Mikhail Gorbachev

Profession: Soviet General Secretary

Nationality:

Biography: Seventh and last leader of the Soviet Union, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the country's head of state from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991.

His policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War, removed the constitutional role of the Communist Party in governing the state, and inadvertently led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Born: March 2, 1931
Birthplace: Stavropol, Russia

Generation: Silent Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Goat/Sheep
Star Sign: Pisces

Died: August 30, 2022 (aged 91)
Cause of Death: An unspecified long and grave illness.

Articles and Photos

Married Life

1953-09-25 Russian student and future statesman Mikhail Gorbachev (22) weds fellow student Raisa Maximovna (21) at a Komsomol wedding ceremony, until her death

Historical Events

1980-10-21 Mikhail Gorbachev elected member of Politburo
1985-03-11 Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader
1985-10-02 Russian party leader Gorbachev visits Paris (his first trip abroad)
1985-11-16 President Reagan arrives in Geneva for a summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
1985-11-19 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time
1986-10-11 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev open talks at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland
1986-12-16 Revolt in Kazakhstan against Communist party, known as Zheltoksan, which becomes the first sign of ethnic strife during Gorbachev's tenure
1987-06-12 US President Ronald Reagan challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down" the Berlin wall
1987-12-07 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in the US for a summit meeting with Ronald Reagan
1987-12-08 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles
1988-07-29 Gorbachev pushes plan to elect a Soviet president and parliament in March 1989
1988-10-01 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, effectively head of state of the Soviet Union
1988-12-07 Gorbachev announces 10% unilateral Soviet troop reductions at UN
1988-12-07 Mikhail Gorbachev cheered by Wall St crowds upon arrival in NYC
1989-05-13 Approximately 2,000 students begin a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China to force a dialogue with the government ahead of a visit by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
1989-05-15 Soviet President Gorbachev visits Beijing for the 1st Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years
1989-05-16 Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping meet in Beijing and formally end a 30-year rift
1989-05-25 Mikhail Gorbachev elected Executive President in the Soviet Union
1989-12-01 USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican
1989-12-03 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over
1990-01-22 President Mikhail Gorbachev sends Red Troops into the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan
1990-03-14 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Congress
1990-10-15 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev wins the Nobel Peace Prize
1990-11-26 Mikhail Gorbachev tells Iraq to get out of Kuwait
1991-03-19 Gorbachev says the Soviet Union will cut its oil exports by nearly half
1991-06-05 Mikhail Gorbachev receives his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize
1991-08-19 Conservative members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union attempt to depose Mikhail Gorbachev in a coup d'état
1991-08-24 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of USSR Communist Party
1991-12-25 Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigns as President of USSR in a televised speech
2014-11-08 Mikhail Gorbachev warns that tensions between America and Russia over Ukraine have put the world on the brink of a new Cold War