Mikhail Gorbachev

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991

"Gorbachev" redirects here. For other people with the surname, see Gorbachev (surname).

Mikhail Gorbachev

Михаил Горбачёв

Gorbachev in 1987

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office
11 March 1985 – 24 August 1991[a]
Premier|

* Nikolai Tikhonov
* Nikolai Ryzhkov
* Valentin Pavlov
* Ivan Silayev

Deputy| Vladimir Ivashko
Preceded by| Konstantin Chernenko
Succeeded by| Vladimir Ivashko
President of the Soviet Union
In office
15 March 1990 – 25 December 1991[b]
Vice President| Gennady Yanayev[c]
Preceded by| Himself as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet
Succeeded by| Office abolished[d]
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
In office
25 May 1989 – 15 March 1990
Deputy| Anatoly Lukyanov
Preceded by|

Himself as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

Succeeded by| Anatoly Lukyanov
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
In office
1 October 1988 – 25 May 1989
Preceded by| Andrei Gromyko
Succeeded by|

Himself as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet

Additional positions

Co-Chairman of the Union of Social Democrats
In office
11 March 2000[e] – 15 November 2017
Preceded by| Party established
Succeeded by| Party disestablished
Acting Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office
9 February 1984 – 10 March 1985
Preceded by| Konstantin Chernenko
Succeeded by| Yegor Ligachyov

Personal details
Born| (1931-03-02)2 March 1931
Privolnoye, North Caucasus Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died| 30 August 2022(2022-08-30) (aged 91)
Moscow, Russia
Resting place| Novodevichy Cemetery
Political party|

* CPSU (1952–1991)
* Independent (1991–2000; from 2013)
* ROSDP (2000–2001)
* SDPR (2001–2007)
* USD (2007–2013)

Spouse|

Raisa Titarenko

(m. 1953; died 1999)​

Children| 1
Alma mater| Moscow State University
Signature|
Website| Official website

Mikhail Gorbachev's voice

Recorded November 2012

Central institution membership

* 1980–1991: Member, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th Politburo
* 1979–1980: Candidate, 25th Politburo
* 1978–1991: Member, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th Secretariat
* 1971–1991: Member, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th Central Committee

* * *

Other offices held

* 2001–2004: Chairman, Social Democratic Party of Russia
* 1985–1991: Chairman, Defense Council
* 1970–1978: First Secretary, Stavropol Regional Committee

Leader of the Soviet Union

* ← Chernenko
* None (last holder)

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev[f][g] (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) 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. He 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. Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism but moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.

Gorbachev was born in Privolnoye, North Caucasus Krai, to a peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian heritage. Growing up under the rule of Joseph Stalin, in his youth he operated combine harvesters on a collective farm before joining the Communist Party, which then governed the Soviet Union as a one-party state. Studying at Moscow State University, he married fellow student Raisa Titarenko in 1953 and received his law degree in 1955. Moving to Stavropol, he worked for the Komsomol youth organization and, after Stalin's death, became a keen proponent of the de-Stalinization reforms of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. He was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee in 1970, overseeing the construction of the Great Stavropol Canal. In 1978, he returned to Moscow to become a Secretary of the party's Central Committee; he joined the governing Politburo (25th term) as a non-voting member in 1979 and a voting member in 1980. Three years after the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev—following the brief tenures of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko—in 1985, the Politburo elected Gorbachev as general secretary, the de facto leader.

Although committed to preserving the Soviet state and its Marxist–Leninist ideals, Gorbachev believed significant reform was necessary for its survival. He withdrew troops from the Soviet–Afghan War and embarked on summits with United States president Ronald Reagan to limit nuclear weapons and end the Cold War. Domestically, his policy of glasnost ("openness") allowed for enhanced freedom of speech and press, while his perestroika ("restructuring") sought to decentralize economic decision-making to improve its efficiency. Ultimately, Gorbachev's democratization measures and formation of the elected Congress of People's Deputies undermined the one-party state. When various Warsaw Pact countries abandoned Marxist–Leninist governance in 1989, he declined to intervene militarily. Growing nationalist sentiment within constituent republics threatened to break up the Soviet Union, leading hardliners within the Communist Party to launch an unsuccessful coup against Gorbachev in August 1991. In the coup's wake, the Soviet Union dissolved against Gorbachev's wishes. After resigning from the presidency, he launched the Gorbachev Foundation, became a vocal critic of Russian presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, and campaigned for Russia's social-democratic movement.

Considered one of the most significant figures of the second half of the 20th century, Gorbachev remains controversial. The recipient of a wide range of awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, he was praised for his role in ending the Cold War, introducing new political and economic freedoms in the Soviet Union, and tolerating both the fall of Marxist–Leninist administrations in eastern and central Europe and the German reunification. Critics see him as weakening Russia's global influence and precipitating an economic collapse in the country.

## Early life and education

[edit]

### 1931–1950: Childhood and adolescence

[edit]

Gorbachev and his Ukrainian maternal grandparents, late 1930s |  |

This article is part of
a series about

Mikhail Gorbachev

|

* * *

General Secretary

* General secretaryship
* Perestroika
* Uskorenie
* Glasnost
* Anti-alcohol campaign
* Chernobyl disaster
* Demokratizatsiya
* Law on Cooperatives
* Spitak earthquake
* Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
* 1989 elections

* * *

Presidency

* 1990 Election
* Assassination attempt
* Pavlov reform
* New Union Treaty
* August Coup
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union

* * *

Foreign policy

* New thinking
* Murmansk Initiative
* Sinatra Doctrine
* International trips
* Summits
* Geneva
* Reykjavík
* Washington
* Moscow
* Governors Island
* Malta
* Helsinki
* Letter from Khomeini

* * *

Post-leadership

* 1996 presidential campaign
* The Gorbachev Foundation
* Green Cross International
* Pizza Hut commercial
* Social Democratic Party of Russia
* Death and funeral

* v
* t
* e

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.[4] At the time, Privolnoye was divided between ethnic Russians and Ukrainians.[5] Gorbachev's paternal family were Russians and had moved from Voronezh several generations before; his maternal family were of ethnic Ukrainian heritage and had migrated from Chernihiv.[6] His parents named him Viktor at birth, but at his mother's insistence he had a secret baptism, where his grandfather christened him Mikhail.[7] His relationship with his father, Sergey Andreyevich Gorbachev, was close; his mother, Maria Panteleyevna Gorbacheva (née Gopkalo), was colder and punitive.[8] His parents were poor,[9] and lived as peasants.[10] They had married as teenagers in 1928,[11] and in keeping with local tradition had initially resided in Sergey's father's house, an adobe-walled hut, before a hut of their own could be built.[12]

