Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2 1931 in Privolnoye, Stavropol territory in the North Caucasus, to a peasant house in a small village. His father was an agricultural mechanic on a public farm. In 1942 at the age of 11 his district was occupied by the Germans, important to 3 years of hardship while the Second World War. After spending time as an agricultural assistant in 1950 Mikhail Gorbachev enrolled as a law pupil in the University of Moscow. Here at university Mikhail Gorbachev became a full member of the Soviet Union Communist Party (Cpsu). Also at university Mikhail met and married his life partner Raisa

After receiving his degree in law in 1956 Mikhail made rapid expand within the Communist Party. By 1970 Mikhail had come to be the first Secretary for Stavropol territory, governing an area of 2.4 million people. By 1980 he had been made the youngest full member of the Politburo. After the death of Chernenko in 1985 M.Gorbachev was elected normal Secretary of the Communist Party a position of gigantic power.

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Perestroika and Glasnost

During his period in office M.Gorbachev introduced any policies which revolutionised the internal and external affairs of the Soviet Union. Firstly Perestroika "or restructuring" complicated opportunity up the Soviet economy to shop forces. By 1987 hidden rights of company was allowed for the first time since the 1920s. These reforms came partly out of the inefficiencies Gorbachev had seen in State controlled agricultural sectors. Due to the large scale inefficiencies within the Soviet economy the transformation to a shop economy has often been a painful one. However after any years of inflation and falling Gdp the Russian economy has started to stabilise and this course is generally viewed favourably by the Russians.

In internal affairs Gorbachev introduced the notion of Glasnost (openness) this was a confident break with the authoritarian past of the Soviet Union. Glasnost led to greater relaxation of speech, relaxation of worship and a discount in State operate over personel lives. Many 1000s of political prisoners were released while Gorbachev's period in government. Ironically this greater relaxation of speech was used to great supervene later by the many critics of Gorbachev within the Soviet Union.

End Of The Cold War

In the 1980s the Soviet economy was struggling due to the inefficiencies of a planned economy but also the huge sums spent on the arms race. Gorbachev felt the Soviet Union could no longer afford to spend such great sums on troops spending and therefore sought a discount the arms. This led to nuclear missile discount treaties with America and effectively ended the Cold War which had dominated international relations since 1945. Western leaders such as R.Reagan, G.Bush and M.Thatcher spoke warmly of their impressions of this "new style" Russian leader. In 1989 the Soviet Army also retreated from Afghanistan, this had proved a contentious and high-priced war for the Soviets.

Abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine.

In 1988 Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would no longer supervene the Brezhnev doctrine. The Brezhnev philosophy was formulated in 1968 and was used as a justification to vocalize Communist operate over the Warsaw Pact countries. (This was used while the troops termination of the Prague Spring in 1969.) Effectively Gorbachev gave Eastern European countries the right to pursue their own political agenda. This more than any other course had a remarkably quick and requisite effect, drastically changing the European political map. Beginning with Poland, the Eastern European countries experienced generally peaceful democratic revolutions, with Pro Soviet Communist parties being substituted by other democratic parties. Most symbolically in 1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down allowing East and West Germany to reunite. In recognition of Gorbachev's role in bringing an end to the cold war he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1990.

Break up of Soviet Union

Despite praise from face the Soviet Union, Gorbachev had many enemies within the Soviet Union. On the one hand the "Conservatives" were alarmed at what they saw as the break up of the old Soviet Union. They wished to vocalize the troops and political power of the old Soviet Union. On the other hand "modernisers" led by Boris Yeltsin felt there was need for even quicker change in manufacture the transition to a shop economy. In 1991 Gorbachev was placed under house arrest by conservative critics, this was known as the August Coup. After 3 days Gorbachev was released, but on returning to Moscow his power had inexorably shifted away into the hands of Yeltsin. The Soviet Union and Politburo had come to be effectively defunct and Gorbachev resigned as President in 1991.

Post Presidency

Since 1991 Gorbachev has made abortive attempts to return to politics but has never been able to gain requisite beloved support. Since then he had devoted his concentration to projects such as the "Gorbachev Foundation" and the Green Cross International. The Green Cross international is an environmental organisation dedicated to attempting to solve key environmental problems.

Raisa, the wife of Gorbachev died of Leukaemia in 1999. They had one daughter Irina Gorbachev.

Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev

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