Mikhail Gorbachev
-After Brezhnev there were two short term leaders in Russia:
-Yuri Andropov 1982-84 (died)
-Konstantin Chernenko 1984-1985 (temporary replacement)
-Gorbachev took over in 1985
-Began "Developed Socialism" where he wanted to rid USSR of corruption
-Gorbachev was forced to change his ways after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
-Parallel to Lenin and Kronstadt mutiny
-Yuri Andropov 1982-84 (died)
-Konstantin Chernenko 1984-1985 (temporary replacement)
-Gorbachev took over in 1985
-Began "Developed Socialism" where he wanted to rid USSR of corruption
-Gorbachev was forced to change his ways after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
-Parallel to Lenin and Kronstadt mutiny
"We could only solve our problems by cooperating with other countries. It would have been paradoxical not to cooperate. And therefore we needed to put an end to the Iron Curtain, to change the nature of international relations, to rid them of ideological confrontation, and particularly to end the arms race."
-Mikhail Gorbachev
-Mikhail Gorbachev
summary
Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet official, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1985 to 1991 and president of the Soviet Union in 1990–91. His efforts to democratize his country’s political system and decentralize its economy led to the downfall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In part because he ended the Soviet Union’s postwar domination of eastern Europe, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1990