The Soviet Union was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, led by Joseph Stalin. Stalin had initiated a project of mass rural collectivization meant to help convert the country into a socialist society.[13] Gorbachev's maternal grandfather joined the Communist Party and helped form the village's first kolkhoz (collective farm) in 1929, becoming its chair.[14] It was 19 kilometres (12 mi) outside Privolnoye, and when he was three years old, Gorbachev left his parental home and moved into the kolkhoz with his maternal grandparents.[15]

The country was experiencing the famine of 1930–1933, in which two of Gorbachev's paternal uncles and an aunt died.[16] This was followed by the Great Purge, in which individuals accused of being "enemies of the people" were interned in labor camps or executed. Both of Gorbachev's grandfathers served time in labor camps.[17] After his December 1938 release, Gorbachev's maternal grandfather discussed having been tortured by the secret police, an account that influenced the young boy.[18]

During the Second World War, in June 1941 the German Army invaded the Soviet Union. German forces occupied Privolnoye for four and a half months in 1942.[19] 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.[20] After Germany was defeated, Gorbachev's parents had their second son, Aleksandr, in 1947; he and Mikhail were their only children.[11]

The village school was closed during much of the war, re-opening in autumn 1944.[21] Gorbachev did not want to return but excelled academically when he did.[22] He read voraciously, moving from the Western novels of Thomas Mayne Reid to the works of Vissarion Belinsky, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, and Mikhail Lermontov.[23] In 1946, he joined the Komsomol, the Soviet political youth organization, becoming leader of his local group, and was then elected to the Komsomol committee for the district.[24] From primary school he moved to the high school in Molotovskoye; he stayed there during the week and walked the 19 km (12 mi) home during weekends.[25] As well as being a member of the school's drama society,[26] he organized sporting and social activities and led the school's morning exercise class.[27] Over the course of five consecutive summers starting with 1946, he returned home to assist his father in operating a combine harvester; during those summers, they sometimes worked 20-hour days.[28] In 1948, they harvested over 8,000 centners of grain, a feat for which Sergey was awarded the Order of Lenin and his son the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.[29]

### 1950–1955: University

[edit]

Gorbachev (first from right) with his classmates at the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University, 1952

> I would consider it a high honour to be a member of the highly advanced, genuinely revolutionary Communist Party of Bolsheviks. I promise to be faithful to the great cause of Lenin and Stalin, to devote my entire life to the party's struggle for Communism.

— Gorbachev's letter requesting membership of the Communist Party, 1950[30]

In June 1950, Gorbachev became a candidate member of the Communist Party.[30] He applied to study at the law school of Moscow State University (MSU), then the most prestigious university in the country. They accepted him without asking for an exam, likely because of his worker-peasant origins and his possession of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.[31] His choice of law was unusual; it was not a well-regarded subject in Soviet society at that time.[32] At age 19, he traveled by train to Moscow, the first time he had left his home region.[33]

In Moscow, Gorbachev resided with fellow MSU students at a dormitory in the Sokolniki District.[34] He felt at odds with his urban counterparts, but soon came to fit in.[35] Fellow students recall his working especially hard, often late into the night.[36] He gained a reputation as a mediator during disputes[37] 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.[38] During his studies, an antisemitic campaign spread through the Soviet Union, culminating in the Doctors' plot; Gorbachev publicly defended Volodya Liberman, a Jewish student accused of disloyalty.[39]

At MSU, Gorbachev became the Komsomol head of his entering class, and then Komsomol's deputy secretary for agitation and propaganda at the law school.[40] One of his first Komsomol assignments in Moscow was to monitor the election polling in Presnensky District to ensure near-total turnout; Gorbachev found that most people voted "out of fear".[41] In 1952, he was appointed a full member of the Communist Party.[42] He 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.[43] Gorbachev became close friends with Zdeněk Mlynář, a Czechoslovak student who later became a primary ideologist of the 1968 Prague Spring. Mlynář recalled that the duo remained committed Marxist–Leninists despite their growing concerns about the Stalinist system.[44] After Stalin died in March 1953, Gorbachev and Mlynář joined the crowds massing to see Stalin's body lying in state.[45]

At MSU, Gorbachev met Raisa Titarenko, who was studying in the university's philosophy department.[46] She was engaged to another man, but after that engagement fell apart, she began a relationship with Gorbachev;[47] together they went to bookstores, museums, and art exhibits.[48] In early 1953, he took an internship at the procurator's office in Molotovskoye district, but he was angered by the incompetence and arrogance of those working there.[49] That summer, he returned to Privolnoye to work with his father on the harvest; the money earned allowed him to pay for his wedding.[50] On 25 September 1953 he and Raisa registered their marriage at Sokolniki Registry Office[50] and in October moved in together at the Lenin Hills dormitory.[51] Raisa discovered that she was pregnant and although the couple wanted to keep the child she fell ill and required an abortion.[52]

In June 1955, Gorbachev graduated with a distinction;[53] his final paper had been on the advantages of "socialist democracy" over "bourgeois democracy" (liberal democracy).[54] He was subsequently 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.[55] He was then offered a place on an MSU graduate course specializing in kolkhoz law, but declined.[56] He 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.[57]

## Early CPSU career

[edit]

### 1955–1969: Stavropol Komsomol

[edit]

Gorbachev with his wife (far right) and daughter in Stavropol, 1964

In August 1955, Gorbachev started work at the Stavropol regional procurator's office, but disliked it and got a transfer to work for Komsomol,[58] becoming deputy director of Komsomol's agitation and propaganda department for that region.[59] In this position, he visited villages in the area and tried to improve the lives of their inhabitants; he established a discussion circle in Gorkaya Balka to help its peasant residents gain social contacts.[60]

Gorbachev and his wife Raisa initially rented a small room in Stavropol,[61] taking daily evening walks around the city and on weekends hiking in the countryside.[62] In January 1957, Raisa gave birth to a daughter, Irina,[63] and in 1958 they moved into two rooms in a communal apartment.[64] In 1961, Gorbachev pursued a second degree, in agricultural production; he took a correspondence course from the local Stavropol Agricultural Institute, receiving his diploma in 1967.[65] His wife had also pursued a second degree, attaining a PhD in sociology in 1967 from the Moscow State Pedagogical University;[66] while in Stavropol she joined the Communist Party.[67]

Stalin was succeeded as Soviet leader by Nikita Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin and his cult of personality in a speech given in February 1956, after which he launched a de-Stalinization process throughout Soviet society.[68] Later biographer William Taubman suggested that Gorbachev "embodied" the "reformist spirit" of the Khrushchev era.[69] Gorbachev was among those who saw themselves as "genuine Marxists" or "genuine Leninists".[70] He helped spread Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist message in Stavropol, but encountered many who saw Stalin as a hero and praised his purges as just.[71]

