135 Facts About Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991.

Mikhail Gorbachev served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 and additionally as head of state beginning in 1988, as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990 and the president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born in Privolnoye, North Caucasus Krai, to a poor peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian heritage.

Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee in 1970, overseeing the construction of the Great Stavropol Canal.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on 2 March 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, then in the North Caucasus Krai of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev's parents named him Viktor at birth, but at his mother's insistence he had a secret baptism, where his grandfather christened him Mikhail.

Mikhail Gorbachev's father fought on the frontlines; he was wrongly declared dead during the conflict and fought in the Battle of Kursk before returning to his family, injured.

Mikhail Gorbachev did not want to return but excelled academically when he did.

In June 1950, Mikhail Gorbachev became a candidate member of the Communist Party.

Mikhail Gorbachev applied to study at the law school of Moscow State University, then the most prestigious university in the country.

In Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev resided with fellow MSU students at a dormitory in the Sokolniki District.

Mikhail Gorbachev felt at odds with his urban counterparts, but soon came to fit in.

Mikhail Gorbachev gained a reputation as a mediator during disputes and was outspoken in class, but was private about his views; for instance, he confided in some students his opposition to the Soviet jurisprudential norm that a confession proved guilt, noting that confessions could have been forced.

At MSU, Mikhail Gorbachev became the Komsomol head of his entering class, and then Komsomol's deputy secretary for agitation and propaganda at the law school.

One of his first Komsomol assignments in Moscow was to monitor the election polling in Presnensky District to ensure near-total turnout; Mikhail Gorbachev found that most people voted "out of fear".

Mikhail Gorbachev was tasked with monitoring fellow students for subversion; some of his fellow students said he did so only minimally and that they trusted him to keep confidential information secret from the authorities.

Mikhail Gorbachev became close friends with Zdenek Mlynar, a Czechoslovak student who later became a primary ideologist of the 1968 Prague Spring.

At MSU, Mikhail Gorbachev met Raisa Titarenko, who was studying in the university's philosophy department.

Mikhail Gorbachev was engaged to another man, but after that engagement fell apart, she began a relationship with Gorbachev; together they went to bookstores, museums, and art exhibits.

In June 1955, Mikhail Gorbachev graduated with a distinction; his final paper had been on the advantages of "socialist democracy" over "bourgeois democracy".

Mikhail Gorbachev was assigned to the Soviet Procurator's office, which was focusing on the rehabilitation of the innocent victims of Stalin's purges, but found that they had no work for him.

Mikhail Gorbachev was then offered a place on an MSU graduate course specializing in kolkhoz law, but declined.

Mikhail Gorbachev had wanted to remain in Moscow, where Raisa was enrolled in a PhD program, but instead gained employment in Stavropol; Raisa abandoned her studies to join him there.

In 1961, Mikhail Gorbachev pursued a second degree, in agricultural production; he took a correspondence course from the local Stavropol Agricultural Institute, receiving his diploma in 1967.

Mikhail Gorbachev's wife had pursued a second degree, attaining a PhD in sociology in 1967 from the Moscow State Pedagogical University; while in Stavropol she joined the Communist Party.

Later biographer William Taubman suggested that Mikhail Gorbachev "embodied" the "reformist spirit" of the Khrushchev era.

Mikhail Gorbachev was among those who saw themselves as "genuine Marxists" or "genuine Leninists".

Mikhail Gorbachev helped spread Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist message in Stavropol, but encountered many who saw Stalin as a hero and praised his purges as just.

Mikhail Gorbachev rose steadily through the ranks of the local administration.

Mikhail Gorbachev was given better accommodation: a two-room flat with its own private kitchen, toilet, and bathroom.

In March 1961, Mikhail Gorbachev became First Secretary of the regional Komsomol, in which position he went out of his way to appoint women as city and district leaders.

In 1961, Mikhail Gorbachev played host to the Italian delegation for the World Youth Festival in Moscow; that October, he attended the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In January 1963, Mikhail Gorbachev was promoted to personnel chief for the regional party's agricultural committee, and in September 1966 became First Secretary of the Stavropol City Party Organization.

