Causes that led to the Soviet collapse are considered in this first part of the article. The author shows that the causes of the Soviet collapse have almost nothing to do with socialist ideology which, in its practical implementation, was just a variety of a modernization reform typical for the 20th century. In the author’s opinion, the USSR broke up due to overspecialization in the course of preparations for waging the wars of the industrialization epoch, and to the creation of a bureaucratic state, as well as to overadaptation to the geopolitical situation of the 20th century.