Mikhail Gorbachev passes away at 91
Michael Gorbachev was the final leader of the Soviet Union. He initiated changes in the Soviet Union that contributed to the events leading to its disintegration. He experienced an attempted coup in the summer of 1991, then he resigned on December 25, 1991. The Soviet Union officially ended the following day.
From Fox News:
Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.
His decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.
A quarter-century after the collapse, Gorbachev told the Associated Press that he had not considered using widespread force to try to keep the USSR together because he feared chaos in a nuclear country.
“The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war,” he said.
Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and spent his later years collecting accolades and awards from all corners of the world. Yet he was widely despised at home.
Russians blamed him for the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union — a once-fearsome superpower whose territory fractured into 15 separate nations. His former allies deserted him and made him a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.
Fox News has additional details. Thanks to ninja for providing the lead for this story.
Category: International Affairs, Russia
I named a cow after him. She had a mark on her forehead that closely resembled his. We called her Gorby. She was delicious.
“Tear down this wall”. So they did.
Samantha Smith could not be reached for comment.
Being dead will do that. She was more of a protégé of Andropov though. I believe she died before Gorbachev took over.
I was close but no cigar. Being old will do that.
Ronnie probably bought Gorby a drink when they met up again. One thing that both of them had in common was they had hot wives…with some class.
Rnnie wasn’t much of a drinker. I think he sipped a beer on St. Paddys Day once and it was notable.
It was said that one Screwdriver was all Ronald Reagan would have at occasions and it drove the lifelong pols nuts!
First Soviet premier to die of old age and not cirrhosis of the liver and/or emphysema.
Reagan needed to have Gorbachev on the other side of the Iron Curtain or the Cold War might have extended longer, and possibly into the 21st Century. I take nothing away from our President, he made the defeat of the Soviet Union the top priority of his time in office. But without that added boost from the Soviet side, in the form of a man who was not only willing, but ABLE to push reforms, the battle may have been harder, and longer.