40 votes more than his opponent. Neither side had to proceed to a second round of voting, as they did not receive a majority of the votes.

Because Gorbachev held the post of president of the Soviet Union, it was no longer possible to condescend to serve as chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, and below Gorbachev could not put forward a talent worthy of great use against Yeltsin, who was in the limelight. In order to prevent Yeltsin from being elected, Gorbachev, who was worried about the situation and had no resourcefulness and strategy, actually came to the election site in person as the president of the Soviet Union and gave a briefing, which caused dissatisfaction among the deputies. In particular, many of the delegates are not really with him, although they are CP people, they are no longer enthusiastic about CP.

It can be seen that the lack of political belief is actually a rather terrible thing. Just as a person without moral integrity will act without scruples, if a person does not have political beliefs, he will do things without scruples, and the consequences will be greater, because the direct recipient of politics is the general public.

During the election campaign, Yeltsin published his election platform, and his central idea was: Russia should have its own national bank and army; On Russian soil, Russian decisions, laws take precedence over the decisions and laws of the whole Union; Natural resources such as land and mining are owned by the Republic and not by the Union; will "spare no health and time in order to get us out of the state of crisis and lead Russia to a better era". During this period, many members of the CPSU believed that it was the Soviet line that had gone wrong and that they needed to choose a better one. And some people even think that Russia is very strong and healthy, and that it is those troublesome republics that have brought too much trouble to the Soviet Union, and that the Soviet Union can continue to be healthy and enjoy high benefits that should not have been enjoyed in the first place.

Yeltsin's quest for sovereign independence was previously unthinkable, but this act of separating the country and subverting the party's regime is allowed today because of Gorbachev. The "beautiful picture" he painted made some people who were dissatisfied with the current situation yearn for it, even if they were still CP people, but they were inclined to Yeltsin to make changes. At this time, Yeltsin was also a member of the CPSU, and they only thought that Yeltsin, who was full of energy and courage, wanted to take a different socialist road like China, but they did not imagine that Yeltsin would one day choose to deviate from the CPSU and the socialist road.

In fact, there is always a thin line between a reformer and a traitor, and sometimes it is even the same thing.

Of course, Gorbachev, who has always been only a troublemaker, did not miss this opportunity, and he jumped out at this time and directly accused Yeltsin of not mentioning "socialism" once in his entire speech, and did not add such a definite word as "Soviet" when addressing the republic, criticizing him for "negating the principles of Leninism" and advocating "separatism." This is actually the disintegration of the alliance and the attempt to bring down the Soviet Union.

In fact, what he said was not wrong, Yeltsin just didn't want the Soviet Union anymore, and he didn't want to continue to take the road of socialism. But Gorbachev's angry accusations and condescending attitude made many CP party members very dissatisfied. He even summoned members of the CP Party of the Russian Federation and instructed them to vote against Yeltsin. This has prompted some people to develop a rebellious mentality, and these days the Soviet press has attacked Gorbachev with unscrupulous words and deeds, whether it is fake or true, and in the minds of many people, Gorbachev's image is far less positive than Yeltsin's.

On May 29, Yeltsin narrowly won by 533 votes and was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation. It was also the first time in the history of the CPSU that a minority opposition in the party prevailed over a majority of the official mainstream. After being dismissed from the post of first secretary of the Moscow city party committee in 1987, Yeltsin returned to the center of power. As the chairman of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin gained greater political power, was able to pass bills and decrees, and he could even directly resist Gorbachev's governing platform. The power of the central power has been seriously weakened, because one Russia is equal to more than 80 percent or even 90 percent of the power of the Soviet Union, and now this power belongs to a guy who is bent on turning his back on the Soviet Union. Gorbachev and other traditional forces within the party could no longer stop Yeltsin's plan to subvert the Soviet Union.

In July, the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held, and the political forces of the three parties were once again dead. At the meeting, Yeltsin put forward the theory of radical reform: changing the name of the CPSU to the "Democratic Socialist Party", dissolving the army and party organizations in state institutions, confiscating the property of the CPSU, and so on.

On the other hand, Ligachev, the number two man of the CPSU and a representative of the "conservatives", fired at private property and the market economy, and insisted on defending Marxism-Leninism. Ligachev also insinuated against Yeltsin and other radicals, stressing that "there is a strong force in the country against the socialist system and against the CP."

Gorbachev still did not recognize the problem, but wanted to continue to curry favor with both sides, and in the end he could only displease both sides.

Finally, after Gorbachev was re-elected general secretary, on July 12, when the congress announced that Yeltsin had been nominated as a candidate for the new Central Committee, Yeltsin walked to the rostrum with a blank face and read a statement with his delegate card aloft: "In view of the fact that I have been elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, I must act in accordance with the will of the people, taking into account the country's transition to a multiparty system." In light of this, I announce my withdrawal from CP. ”

At this moment, Gorbachev's efforts to unite the three factions in the party failed completely, and Yeltsin's withdrawal also led to a large-scale withdrawal from the party throughout the country. By the time the CPSU Central Committee convened in July 1991, the number of party members had fallen by 4.2 million, accounting for more than one-fifth of the total number of party members.

Even Yeltsin ignored the separatist forces in those regions, believing that they were allies in his own overthrow of the Soviet Union, and that they had formed a political force capable of competing with the Soviet Central Committee with the radicals of the three Baltic states, Leningrad, and other large cities. In this case, the future of the Soviet Union is a mystery, but anyone with a discerning eye can see the outcome.