The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ending over 70 years of communist rule. Several factors contributed to its demise, including economic troubles and nationalistic separatist movements within the USSR. The Soviet command economy was inefficient and unable to keep up with Western nations. Gorbachev's reforms of glasnost and perestroika failed to revive the stagnating Soviet system. Ethnic tensions also increased as non-Russian republics sought independence. By the late 1980s, the Soviet Union was struggling under its military commitments, a debt crisis, and drop in oil prices which hurt its economy. This weakened the Soviet government and led to the declarations of