That year, the Soviet authorities ordered him to punish Fagim B Sadygov, a philosophy professor of the Stavropol agricultural institute whose ideas were regarded as critical of Soviet agricultural policy; Gorbachev ensured that Sadykov was fired from teaching but ignored calls for him to face tougher punishment.

Mikhail Gorbachev later related that he was "deeply affected" by the incident; "my conscience tormented me" for overseeing Sadykov's persecution.

Mikhail Gorbachev had been vetted for the position by senior Kremlin leaders and was informed of their decision by the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev.

Mikhail Gorbachev began reading translations of restricted texts by Western Marxist authors such as Antonio Gramsci, Louis Aragon, Roger Garaudy, and Giuseppe Boffa, and came under their influence.

Mikhail Gorbachev oversaw the expansion of irrigation systems through construction of the Great Stavropol Canal.

Mikhail Gorbachev sought to maintain Brezhnev's trust; as regional leader, he repeatedly praised Brezhnev in his speeches, for instance referring to him as "the outstanding statesman of our time".

In September 1971 he was part of a delegation to Italy, where they met with representatives of the Italian Communist Party; Mikhail Gorbachev loved Italian culture but was struck by the poverty and inequality he saw there.

Mikhail Gorbachev was surprised by how openly West Europeans offered their opinions and criticized their political leaders, something absent from the Soviet Union, where most people did not feel safe speaking so openly.

Mikhail Gorbachev later related that for him and his wife, these visits "shook our a priori belief in the superiority of socialist over bourgeois democracy".

Mikhail Gorbachev had remained close to his parents; after his father became terminally ill in 1974, Mikhail Gorbachev traveled to be with him in Privolnoe shortly before his death.

In November 1978, Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed a Secretary of the Central Committee.

Mikhail Gorbachev's appointment was approved unanimously by the Central Committee's members.

Mikhail Gorbachev was given an apartment inside the city, but gave that to his daughter and son-in-law; Irina had begun work at Moscow's Second Medical Institute.

In 1978, Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed to the Central Committee's Secretariat for Agriculture, replacing his old patron Kulakov, who had died of a heart attack.

Mikhail Gorbachev concentrated his attentions on agriculture: the harvests of 1979,1980, and 1981 were all poor, due largely to weather conditions, and the country had to import increasing quantities of grain.

Mikhail Gorbachev had growing concerns about the country's agricultural management system, coming to regard it as overly centralized and requiring more bottom-up decision making; he raised these points at his first speech at a Central Committee Plenum, given in July 1978.

Mikhail Gorbachev began to have concerns about other policies too.

In December 1979, the Soviets sent the armed forces into neighbouring Afghanistan to support its Soviet-aligned government against Islamist insurgents; Mikhail Gorbachev privately thought it a mistake.

However, although Mikhail Gorbachev hoped that Andropov would introduce liberalizing reforms, the latter carried out only personnel shifts rather than structural change.

Mikhail Gorbachev became Andropov's closest ally in the Politburo; with Andropov's encouragement, Mikhail Gorbachev sometimes chaired Politburo meetings.

Andropov encouraged Mikhail Gorbachev to expand into policy areas other than agriculture, preparing him for future higher office.

In May 1983, Mikhail Gorbachev was sent to Canada, where he met Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and spoke to the Canadian Parliament.

Many in the Central Committee nevertheless thought the 53-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev was too young and inexperienced.

Chernenko was often too sick to chair Politburo meetings, with Mikhail Gorbachev stepping in last minute.

Mikhail Gorbachev continued to cultivate allies both in the Kremlin and beyond, and gave the main speech at a conference on Soviet ideology, where he angered party hardliners by implying that the country required reform.

On 11 March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected the eighth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union by the Politburo of the CPSU after the death of Konstantin Chernenko.

Mikhail Gorbachev proposed a three-stage programme for abolishing the world's nuclear weapons by the end of the 20th century.

Mikhail Gorbachev was too preoccupied with domestic problems to pay much attention to these events.

Mikhail Gorbachev believed that democratic elections would not lead Eastern European countries into abandoning their commitment to socialism.

Mikhail Gorbachev wanted a gradual process of German integration but Kohl began calling for rapid reunification.

Mikhail Gorbachev was aware that the Central Committee could still oust him as general secretary, and so decided to reformulate the role of head of government to a presidency from which he could not be removed.