Gorbachev rose steadily through the ranks of the local administration.[72] The authorities regarded him as politically reliable,[73] and he would flatter his superiors, for instance gaining favor with prominent local politician Fyodor Kulakov.[74] With an ability to outmanoeuvre rivals, some colleagues resented his success.[75] In September 1956, he was promoted First Secretary of the Stavropol city's Komsomol, placing him in charge of it;[76] in April 1958 he was made deputy head of the Komsomol for the entire region.[77] He was given better accommodation: a two-room flat with its own private kitchen, toilet, and bathroom.[78] In Stavropol, he formed a discussion club for youths,[79] and helped mobilize local young people to take part in Khrushchev's agricultural and development campaigns.[80]

Gorbachev on a visit to East Germany in 1966

In March 1961, Gorbachev became First Secretary of the regional Komsomol,[81] in which position he went out of his way to appoint women as city and district leaders.[82] In 1961, Gorbachev played host to the Italian delegation for the World Youth Festival in Moscow;[83] that October, he attended the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[84] In January 1963, Gorbachev was promoted to personnel chief for the regional party's agricultural committee,[85] and in September 1966 became First Secretary of the Stavropol City Party Organization ("Gorkom").[86] By 1968 he was frustrated with his job—in large part because Khrushchev's reforms were stalling or being reversed—and he contemplated leaving politics to work in academia.[87] However, in August 1968, he was named Second Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, making him the deputy of First Secretary Leonid Yefremov and the second most senior figure in Stavropol Krai.[88] In 1969, he was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and made a member of its Standing Commission for the Protection of the Environment.[89]

Cleared for travel to Eastern Bloc countries, in 1966 he was part of a delegation which visited East Germany, and in 1969 and 1974 visited Bulgaria.[90] In August 1968 the Soviet Union led an invasion of Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring. Although Gorbachev later stated that he had had private concerns about the invasion, he publicly supported it.[91] In September 1969 he was part of a Soviet delegation sent to Czechoslovakia, where he found the people largely unwelcoming.[92] 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.[93] Gorbachev later related that he was "deeply affected" by the incident; "my conscience tormented me" for overseeing Sadykov's persecution.[94]

### 1970–1977: heading the Stavropol region

[edit]

Gorbachev and Suslov at Stavropol's 250th anniversary celebrations, 1978

In April 1970, Yefremov was promoted to a higher position in Moscow and Gorbachev succeeded him as the First Secretary of the Stavropol kraikom. This granted Gorbachev significant power over the Stavropol region.[95] He had been vetted for the position by senior Kremlin leaders and was informed of their decision by the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev.[96] Aged 39, he was considerably younger than his predecessors.[97] As head of the Stavropol region, he automatically became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (24th term) in 1971.[98] According to biographer Zhores Medvedev, Gorbachev "had now joined the Party's super-elite".[99] As regional leader, Gorbachev initially attributed economic and other failures to "the inefficiency and incompetence of cadres, flaws in management structure or gaps in legislation", but eventually concluded that they were caused by an excessive centralization of decision making in Moscow.[100] He 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.[100]

Gorbachev inspecting the construction of the Great Stavropol Canal

Gorbachev's main task as regional leader was to raise agricultural production levels, a task hampered by severe droughts in 1975 and 1976.[101] He oversaw the expansion of irrigation systems through construction of the Great Stavropol Canal.[102] For overseeing a record grain harvest in Ipatovsky district, in March 1972 he was awarded the Order of the October Revolution by Brezhnev in a Moscow ceremony.[103] Gorbachev sought to maintain Brezhnev's trust;[104] as regional leader, he repeatedly praised Brezhnev in his speeches, for instance referring to him as "the outstanding statesman of our time".[105] Gorbachev and his wife holidayed in Moscow, Leningrad, Uzbekistan, and resorts in the North Caucasus;[106] he holidayed with the head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, who was favorable towards him and who became an important patron.[107] Gorbachev developed good relationships with senior figures including the Soviet prime minister, Alexei Kosygin,[108] and the longstanding senior party member Mikhail Suslov.[109]

The government considered Gorbachev sufficiently reliable to be sent in Soviet delegations to Western Europe; he made five trips there between 1970 and 1977.[110] In September 1971 he was part of a delegation to Italy, where they met with representatives of the Italian Communist Party; Gorbachev loved Italian culture but was struck by the poverty and inequality he saw there.[111] In 1972, he visited Belgium and the Netherlands, and in 1973 West Germany.[112] Gorbachev and his wife visited France in 1976 and 1977, on the latter occasion touring the country with a guide from the French Communist Party.[113] He 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.[114] He later related that for him and his wife, these visits "shook our a priori belief in the superiority of socialist over bourgeois democracy".[115]

Gorbachev had remained close to his parents; after his father became terminally ill in 1974, Gorbachev traveled to be with him in Privolnoe shortly before his death.[116] His daughter, Irina, married fellow student Anatoly Virgansky in April 1978.[117] In 1977, the Supreme Soviet appointed Gorbachev to chair the Standing Commission on Youth Affairs due to his experience with mobilizing young people in Komsomol.[118]

## Secretary of the Central Committee of CPSU

[edit]

Gorbachev, accompanied by First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party Eduard Shevardnadze, during a visit to the Georgian SSR in 1983

In November 1978, Gorbachev was appointed a Secretary of the Central Committee.[119] His appointment was approved unanimously by the Central Committee's members.[120] To fill this position, Gorbachev and his wife moved to Moscow, where they were initially given an old dacha outside the city. They then moved to another, at Sosnovka, before being allocated a newly built brick house.[121] He 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.[122] As part of the Moscow political elite, Gorbachev and his wife now had access to better medical care and to specialized shops; they were given cooks, servants, bodyguards, and secretaries, many of these spies for the KGB.[123] In his new position, Gorbachev often worked twelve to sixteen hour days.[123] He and his wife socialized little, but liked to visit Moscow's theaters and museums.[124]

Gorbachev was skeptical of the deployment of Soviet troops in Afghanistan (pictured here in 1986)

In 1978, Gorbachev was appointed to the Central Committee's Secretariat for Agriculture (25th term), replacing his old patron Kulakov, who had died of a heart attack.[125] Gorbachev concentrated his attentions on agriculture: the harvests of 1979, 1980, and 1981 were all poor, due largely to weather conditions,[126] and the country had to import increasing quantities of grain.[127] He had growing concerns about the country's agricultural management system, coming to regard it as overly centralized and requiring more bottom-up decision making;[128] he raised these points at his first speech at a Central Committee Plenum, given in July 1978.[129] He 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; Gorbachev privately thought it a mistake.[130] At times he openly supported the government position; in October 1980 he for instance endorsed Soviet calls for Poland's Marxist–Leninist government to crack down on growing internal dissent in that country.[130] That same month, he was promoted from a candidate member to a full member of the Politburo (25th term), becoming the youngest member of the highest decision-making authority in the Communist Party.[131] After Brezhnev's death in November 1982, Andropov succeeded him as General Secretary of the Communist Party, the de facto leader in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev was enthusiastic about the appointment.[132] However, although Gorbachev hoped that Andropov would introduce liberalizing reforms, the latter carried out only personnel shifts rather than structural change.[133] Gorbachev became Andropov's closest ally in the Politburo;[134] with Andropov's encouragement, Gorbachev sometimes chaired Politburo meetings.[135] Andropov encouraged Gorbachev to expand into policy areas other than agriculture, preparing him for future higher office.[136] In April 1983, in a sign of growing ascendancy, Gorbachev delivered the annual speech marking the birthday of the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin;[137] this required him re-reading many of Lenin's later writings, in which the latter had called for reform in the context of the New Economic Policy of the 1920s, and encouraged Gorbachev's own conviction that reform was needed.[138] In May 1983, Gorbachev was sent to Canada, where he met Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and spoke to the Canadian Parliament.[139] There, he met and befriended the Soviet ambassador, Aleksandr Yakovlev, who later became a key political ally.[140]

