Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev came to this world on March 2, 1931 in the Stravropol Krai province in southern Russia. Born of peasants, he began to be active in the Communist Party and also learned law at the Moscow State Faculty. While in college, he met and also married Raisa Titarenko. The couple had a son, Irina.
Early political life
Gorbachev returned to Stavropol after graduation and also worked as a regional Communist Party official. Gorbachev studied a second degree in agriculture and then began to rise through the ranks of the provincial Communist Party.
Climbing the ranks
Having made a name for himself as a regional modernizer and reformer, in 1978 he was summoned to Moscow and appointed a member of the main committee on agriculture. Under the advice of senior Communist Party officials, Gorbachev was quickly promoted to the executive committee of the Soviet Union, the Politburo.
Becomes Secretary General of the Soviet Union
In the 1980s, the Soviet economic climate needed a radical change. In 1985, after three elderly leaders died in rapid succession, Gorbachev, a protégé of former Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, was appointed Secretary General and top leader of the Soviet Union. At fifty-four he was probably one of the youngest executives and was also seen as the new broom that could clean up the decrepit Soviet system.
Perestroika and Glasnost
Gorbachev based his efforts to revitalize the Soviet Union on two plans: glasnost (which means openness) and also perestroika (which means restructuring). By relaxing the bureaucracy and censorship, Gorbachev wanted to transform the Stalinist Soviet program into a much more contemporary modern democracy. While glasnost was commonly celebrated, his attempts to restructure the Soviet economy mostly failed.
Nuclear summits
Gorbachev saw that huge sums of cash were being invested in the military to match the United States. Desperate to get this money back, Gorbachev fostered a warmer connection with the West. In a series of high-profile summits, Gorbachev met with President Reagan and the two men reached crucial nuclear disarmament agreements. The thawing of relations effectively marked the end of the Cold War.
The rise of nationalism
Inspired by glasnost and comforted by Gorbachev’s refusal to use military power, some Warsaw Pact nations, as well as the Soviet republics, declared their intentions to distance themselves from the communist regime. At the end of his mandate, the Berlin Wall was torn down and great republics such as Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus had declared their independence.
The August coup
In 1991 hard-line reactionaries in the Communist Party, fearing the collapse of the Soviet Union, tried to get rid of Gorbachev. Imprisoned at his dacha vacation home in the Crimea, Gorbachev listened on the air since the army tried to take control of the Russian parliament. Frustrated by the efforts of Russian President Boris Yeltsin and also by the massive protests, the coup failed. Gorbachev returned to Moscow, but quickly realized that the balance between popular support and power had shifted towards Yeltsin.
The conclusion of the Soviet Union
After the failed coup, Yeltsin delivered two coups that ended the Soviet Union. To begin with, as president of the Russian federation, he banned almost all Communist Party activities on Russian soil. Second, together with the presidents of Belarus and Ukraine, they signed a treaty to create a new commonwealth of republics. Without these crucial nations, the Soviet Union would be extinct. Gorbachev recognized the inescapable and resigned.
Retirement
After developing several new parties and failing to gain support, Gorbachev’s political career ended. When he retired, he established the Gorbachev Foundation, a group of experts in charge of exploring Russian political policies.