Mikhail Gorbachev decided that the presidential election should be held by the Congress of People's Deputies.

Mikhail Gorbachev chose this over a public vote because he thought the latter would escalate tensions and feared that he might lose it; a spring 1990 poll nevertheless still showed him as the most popular politician in the country.

Mikhail Gorbachev secured 1,329 in favor to 495 against; 313 votes were invalid or absent.

Mikhail Gorbachev therefore became the first executive President of the Soviet Union.

Yeltsin was elected the parliament's chair, something Mikhail Gorbachev was unhappy about.

Amid a growth in Russian nationalist sentiment, Mikhail Gorbachev had reluctantly allowed the formation of a Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic as a branch of the larger Soviet Communist Party.

In January 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev privately agreed to permit East German reunification with West Germany, but rejected the idea that a unified Germany could retain West Germany's NATO membership.

Scholars are puzzled why Mikhail Gorbachev never pursued a written pledge.

Mikhail Gorbachev stated that he was only made such a promise regarding East Germany and that it was kept.

Domestically, Mikhail Gorbachev's critics accused him of betraying the national interest; more broadly, they were angry that Mikhail Gorbachev had allowed the Eastern Bloc to move away from direct Soviet influence.

Mikhail Gorbachev later called it a "watershed" in world politics, "the first time the superpowers acted together in a regional crisis".

However, when the US announced plans for a ground invasion, Mikhail Gorbachev opposed it, urging instead a peaceful solution.

In October 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; he was flattered but acknowledged "mixed feelings" about the accolade.

At the 28th Communist Party Congress in July 1990, hardliners criticized the reformists, but Mikhail Gorbachev was re-elected party leader.

Amid growing dissent in the Baltics, in January 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev demanded that the Lithuanian Supreme Council rescind its pro-independence reforms.

The coup leaders demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev declare a state of emergency, but he refused.

Mikhail Gorbachev was kept under house arrest in the dacha.

The coup plotters publicly announced that Mikhail Gorbachev was ill and thus Vice President Yanayev would take charge of the country.

Mikhail Gorbachev only learned of this development when Shushkevich phoned him; Mikhail Gorbachev was furious.

Mikhail Gorbachev desperately looked for an opportunity to preserve the Soviet Union, hoping that the media and intelligentsia would rally against its dissolution.

Yakovlev, Chernyaev and Shevardnadze joined Mikhail Gorbachev to help him write a resignation speech.

Mikhail Gorbachev gave his speech in the Kremlin in front of television cameras, for international broadcast.

Mikhail Gorbachev was the third out of eight Soviet leaders, after Malenkov and Khrushchev, not to die in office.

Mikhail Gorbachev focused on establishing his foundation, launched in March 1992; Yakovlev and Revenko were its first vice presidents.

Mikhail Gorbachev further visited Israel and Germany, where he was received warmly for his role in facilitating German reunification.

Mikhail Gorbachev began writing a monthly syndicated column for The New York Times.

In 1993, Mikhail Gorbachev launched Green Cross International, which focused on encouraging sustainable futures, and then the World Political Forum.

In 1997, she founded a sub-division of the Mikhail Gorbachev Foundation known as Raisa Maksimovna's Club to improve women's welfare in Russia.

In 1999, Mikhail Gorbachev visited Australia, giving a speech to the country's parliament.

The Russian presidential elections were scheduled for June 1996, and although he was urged not to run, Mikhail Gorbachev decided to do so.

Mikhail Gorbachev never expected to win outright, but thought a centrist bloc could be formed around either himself or one of the other candidates with similar views, such as Grigory Yavlinsky, Svyatoslav Fyodorov, or Alexander Lebed.

Mikhail Gorbachev repeatedly faced anti-Gorbachev protesters, while some pro-Yeltsin local officials tried to hamper his campaign by banning local media from covering it or by refusing him access to venues.

Mikhail Gorbachev initially welcomed Putin's rise, seeing him as an anti-Yeltsin figure.

At Putin's request, Mikhail Gorbachev became co-chair of the "Petersburg Dialogue" project between high-ranking Russians and Germans.

