How did the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union? He revised the Soviet constitution to give more independence to the individual republics, which failed to maintain the union.

He led a revolt in the Soviet republic of Georgia that led to its independence, which caused similar movements in other Soviet republics.

He initiated reforms promoting openness and restructuring of the Soviet government, which were detrimental to its power.

He initiated military spending cuts, which resulted in a military coup by the country’s top generals.