In February 1984, Andropov died; on his deathbed he indicated his desire that Gorbachev succeed him.[141] Many in the Central Committee nevertheless thought the 53-year-old Gorbachev was too young and inexperienced.[142] Instead, Konstantin Chernenko—a longstanding Brezhnev ally—was appointed general secretary, but he too was in very poor health.[143] Chernenko was often too sick to chair Politburo meetings, with Gorbachev stepping in last minute.[144] Gorbachev continued to cultivate allies both in the Kremlin and beyond,[145] and gave the main speech at a conference on Soviet ideology, where he angered party hardliners by implying that the country required reform.[146]

In April 1984, Gorbachev was appointed chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the highest organ of state authority in the Soviet Union, a largely honorific position.[147] In June he traveled to Italy as a Soviet representative for the funeral of Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer,[148] and in September to Sofia, Bulgaria to attend celebrations of the fortieth anniversary of its liberation from the Nazis by the Red Army.[149] In December, he visited Britain at the request of its prime minister Margaret Thatcher; she was aware that he was a potential reformer and wanted to meet him.[150] At the end of the visit, Thatcher said: "I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together".[151] He felt that the visit helped to erode Andrei Gromyko's dominance of Soviet foreign policy and sent a signal to the United States government that he wanted to improve Soviet–US relations.[152]

## Leader of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)

[edit]

Main article: General Secretaryship of Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev in 1985 at a summit in Geneva, Switzerland

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.[10]

While Gorbachev wanted to preserve the Soviet Union and Marxist-Leninist ideals, he recognised the need for significant reforms. He decided to withdraw troops from the Soviet–Afghan War[153] and met with United States president Ronald Reagan at the Reykjavik Summit to discuss the limitation of nuclear weapons production and ending the Cold War. He also proposed a three-stage programme for abolishing the world's nuclear weapons by the end of the 20th century.[154]

Domestically, his policy of glasnost ("openness") allowed for the improvement of freedom of speech and free press,[155] while his perestroika ("restructuring") sought to decentralize economic decision-making to improve its efficiency.[156] Ultimately, Gorbachev's democratization efforts and formation of the elected Congress of People's Deputies undermined the supremacy the CPSU had in Soviet governance.[157][158] When various Warsaw Pact countries abandoned Marxist–Leninist governance in 1989, he declined to intervene militarily. Growing nationalist sentiment within constituent republics threatened to break up the Soviet Union, leading the hardliners within the Communist Party to launch an unsuccessful coup against Gorbachev in August 1991.[157]

## Unraveling of the USSR

[edit]

In the Revolutions of 1989, most of the Marxist–Leninist states of Central and Eastern Europe held multi-party elections resulting in regime change.[159] In most countries, like Poland and Hungary, this was achieved peacefully, but in Romania, the revolution turned violent, and led to Ceaușescu's overthrow and execution.[159] Gorbachev was too preoccupied with domestic problems to pay much attention to these events.[160] He believed that democratic elections would not lead Eastern European countries into abandoning their commitment to socialism.[161] In 1989, he visited East Germany for the fortieth anniversary of its founding;[162] shortly after, in November, the East German government allowed its citizens to cross the Berlin Wall, a decision Gorbachev praised. Over the following years, much of the wall was demolished.[163] Neither Gorbachev nor Thatcher or Mitterrand wanted a swift reunification of Germany, aware that it would likely become the dominant European power. Gorbachev wanted a gradual process of German integration but Kohl began calling for rapid reunification.[164] With German reunification in 1990, many observers declared the Cold War over.[165]

### 1990–1991: presidency of the Soviet Union

[edit]

Gorbachev addressing the United Nations General Assembly in 1988. During the speech, he dramatically announced deep unilateral cuts in Soviet military forces in Eastern Europe.

In February 1990, both liberalisers and Marxist–Leninist hardliners intensified their attacks on Gorbachev.[166] A liberalizer march took place in Moscow criticizing Communist Party rule,[167] while at a Central Committee meeting, the hardliner Vladimir Brovikov accused Gorbachev of reducing the country to "anarchy" and "ruin" and of pursuing Western approval at the expense of the Soviet Union and the Marxist–Leninist cause.[168] 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.[169] He decided that the presidential election should be held by the Congress of People's Deputies. He chose this over a public vote because he thought the latter would escalate tensions and feared that he might lose it;[170] a spring 1990 poll nevertheless still showed him as the most popular politician in the country.[171]

In March, the Congress of People's Deputies held the first (and only) Soviet presidential election, in which Gorbachev was the only candidate. He secured 1,329 in favor to 495 against; 313 votes were invalid or absent. He therefore became the first (and only) executive President of the Soviet Union.[172] A new 18-member Presidential Council de facto replaced the Politburo.[173] At the same Congress meeting, he presented the idea of repealing Article 6 of the Soviet constitution, which had ratified the Communist Party as the "ruling party" of the Soviet Union. The Congress passed the reform, undermining the de jure nature of the one-party state.[174]

In the 1990 elections for the Russian Supreme Soviet, the Communist Party faced challengers from an alliance of liberalisers known as "Democratic Russia"; the latter did particularly well in urban centers.[175] Yeltsin was elected the parliament's chair, something Gorbachev was unhappy about.[176] That year, opinion polls showed Yeltsin overtaking Gorbachev as the most popular politician in the Soviet Union.[171] Gorbachev struggled to understand Yeltsin's growing popularity, commenting: "he drinks like a fish ... he's inarticulate, he comes up with the devil knows what, he's like a worn-out record".[177] The Russian Supreme Soviet was now out of Gorbachev's control;[177] in June 1990, it declared that in the Russian Republic, its laws took precedence over those of the Soviet central government.[178] Amid a growth in Russian nationalist sentiment, 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. Gorbachev attended its first congress in June, but soon found it dominated by hardliners who opposed his reformist stance.[179]

#### German reunification and the Gulf War

[edit]

