Gorbachev

Gorbachev
Name	Mikhail Gorbachev
Caption	Gorbachev in 1987
Office	President of the Soviet Union
Term start	15 March 1990
Term end	25 December 1991
Predecessor	Office established
Successor	Office abolished
Office1	General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Term start1	11 March 1985
Term end1	24 August 1991
Predecessor1	Konstantin Chernenko
Successor1	Vladimir Ivashko (acting)
Birth name	Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Birth date	2 March 1931
Birth place	Privolnoye, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Death date	30 August 2022 (aged 91)
Death place	Moscow, Russia
Party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1952–1991)
Spouse	Raisa Gorbacheva (m. 1953; died 1999)
Children	Irina Virganskaya
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize (1990)

Gorbachev was the final leader of the Soviet Union, serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991 and as the country's first and only President of the Soviet Union from 1990 until its dissolution. His policies of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) aimed to reform the Communist Party and the stagnant Soviet economy, but inadvertently unleashed forces that led to the Revolutions of 1989, the end of the Cold War, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in reducing international tensions, he remains a profoundly consequential and controversial figure in modern history.

Early life and career

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born in the village of Privolnoye in the Stavropol region of the Russian SFSR. His family endured the Great Purge and the famine of 1932–33, with both grandfathers being arrested during the NKVD's campaigns. He began working on a collective farm at a young age and later drove a combine harvester, earning the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1948. He moved to Moscow in 1950 to study law at Moscow State University, where he joined the Communist Party in 1952 and met his future wife, Raisa Titarenko. After graduation, he returned to Stavropol, rising rapidly through the Komsomol and party ranks, aided by patrons like Mikhail Suslov and Yuri Andropov. By 1970, he was the First Secretary of the Stavropol regional party committee, and in 1971, he became a full member of the Central Committee.

General Secretary of the Communist Party

Following the deaths of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko in quick succession, the Politburo selected Gorbachev as General Secretary in March 1985. He immediately signaled a break from the Brezhnev era, launching a major anti-alcohol campaign and initiating a sweeping personnel change known as Uskoreniye (acceleration). He replaced aging conservatives like Nikolai Tikhonov and Viktor Grishin with younger, reform-minded allies such as Nikolai Ryzhkov, Eduard Shevardnadze, and Alexander Yakovlev. His early economic policies, however, failed to reverse the systemic stagnation, leading him toward more radical institutional reforms.

Perestroika and glasnost

The twin pillars of Gorbachev's domestic reform agenda were perestroika and glasnost. Perestroika sought to decentralize the command economy, introduce limited market mechanisms through laws like the Law on State Enterprise, and allow for the creation of Cooperatives. Glasnost aimed to reduce political censorship, encourage public debate, and acknowledge historical crimes like the Great Purge and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. These policies led to the first semi-free elections in 1989 for the Congress of People's Deputies, which televised dramatic sessions featuring critics like Andrei Sakharov and Boris Yeltsin. However, perestroika also caused severe economic dislocation and shortages, while glasnost empowered nationalist movements in the Baltic states, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe.

Foreign policy and end of the Cold War

Gorbachev fundamentally transformed Soviet foreign policy, abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine in favor of "new thinking." He cultivated a pivotal relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, resulting in landmark arms control treaties at summits in Geneva, Reykjavík, Washington, and Moscow. He ordered the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan by 1989 and refused to militarily intervene as satellite states overthrew their communist governments during the Revolutions of 1989, including the fall of the Berlin Wall. His acceptance of a reunified Germany within NATO and his cooperation during the Gulf War marked a definitive end to the Cold War and the Iron Curtain.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union and resignation

The forces unleashed by reform led to a crisis of sovereignty. The Baltic states declared independence, followed by other Soviet republics. A March 1991 referendum showed public desire to preserve a renewed union, leading to the New Union Treaty negotiations. Opposed by hardliners, the treaty prompted the August Coup by the GKChP, which backfired by strengthening Boris Yeltsin and weakening the Central Committee. In the coup's aftermath, Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary, and the Communist Party was suspended. The Belovezh Accords in December, signed by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, declared the Soviet Union dissolved. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union, transferring control of the Soviet nuclear arsenal to Boris Yeltsin.

Post-presidency and legacy

After leaving office, Gorbachev founded the Gorbachev Foundation, a think tank, and remained active in Russian and global politics. He criticized Boris Yeltsin's economic "shock therapy" and the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, and later became a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin, denouncing the erosion of democratic freedoms and Russia's actions in Chechnya and Georgia. Internationally, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and worked with organizations like the Green Cross International. His legacy is deeply contested; in the West, he is often hailed as a transformative statesman who peacefully ended the Cold War, while in Russia and other former Soviet republics, he is frequently blamed for the economic collapse, loss of superpower status, and the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Category:1990 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Category:General Secretaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Category:Presidents of the Soviet Union