Mikhail gorbachev

Mridula Ghosh BACK IN MAY-JUNE 1989, when tanks rolled out on Tiananmen Square to crush the movement of the Chinese youth for political reforms, their hopes for change were high, in view of the normalisation of relations with the Soviet Union during Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit after a freeze of 30 years. But what happened ultimately was quite the opposite. “Let us close the past and open a new future,” Chinese supremo Deng Xiaoping told Gorbachev. The latter agreed, notwithstanding the mounting tension on Tiananmen and in several other cities. Future was opened for the rulers of China and the Soviet Union and later, Russia, without breaking ground for the people. That same year, Europe witnessed groundbreaking changes. In the former republics of the Soviet Union and in east Europe, the spirit of citizens’ resilience exposed the futility of totalitarian systems as unsustainable forms of governance, leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and also a sea change across eastern Europe. Many leaders could not fathom the depth of the changes. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and French president Francois Mitterrand were wary of the rise of a unified, strong Germany, a fear that loomed large in Europe after World War II. They tried to convince Gorbachev to react politically against the fall of the Wall. Gorbachev had neither the intent nor the capacity to act against the wave of change, hammering the last nail in the coffin of the Brezhnev doctrine, which legitimised interven...

Share this • Share on Facebook: Mikhail Gorbachev – Facts Share this content on Facebook Facebook • Tweet: Mikhail Gorbachev – Facts Share this content on Twitter Twitter • Share on LinkedIn: Mikhail Gorbachev – Facts Share this content on LinkedIn LinkedIn • Share via Email: Mikhail Gorbachev – Facts Share this content via Email Email this page Mikhail Gorbachev Facts Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev The Nobel Peace Prize 1990 Born: 2 March 1931, Privolnoye, USSR (now Russia) Died: 30 August 2022, Moscow, Russia Residence at the time of the award: USSR (now Russia) Role: President of USSR Prize motivation: “for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations” Prize share: 1/1 He Brought the Cold War to a Peaceful End In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, and the Cold War between East and West was brought to a halt. In 1990, the Nobel Committee gave President Gorbachev the main credit for this by awarding him the Peace Prize. Gorbachev grew up under Stalin's regime, and experienced German occupation in World War II. After the war, he studied law in Moscow and pursued a career in the Communist Party. Journeys abroad gradually made him critical of the inefficient Soviet system, which came under further strain when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. In 1985 Gorbachev was elected the new leader of the Soviet Union. He sought to reform communism, and introduced the concepts “glasnost” (openness) and “perestroika” (change). Society was liberalized, and G...

Gorbachev, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1990, had died after a “difficult and protracted illness”, Russian news agencies cited hospital officials as saying on Tuesday. Recent reports suggested he was suffering from a kidney ailment. Gorbachev was the the first and last president of the Soviet Union. He became the general secretary of the Communist party in 1985, aged just 53, a post he held until the party was itself dissolved in 1991, with the Soviet Union vanishing soon afterwards. His decision not to use force to prevent the toppling of the Berlin Wall, he later claimed, may have averted a third world war. 02:01 World leaders pay tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev – video Joe Biden said he was a man of “remarkable vision”, and that he was held in high esteem for leading his country on the path to reform. “These were the acts of a rare leader – one with the imagination to see that a different future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it,” the US president said in a statement. “The result was a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people.” António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, described Gorbachev as a “towering leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace”. A spokesman to Putin, with whom Gorbachev said he had a strained relationship, said that the Kremlin leader expressed his “deep condolences” on his death and would send a telegram to his family in the morning. Gorbachev will be buried in...

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