In January 1990, 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.[180] His compromise that Germany might retain both NATO and Warsaw Pact memberships did not attract support.[181] On 9 February 1990 in a phone conversation with James Baker, then the US secretary of state, he said that "a broadening of the NATO zone is not acceptable" to which Baker agreed. Scholars are puzzled why Gorbachev never pursued a written pledge.[182] In May 1990, he visited the US for talks with President Bush;[183] there, he agreed that an independent Germany would have the right to choose its international alliances.[181] Ultimately he acquiesced to the reunification on the condition that NATO troops not be posted to the territory of Eastern Germany.[184] There remains some confusion over whether US secretary of state James Baker led Gorbachev to believe that NATO would not expand into other countries in Eastern Europe. There was no oral or written US promise that explicitly said so. Gorbachev stated that he was only made such a promise regarding East Germany and that it was kept.[185][186] In July, Kohl visited Moscow and Gorbachev informed him that the Soviets would not oppose a reunified Germany's being part of NATO.[187] Domestically, Gorbachev's critics accused him of betraying the national interest;[188] more broadly, they were angry that Gorbachev had allowed the Eastern Bloc to move away from direct Soviet influence.[189]

In September 1990, Gorbachev met repeatedly with US president George H.W. Bush at the Helsinki Summit

In August 1990, Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government invaded Kuwait; Gorbachev endorsed President Bush's condemnation of it.[190] This brought criticism from many in the Soviet state apparatus, who saw Hussein as a key ally in the Persian Gulf and feared for the safety of the 9,000 Soviet citizens in Iraq, although Gorbachev argued that the Iraqis were the clear aggressors.[191] In November the Soviets endorsed a UN Resolution permitting force to be used in expelling the Iraqi Army from Kuwait.[192] Gorbachev later called it a "watershed" in world politics, "the first time the superpowers acted together in a regional crisis".[193] However, when the US announced plans for a ground invasion, Gorbachev opposed it, urging instead a peaceful solution.[194] In October 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; he was flattered but acknowledged "mixed feelings" about the accolade.[195] Polls indicated that 90% of Soviet citizens disapproved of the award, widely seen as an anti-Soviet accolade.[196]

With the Soviet budget deficit climbing and no domestic money markets to provide the state with loans, Gorbachev looked elsewhere.[197] Throughout 1991, Gorbachev requested sizable loans from Western countries and Japan, hoping to keep the Soviet economy afloat and ensure the success of perestroika.[198] Although the Soviet Union had been excluded from the G7, Gorbachev secured an invitation to its London summit in July 1991.[199] There, he continued to call for financial assistance; Mitterrand and Kohl backed him,[200] while Thatcher—no longer in office—urged Western leaders to agree.[201] Most G7 members were reluctant, instead offering technical assistance and proposing the Soviets receive "special associate" status—rather than full membership—of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.[202] Gorbachev was frustrated that the US would spend $100 billion on the Gulf War but would not offer his country loans.[203] Other countries were more forthcoming; West Germany had given the Soviets DM60 billion by mid-1991.[204] Bush visited Moscow in late July, when he and Gorbachev concluded ten years of negotiations by signing the START I treaty, a bilateral agreement on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.[205]

#### August coup and government crises

[edit]

Further information: 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt

Gorbachev in October 1991

At the 28th Communist Party Congress in July 1990, hardliners criticized the reformists, but Gorbachev was re-elected party leader.[206] Seeking compromise with the liberalizers, Gorbachev assembled a team of his own and Yeltsin's advisers to come up with an economic reform package: the result was the "500 Days" programme. This called for further decentralization and some privatization.[207] In September, Yeltsin presented the plan to the Russian Supreme Soviet, which backed it.[208] Many in the Communist Party and state apparatus warned against it, and it was abandoned.[209]

By mid-November 1990, much of the press was calling for Gorbachev to resign and predicting civil war.[210] In November, he announced an eight-point program with governmental reforms, among them the abolition of the presidential council.[211] By this point, Gorbachev was isolated from many of his former close allies and aides.[212] Yakovlev had moved out of his inner circle and Shevardnadze had resigned.[213]

Amid growing dissent in the Baltics, in January 1991 Gorbachev demanded that the Lithuanian Supreme Council rescind its pro-independence reforms.[214] Soviet troops occupied buildings in Vilnius and attacked protesters,[215] 15 of whom were killed.[216] A referendum on the issue brought 76.4% in favor of continued federation; the six rebellious republics had not taken part.[217] Negotiations took place to decide what form the new constitution would take; it was planned to be signed in August.[218]

Tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters surrounding the White House, Moscow

In August, Gorbachev holidayed at his dacha in Foros, Crimea.[219] Two weeks into his holiday, a group of senior Communist Party figures—the "Gang of Eight" launched a coup d'état.[220] The coup leaders demanded that Gorbachev declare a state of emergency, but he refused.[221] He was kept under house arrest in the dacha.[222] The coup plotters publicly announced that Gorbachev was ill and thus Vice President Yanayev would take charge of the country.[223]

Yeltsin entered the Moscow White House. Protesters prevented troops storming the building to arrest him.[224] In front of the White House, Yeltsin, atop a tank, gave a memorable speech condemning the coup.[225] The coup's leaders realized that they lacked sufficient support and ended their efforts.[226] Gorbachev returned to Moscow and thanked Yeltsin.[227] Two days later, he resigned as general secretary.[228][229]

### Final days and collapse

[edit]

Main article: Dissolution of the Soviet Union

After the coup, the Supreme Soviet indefinitely suspended all Communist Party activity, effectively ending communist rule in the Soviet Union.[230][231]

Leaders of the Soviet Republics sign the Belovezha Accords, which eliminated the USSR and established the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1991

On 30 October, Gorbachev attended a conference in Madrid trying to revive the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The event was co-sponsored by the US and Soviet Union. There, he again met with Bush.[232] En route home, he traveled to France where he stayed with Mitterrand at the latter's home near Bayonne.[233]

To maintain unity, Gorbachev continued to plan for a union treaty, but met opposition to the continuation of a federal state as the leaders of several Soviet republics bowed to nationalist pressure.[234] Yeltsin stated that he would veto any idea of a unified state, instead favoring a confederation with little central authority.[235] Only the leaders of Kazakhstan and Kirghizia supported Gorbachev's approach.[236] The referendum in Ukraine on 1 December with a 90% turnout for secession from the Union was a fatal blow; Gorbachev had expected Ukrainians to reject independence.[237]

Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991

Without Gorbachev's knowledge, Yeltsin met with Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk and Belarusian president Stanislav Shushkevich in Belovezha Forest, near Brest, Belarus, on 8 December and signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as its successor.[238] Gorbachev only learned of this development when Shushkevich phoned him; Gorbachev was furious.[239] He desperately looked for an opportunity to preserve the Soviet Union, hoping that the media and intelligentsia would rally against its dissolution.[240] Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian Supreme Soviets then ratified the establishment of the CIS.[241] On 9 December, Gorbachev issued a statement calling the CIS agreement "illegal and dangerous".[242][243] On 20 December, the leaders of 11 of the 12 remaining republics—all except Georgia—met in Kazakhstan and signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, agreeing to dismantle the Soviet Union and formally establish the CIS. They provisionally accepted Gorbachev's resignation as president of what remained of the Soviet Union. Accepting the fait accompli, Gorbachev said he would resign as soon as he saw that the CIS was a reality.[244][245]

