Was Mikhail Gorbachev responsible for the disintegration of the Soviet Union?

When Brezhnev died in 1982, most elite groups understood that the Soviet economy was in trouble. Due to senility, Brezhnev had not been in effective control of the country during his last few years, and Kosygin had died in 1980.

Why was Gorbachev’s new thinking important?

New political thinking (or simply new thinking) was the doctrine put forth by Mikhail Gorbachev as part of his reforms of the Soviet Union. The “new thinking” was of vital necessity for the Soviet Union to shut down the costly Cold War competition in order to continue internal economic reforms of perestroika.

Who is blamed for the disintegration of the Soviet Union?

The following four years of political struggle between Yeltsin and Gorbachev played a large role in the dissolution of the USSR. On November 11, 1987, Yeltsin was fired from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party.

What role did Mikhail Gorbachev play in the collapse of communism?

Both as general secretary and as president, Gorbachev supported democratic reforms. He enacted policies of glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika (“restructuring”), and he pushed for disarmament and demilitarization in eastern Europe. Gorbachev’s policies ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990–91.

Who was Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife?

Gorbachev met his future wife, Raisa Titarenko, daughter of a Ukrainian railway engineer, at Moscow State University. They married on 25 September 1953 and moved to Stavropol upon graduation. She gave birth to their only child, daughter Irina Mikhailovna Virganskaya (Ири́на Миха́йловна Вирга́нская), in 1957.

What did Gromyko do to reform the Soviet Union?

In the face of this internal decline, President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and longtime Foreign Minister Andrey Gromyko chose the 54 year-old, well-educated and travelled member of the Politburo with responsibility for agriculture to become general-secretary. He was tasked with reforming the Soviet Union.

How violent was the collapse of the Soviet Union?

Nevertheless, both supporters and detractors recognize that the collapse of the Soviet Union took place rapidly and with minimum violence: the only empire in history to have dissolved without extended violent conflict. A how-to guide for managing the end of the post-Cold War era.

What happened to the Soviet ruble?

The ruble had only paper value, with Soviet citizens holding overall 400-450 billion rubles, but they had nothing to spend it on; store shelves carried few consumer goods. By December 1989, citizens were roiling with discontent. Coal miners in the Arctic Circle struck for better living conditions, including soap and potatoes.