In 2000, Mikhail Gorbachev helped form the Russian United Social Democratic Party.

In 2003, Mikhail Gorbachev's party merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Social Democratic Party of Russia, but it failed to gain traction with voters.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as party leader in May 2004 after the 2003 election campaign.

Later that year, Mikhail Gorbachev founded a new movement, the Union of Social Democrats, stating that it would not contest the forthcoming elections.

Mikhail Gorbachev was critical of US hostility to Putin, arguing that the US government "doesn't want Russia to rise" again as a global power, but wanted to be "the sole superpower".

Mikhail Gorbachev was critical of US policy following the Cold War, arguing that the West had attempted to "turn [Russia] into some kind of backwater".

Mikhail Gorbachev rejected Bush's claim that the US had "won" the Cold War, arguing that both sides had cooperated to end the conflict.

Mikhail Gorbachev was critical of how the US had broken its word and expanded NATO right up to Russia's borders.

Mikhail Gorbachev spoke out against the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia because it lacked UN backing, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the US.

Mikhail Gorbachev opposed Putin's decision to run for president in the 2012 election.

Mikhail Gorbachev spoke out against the sanctions placed on Russia as a result of the annexation.

At a 2014 event marking 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mikhail Gorbachev warned that the ongoing war in Donbas had brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War, and he accused the US of adopting an attitude of "triumphalism" towards Russia.

However, the changes that Mikhail Gorbachev proposed fitted completely within Marxist-Leninist ideology.

Mikhail Gorbachev however remained a believer in socialism, if not in the actual Soviet system.

Mikhail Gorbachev spoke in a southern Russian accent, and sang both folk and pop songs.

Mikhail Gorbachev was protective of his private life and cherished his wife and family.

Mikhail Gorbachev sent his daughter, his only child, to a local school in Stavropol rather than to one for the children of party elites.

Mikhail Gorbachev was baptized Russian Orthodox; his grandparents had been practicing Christians.

Mikhail Gorbachev considered himself an intellectual; Doder and Branson thought that "his intellectualism was slightly self-conscious", noting that unlike most Russian intelligentsia, Mikhail Gorbachev was not closely connected "to the world of science, culture, the arts, or education".

Mikhail Gorbachev enjoyed going for walks, having a love of natural environments, and was a fan of association football.

Mikhail Gorbachev favored small gatherings where the assembled discussed topics like art and philosophy rather than the large, alcohol-fueled parties common among Soviet officials.

Mikhail Gorbachev died at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow on 30 August 2022, at the age of 91.

Mikhail Gorbachev had suffered from severe diabetes and underwent several surgeries and hospital stays.

Mikhail Gorbachev was hospitalized in the Central Clinical Hospital on 9 October 2014.

Mikhail Gorbachev's funeral was held on 3 September 2022 in the Column Hall of the House of Unions.

Mikhail Gorbachev was buried at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, in the same grave as his wife Raisa, as requested by his will.

The Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that Lithuanians would not glorify Mikhail Gorbachev or forget about the 1991 January Events.

Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded in destroying what was left of totalitarianism in the Soviet Union; he brought freedom of speech, of assembly, and of conscience to people who had never known it, except perhaps for a few chaotic months in 1917.

McCauley noted that in facilitating the merger of East and West Germany, Mikhail Gorbachev was "a co-father of German unification", assuring him long-term popularity among the German people.

Mikhail Gorbachev attracted the admiration of some colleagues, but others came to hate him.

The leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, stated that Mikhail Gorbachev was a leader whose rule brought "absolute sadness, misfortune and problems" for "all the peoples of our country".

In little more than six tumultuous years, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev lifted the Iron Curtain, decisively altering the political climate of the world.

In 2002, Mikhail Gorbachev received the Freedom of the City of Dublin from Dublin City Council.

In 2002, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Charles V Prize by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation.

In 2005, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Point Alpha Prize for his role in supporting German reunification.

Mikhail Gorbachev was portrayed by David Dencik in the 2019 miniseries Chernobyl, by Matthew Marsh in the 2023 film Tetris and by Aleksander Krupa in the 2024 biographical drama Reagan.

Mikhail Gorbachev appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War during a mission where the playable character infiltrates the KGB headquarter.