Gorbachev reached a deal with Yeltsin that called for Gorbachev to announce his resignation as Soviet president and Commander-in-Chief on 25 December, vacating the Kremlin by 29 December.[246] Yakovlev, Chernyaev and Shevardnadze joined Gorbachev to help him write a resignation speech.[244] Gorbachev gave his speech in the Kremlin in front of television cameras, for international broadcast.[247] In it, he announced, "I hereby discontinue my activities at the post of President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." He expressed regret for the breakup of the Soviet Union but cited what he saw as the achievements of his administration: political and religious freedom, the end of totalitarianism, the introduction of democracy and a market economy, and an end to the arms race and Cold War.[248] Gorbachev was the third out of eight Soviet leaders, after Malenkov and Khrushchev, not to die in office.[249][250] The following day, 26 December, the Soviet of the Republics, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, voted the country out of existence.[251] As of 31 December 1991, all Soviet institutions that had not been taken over by Russia ceased to function.[252][253]

## Post-USSR life

[edit]

### 1991–1999: Initial years

[edit]

Gorbachev visiting Reagan, at Rancho del Cielo in 1992 Gorbachev giving a speech at the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan, 1994

Out of office, he and Raisa initially lived in their dilapidated dacha on Rublevskoe Shosse, and were allowed to privatize their smaller apartment on Kosygin Street.[254] He focused on establishing his foundation, launched in March 1992;[255] Yakovlev and Revenko were its first vice presidents.[256] Its initial tasks were analyzing and publishing material on the history of perestroika, and defending the policy. The foundation tasked itself with monitoring and critiquing life in post-Soviet Russia, presenting alternative development forms to Yeltsin's.[256]

To finance his foundation, Gorbachev began lecturing internationally, charging large fees.[256] On a visit to Japan, he was given multiple honorary degrees.[257] In 1992, he toured the US in a Forbes private jet to raise money for his foundation, meeting the Reagans for a social visit.[257] From there he went to Spain, where he met with his friend Prime Minister Felipe González.[258] He further visited Israel and Germany, where he was received warmly for his role in facilitating German reunification.[259] To supplement his lecture fees and book sales, Gorbachev appeared in television commercials[260] and photograph advertisements,[261] enabling him to keep the foundation afloat.[262][263] With his wife's assistance, he worked on his memoirs, which were published in Russian in 1995 and in English the following year.[264] He began writing a monthly syndicated column for The New York Times.[265]

In 1993, Gorbachev launched Green Cross International, which focused on encouraging sustainable futures, and then the World Political Forum.[266] In 1995, he initiated the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.[267]

External videos

Booknotes interview with Gorbachev on his memoirs, 24 November 1996, C-SPAN

Gorbachev and Yeltsin soon resumed their criticism of each other,[268] for example when Yeltsin lifted price caps and plunged many Russians into poverty.[268] In 1995, his foundation held a conference on "The Intelligentsia and Perestroika", proposing to the Duma a law that would reduce many of the presidential powers established by Yeltsin's 1993 constitution.[269]

Gorbachev with Argentine president Carlos Menem in 1999

In contrast to her husband's political activities, Raisa focused on campaigning for children's charities.[270] In 1997, she founded a sub-division of the Gorbachev Foundation known as Raisa Maksimovna's Club to improve women's welfare in Russia.[271] The Foundation had initially been housed in the former Social Science Institute building, but Yeltsin introduced limits to the number of rooms it could use there;[272] the American philanthropist Ted Turner donated over $1 million to enable the foundation to build new premises on the Leningradsky Prospekt.[273] In 1999, Gorbachev visited Australia, giving a speech to the country's parliament.[274] Shortly after, in July, Raisa was diagnosed with leukemia. With the assistance of German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, she was transferred to a cancer center in Münster, Germany, and underwent chemotherapy.[275] She died in September,[276] and Gorbachev's daughter Irina and his two granddaughters moved into his Moscow home to live with him.[277]

Gorbachev, daughter Irina and his wife's sister Lyudmila at the funeral of Raisa, 1999

#### 1996 presidential campaign

[edit]

Main article: Mikhail Gorbachev 1996 presidential campaign

The Russian presidential elections were scheduled for June 1996, and although he was urged not to run, Gorbachev decided to do so.[278] He 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.[279] After securing the necessary one million signatures of nomination, he announced his candidacy in March.[280] Launching his campaign, he traveled across Russia giving rallies in twenty cities.[280] He 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.[281] In the election, Gorbachev came seventh with approximately 386,000 votes, or around 0.5% of the total.[282] Yeltsin and Zyuganov went through to the second round, where the former was victorious.[282]

### 1999–2008: Promoting social democracy in Putin's Russia

[edit]

Gorbachev attended the inauguration of Vladimir Putin in May 2000

In December 1999, Yeltsin resigned and was succeeded by his deputy, Vladimir Putin, who won the March 2000 presidential election.[283] Gorbachev initially welcomed Putin's rise, seeing him as an anti-Yeltsin figure.[266] Although he spoke out against some of the Putin government's actions, Gorbachev praised the new government in 2002.[284] At the time, he believed Putin to be a committed democrat who nevertheless had to use "a certain dose of authoritarianism" to stabilize the economy and rebuild the state after the Yeltsin era.[285] At Putin's request, Gorbachev became co-chair of the "Petersburg Dialogue" project between high-ranking Russians and Germans.[283]

In 2000, Gorbachev helped form the Russian United Social Democratic Party.[286] In June 2002, he participated in a meeting with Putin, who praised the venture.[284] In 2003, Gorbachev's party merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Social Democratic Party of Russia,[286] but it failed to gain traction with voters.[286] Gorbachev resigned as party leader in May 2004 after the 2003 election campaign. The party was banned in 2007 by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation due to its failure to establish local offices with at least 500 members in the majority of Russian regions.[287] Later that year, Gorbachev founded a new movement, the Union of Social Democrats, stating that it would not contest the forthcoming elections.[288]

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".[289] Gorbachev was critical of US policy following the Cold War, arguing that the West had attempted to "turn [Russia] into some kind of backwater".[290] He rejected Bush's claim that the US had "won" the Cold War, arguing that both sides had cooperated to end the conflict.[290] He was critical of how the US had broken its word and expanded NATO right up to Russia's borders.[290][291] He spoke out against the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia because it lacked UN backing, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the US.[290]

### 2008–2022: Growing criticism of Putin

[edit]

In September 2008, Gorbachev and business oligarch Alexander Lebedev announced they would form the Independent Democratic Party of Russia.[292][293] After the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian War, Gorbachev spoke out against US support for Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.[294][295] Gorbachev nevertheless remained critical of Russia's government.[296]

Gorbachev (right) being introduced to US president Barack Obama by US vice president Joe Biden, March 2009. US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul is pictured in the background.

