Michael Gorbachev was the president of the USSR (now Russia) until 1991, when the USSR became part of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Although Gorbachev was popular in the West and in America, in his own country he was seen as the man who led to the downfall of the USSR. In December 1990 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
General
The man of ,Glasnost and ,Perestroika, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, and the last President of the Soviet Union. Known for its enormous port-wine stain on its bald head. Especially a hero outside his own country, Russia, which has now disappeared from the political scene for many years.
Michael Gorbachev
Michael Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in Privolnoye, a small town near Stavropol, in the north of the Caucasus. At that time the Caucasus Mountains were in the Soviet Union, today they are in Russia. His parents were Sergei Gorbachev and Maria Penteleyevna, both farmers. Sergej was a mechanizer, which means he drove tractors and combines. In addition, he was responsible for the maintenance of agricultural machinery for forty years.
When Michael was almost two years old, a period of famine began in the winter. In 1933, more than one-third of the inhabitants died of hunger. At that time Stalin was in power and his policies also affected the Gorbachev family, but they managed to survive which was a real miracle. Both Sergei and Maria came from a wealthy farming family. In general, wealthy farmers were sent directly to a labor camp.
Michael is one of the few Russians who did not lose any family members during Stalin’s purges and the fighting of the Second World War. After the Second World War ended, Michael studied law at Lomonosov University in Moscow. He also took a ballroom dancing course, where he met Raisa Titarenko. Raisa was born on January 5, 1932, studied at the same university, but in philosophy. Michael and Raisa married in 1952 and had daughter Irina together. Raisa died on September 20, 1999 from leukemia. She has always stood by her husband, but very little is known about her.
Gorbachev and politics
- He became a member of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) in 1952.
- Michael In 1971 he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In the years that followed, he was noticed by party leader Leonid Brezhnev.
- He was appointed secretary of the Central Committee for Agriculture in 1978. Due to poor management, the economy suffered greatly, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) did not improve matters.
- In 1980, Michael became a member of the Politburo.
- On March 11, 1985, the current Secretary General Konstantin Chernenko died. A Politburo meeting is urgently convened, during which Gorbachev is appointed Chernenko’s successor. The voting ratio is 5 to 4, with his top 3 opponents (including Grigiri Romanov) not present.
- Under his leadership, the number of medium-range missiles in the INF agreement is reduced, this was in 1987.
- Gorbachev also withdraws military troops from Afghanistan and starts negotiations with the United States to reduce the weapons arsenal.
Glasnost and Perestroika
He visits Western Europe and the United States and realizes that economic development in his own country lags far behind Europe and America. As soon as he returns he will start taking measures.
First, he sets up a campaign against alcoholism with the aim of boosting work morale. For this he uses his Glasnost, or openness, and his Perestroika, or reorganization.
When Willy Brandt, a German socialist leader, was in Moscow in 1985, he told the press: I have seen a lot in my life, but I have never seen an anti-communist at the top of the Kremlin.
President Gorbachev
From October 1, 1988, Michael held the position of first President of the Soviet Union (USSR). He would retain this position until December 25, 1991. He would prove to be the last president of the Soviet Union, because the USSR ceased to exist. Michael had set himself the goal of reforming communism. When communism began to crumble, Gorbachev lost prestige at home. Only the ratification of the Union Treaty (August 1991) and the internment of the president in Crimea allowed him to remain in office until the end of 1991.
On December 25, 1991, the CIS was founded and Gorbachev was able to resign from office. From that moment on, the term USSR became a thing of the past. The reform policy could not prevent the pursuit of independence of republics.
Gorbachev during his presidency
- On December 5, 1989, a public confession of guilt is issued in Moscow for the invasion of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) during the Prague Spring in 1968.
- In the period between August 18 and 21, 1991, a coup d’état failed due to lack of support for the rebels in the army. During this period, Boris Yeltsin’s political influence became increasingly stronger.
- December 1991: Without Gorbachev, the republics of Russia (Yeltsin), Ukraine (Kraychuk) and Belarus (Skhushkevich) form the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This will be supplemented with 8 other republics within fourteen days. Unfortunately, Michael failed to play a significant role for his own country this year.