Gorbachev

World history research papers often focus on leaders of nations such as Russia. Since Gorbachev was an influential leader in the 1980's, Russian history courses study him and his influence on Russian policy. Have a writer at Paper Masters give a biography of Mikhail Gorbachev or paper on any aspect of his political career.

Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) was the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, overseeing the dissolution of the communist state through the late 1980s until 1991. He was the first Soviet leader born after the 1917 Revolution, and introduced policies designed to update and open the Soviet economy and political system to Western society. He was awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1990.

Facts for Research on Mikhail Gorbachev

• Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev was born in the village of Privolnoye in Russia
• Gorbachev's earliest memories are of the great Soviet famine of the 1930s.
• Gorbachev graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 when he also joined the Communist Party.
• Through the 1960s, Gorbachev rose through the ranks of the Party
• Appointed First Party Secretary for Stavropol in 1970
• Deputy to the Supreme Soviet in 1974.

During the regime of Yuri Andropov (1982-1984), Gorbachev achieved high visibility as a member of the Politburo, elected to General Secretary in 1985 after the brief reign of Konstantin Chernenko.

As General Secretary, Gorbachev instituted a program economic reforms, known as perestroika, and a program of openness to the West, glasnost. He signed major peace agreements with the United States in the 1980s, and withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. In 1990, as Eastern bloc nations in Eastern Europe moved towards democracy, hardline Soviets staged a short-lived coup that sought to drive Gorbachev from power. As the coup failed, the days of the Soviet Union became numbered.