In 2009, he met with US president Barack Obama to "reset" strained US–Russian relations.[297] In 2011, Medvedev awarded him the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called.[296]

Gorbachev opposed Putin's decision to run for president in the 2012 election.[298][299][300]

In 2014, he defended the Crimean status referendum and Russia's annexation of Crimea that began the Russo-Ukrainian War.[290] He spoke out against the sanctions placed on Russia as a result of the annexation.[301]

> Russia can succeed only through democracy. Russia is ready for political competition, a real multiparty system, fair elections and regular rotation of government. This should define the role and responsibility of the president.

– Gorbachev, 2017[302]

At a 2014 event marking 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 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.[303][304] In 2016, he said that "Politicians who think that problems and disputes can be solved by using military force... should be rejected by society, they should clear the political stage."[305] In June 2018, he welcomed the Russia–United States summit in Helsinki between Putin and US president Donald Trump.[306] After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Gorbachev declared, "The storming of the capitol was clearly planned in advance, and it's obvious by whom."[307]

In July 2022, Gorbachev's close friend, journalist Alexei Venediktov, said that Gorbachev was very upset when he found out that Putin had launched an invasion of Ukraine. According to Venediktov, Gorbachev believed that Putin "destroyed his life's work",[308] and was calling for "an early cessation of hostilities and immediate start of peace negotiations".[309]

## Political ideology

[edit]

Main article: Political views of Mikhail Gorbachev

In the early 1950s, Gorbachev was conventionally Stalinist.[310] By the mid-1980s, when Gorbachev took power, Gorbachev argued that the Communist Party had to adapt and engage in creative thinking much as Lenin had earlier creatively interpreted and adapted the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to the situation of early 20th-century Russia.[311] However, the changes that Gorbachev proposed fitted completely within Marxist-Leninist ideology.[312] Gorbachev's political outlook was shaped by the 23 years he served as a party official in Stavropol.[313][additional citation(s) needed] Perestroika was harder to define, and its meaning shifted with time.[314] It originally meant "radical reform of the economic and political system".[315] Later, Gorbachev began to consider market mechanisms and co-operatives.[315] Gorbachev however remained a believer in socialism, if not in the actual Soviet system.[316] During the 1980s, his thought radically shifted,[317] to the extent that by 1989 or 1990, he was effectively a social democrat.[286][additional citation(s) needed]

## Personal life

[edit]

The official Soviet portrait of Gorbachev. Many official photographs and visual depictions of Gorbachev removed the port-wine birthmark from his head.[318]

Gorbachev spoke in a southern Russian accent,[319] and sang both folk and pop songs.[320] Throughout his life, he tried to dress fashionably.[321] Having an aversion to hard liquor,[322] he drank sparingly and did not smoke.[323] He was protective of his private life[115] and cherished his wife and family.[324] He sent his daughter, his only child, to a local school in Stavropol rather than to one for the children of party elites.[325] Unlike many of his contemporaries in the Soviet administration, he treated women respectfully.[82]

Gorbachev was baptized Russian Orthodox; his grandparents had been practicing Christians.[326] In 2008, after he visited the tomb of St Francis of Assisi, he clarified that he was an atheist.[327] Gorbachev considered himself an intellectual;[35] Doder and Branson thought that "his intellectualism was slightly self-conscious",[328] noting that unlike most Russian intelligentsia, Gorbachev was not closely connected "to the world of science, culture, the arts, or education".[329] When living in Stavropol, he and his wife collected hundreds of books.[330] Among his favorite authors were Arthur Miller, Dostoevsky, and Chinghiz Aitmatov, while he also enjoyed reading detective fiction.[331] He enjoyed going for walks,[332] having a love of natural environments,[333] and was also a fan of association football.[334] He favored small gatherings where the assembled discussed topics like art and philosophy rather than the large, alcohol-fueled parties common among Soviet officials.[335]

## Death

[edit]

Main article: Death and funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev

Corpse of Gorbachev lying in state at the House of Unions

Gorbachev died at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow on 30 August 2022,[336] at the age of 91.[337] He died after a "severe and prolonged illness".[338][339][340] He had suffered from severe diabetes and underwent several surgeries and hospital stays.[341][342][343] He was also hospitalized in the Central Clinical Hospital on 9 October 2014.[344]

His funeral was held on 3 September 2022 in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. The ceremony included an honor guard, but was not a state funeral.[345] The service included rites administered by a Russian Orthodox priest.[346][347] He is buried at Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, in the same grave as his wife Raisa, as requested by his will.[231]

## Reception and legacy

[edit]

Opinions on Gorbachev are deeply divided.[348] According to a 2017 survey carried out by the independent institute Levada Center, 46% of Russian citizens have a negative opinion towards Gorbachev, 30% are indifferent, while only 15% have a positive opinion.[349] Many, particularly in Western countries, see him as the greatest statesman of the second half of the 20th century.[350] US press referred to the presence of "Gorbymania" in Western countries during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as represented by large crowds that turned out to greet his visits,[351] with Time naming him its "Man of the Decade" in the 1980s.[352] In the Soviet Union itself, opinion polls indicated that Gorbachev was the most popular politician from 1985 through to late 1989.[353] His domestic supporters saw him as a reformer trying to modernise the Soviet Union,[354] and to build democratic socialism.[355] Taubman characterized Gorbachev as "a visionary who changed his country and the world—though neither as much as he wished".[356] Taubman regarded Gorbachev as being "exceptional ... as a Russian ruler and a world statesman", highlighting that he avoided the "traditional, authoritarian, anti-Western norm" of both predecessors like Brezhnev and successors like Putin.[357] McCauley thought that in allowing the Soviet Union to move away from Marxism–Leninism, Gorbachev gave the Soviet people "something precious, the right to think and manage their lives for themselves", with inevitable uncertainty and risk.[358] The Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that Lithuanians would not glorify Gorbachev or forget about the 1991 January Events.[215]

> 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. By introducing free elections and creating parliamentary institutions, he laid the groundwork for democracy. It is more the fault of the raw material he worked with than of his own real shortcomings and mistakes that Russian democracy will take much longer to build than he thought.

