What made the former soviet union collapse back in 1991? Why did boris yeltsin get on top of a tank and read some papers? What made the communist party in the former soviet union lose power like they did? Was it because too many soviet people finally awoke to realize that there might be something else other than the soviet way of life? Can a historian please tell me. Thank you.

Is this homework?

Had nothing to do with socialism as much as structure and design of the political system, and the ability to control, the various nations.

Compare perhaps, to the issues in America, during the civil war.

Think of each US state, if they had the ability to have their own military, and were not as directly tied to grants and funding from Washington.

What made the former soviet union collapse back in 1991?

A lot of things contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union. You could write a paper on this, or even a book if you wanted to, many others have.

Watch video here and read here.

Why did Boris Yeltsin get on top of a tank and read some papers?
>>August 19, 1991<<

What made the communist party in the former soviet union lose power like they did?
>>Communist Party of the Soviet Union<<

Was it because too many soviet people finally awoke to realize that there might be something else other than the soviet way of life?

This may be true on some level, however the political aspects do not say this specifically. You will find more on by looking at the revolts and separation of the satellite states in detail, they will tell you a lot about the way of life for the different factions, however, a lot of things happened prior to this that brought people together and also separated them into different factions.