— Gorbachev biographer William Taubman, 2017[356]

External videos

Q&A interview with William Taubman on Gorbachev: His Life and Times, October 15, 2017, C-SPAN

Gorbachev's negotiations with the US helped bring an end to the Cold War and reduced the threat of nuclear conflict.[356] His decision to allow the Eastern Bloc to break apart prevented significant bloodshed in Central and Eastern Europe; as Taubman noted, this meant that the "Soviet Empire" ended in a far more peaceful manner than the British Empire several decades before.[356] Similarly, under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union broke apart without falling into civil war, as happened during the breakup of Yugoslavia at the same time.[359] McCauley noted that in facilitating the merger of East and West Germany, Gorbachev was "a co-father of German unification", assuring him long-term popularity among the German people.[360] However, he remains a controversial figure in former Soviet-occupied and administered countries such as the Baltic States, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Poland, after violent repressions against the local populations who sought independence. Locals have stated that they consider western veneration of the man an injustice and have said they do not understand his positive legacy in the west, with a group of Lithuanians having pursued legal action against him.[361]

He faced domestic criticism during his rule. He attracted the admiration of some colleagues, but others came to hate him.[362] Across society, his inability to reverse the decline in the Soviet economy brought discontent.[363] Liberals thought he lacked the radicalism to break from Marxism–Leninism and establish a free market liberal democracy.[364] Conversely, many of his Communist Party critics thought his reforms were reckless and threatened the survival of Soviet socialism;[365] some believed he should have followed the example of China's Communist Party and restricted himself to economic rather than governmental reforms.[366] Many Russians saw his emphasis on persuasion rather than force as a sign of weakness.[367]

The Communist Party nomenklatura saw the Soviet Union's dissolution as disastrous, as it resulted in their loss of power.[368] In Russia, he is widely despised for his role in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic collapse in the 1990s.[348] General Varennikov, one of those who orchestrated the 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev, for instance called him "a renegade and traitor to your own people".[269] His critics attacked him for allowing the Marxist–Leninist governments across Eastern Europe to fall,[369] and for allowing a reunited Germany to join NATO, something they deem contrary to Russia's national interest.[370] The leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, stated that Gorbachev was a leader whose rule brought "absolute sadness, misfortune and problems" for "all the peoples of our country".[371]

The historian Mark Galeotti stressed the connection between Gorbachev and his predecessor, Andropov. In Galeotti's view, Andropov was "the godfather of the Gorbachev revolution", because—as a former head of the KGB—he was able to put forward the case for reform without having his loyalty to the Soviet cause questioned.[372] According to McCauley, Gorbachev "set reforms in motion without understanding where they could lead. Never in his worst nightmare could he have imagined that perestroika would lead to the destruction of the Soviet Union".[373]

According to The New York Times, "Few leaders in the 20th century, indeed in any century, have had such a profound effect on their time. In little more than six tumultuous years, Mr. Gorbachev lifted the Iron Curtain, decisively altering the political climate of the world."[374]

## Awards and honors

[edit]

Former US president Ronald Reagan awards the first Ronald Reagan Freedom Award to Gorbachev at the Reagan Library, 1992

In 1988, India awarded Gorbachev the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development;[375] in 1990, he was given the Nobel Peace Prize for "his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community".[376] Out of office he continued to receive honors. In 1992, he was the first recipient of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award,[377] and in 1994 was given the Grawemeyer Award by the University of Louisville, Kentucky.[378] In 1995, he was awarded the Grand-Cross of the Order of Liberty by Portuguese president Mário Soares,[379] and in 1998 the Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.[380] In 2000, he was presented with the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement at an awards ceremony at Hampton Court Palace near London.[381] In 2002, Gorbachev received the Freedom of the City of Dublin from Dublin City Council.[382]

In 2002, Gorbachev was awarded the Charles V Prize by the European Academy of Yuste Foundation.[383] Gorbachev, together with Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren, were awarded the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for their recording of Sergei Prokofiev's 1936 Peter and the Wolf for Pentatone.[384] In 2005, Gorbachev was awarded the Point Alpha Prize for his role in supporting German reunification.[385]

## Bibliography

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Co-author  | Publisher

|
|
|

1987  | Perestroika – New Thinking for our Country and the World | –  | Harper & Row
1996  | Memoirs | –  | Doubleday
2005  | Moral Lessons of the Twentieth Century: Gorbachev and Ikeda on Buddhism and Communism | Daisaku Ikeda | I. B. Tauris
2016  | The New Russia | –  | Polity
2018  | In a Changing World | –  |
2020  | What is at Stake Now: My Appeal for Peace and Freedom | –  | Polity

## In popular culture

[edit]

Waxworks of Reagan, Thatcher and Gorbachev at Madame Tussauds, London

In 2020 and 2021, the Theatre of Nations in Moscow, in collaboration with Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, staged a production called Gorbachev.[386] Yevgeny Mironov and Chulpan Khamatova played the roles of Gorbachev and his wife Raisa respectively.[387]

Gorbachev was portrayed by David Dencik in the 2019 miniseries Chernobyl,[388] by Matthew Marsh in the 2023 film Tetris[389] and by Aleksander Krupa in the 2024 biographical drama Reagan.[390]

Gorbachev appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War during a mission where the playable character infiltrates the KGB headquarter. Gorbachev is portrayed by David Agranov.[391]

## See also

[edit]

* Index of Soviet Union–related articles
* List of peace activists
* List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates

## Explanatory notes

[edit]

1. ^ On 14 March 1990, the provision on the CPSU monopoly on power was removed from Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR. Thus, in the Soviet Union, a multi-party system was officially allowed, and the CPSU ceased to be part of the state apparatus.
2. ^ Briefly suspended from 19 to 21 August 1991 during the August Coup.
3. ^ De facto until 21 August 1991; de jure until 4 September.
4. ^ This post was abolished on 25 December 1991 and powers were transferred to Boris Yeltsin, the President of Russia. Functions of the presidency were succeeded by the Council of Heads of State and the Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
5. ^ Himself as the Chairman of the United Social Democratic Party of Russia until 24 November 2001, and the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Russia until 20 October 2007
6. ^ In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is  Sergeyevich and the family name is  Gorbachev.
7. ^ UK: /ˈɡɔːrbətʃɒf, ˌɡɔːrbəˈtʃɒf/, US: /-tʃɔːf, -tʃɛf/;[1][2][3] Russian: Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв, romanized: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov, IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪdʑ ɡərbɐˈtɕɵf] ⓘ

## References

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### Citations

[edit]

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307. ^ "Горбачев увидел угрозу судьбе США как государства" (in Russian). Interfax. 7 January 2021. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021. "По его мнению, произошедшие в Вашингтоне беспорядки "поставили под вопрос дальнейшую судьбу США как государства"." [In Gorbachev's opinion, the riots that took place in Washington "called into question the future fate of the United States as a nation".]
308. ^ Родионов, Эдуард (24 July 2022). "Первый президент СССР Горбачёв прокомментировал спецоперацию – Solenka.info – Мировые новости и светская хроника шоу-бизнеса". solenka.info (in Russian). Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
309. ^ Borger, Julian (30 August 2022). "How Gorbachev's political legacy was destroyed by Putin". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
310. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 11.
311. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, pp. 116–117.
312. ^ Gooding 1990, p. 197.
313. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 22.
314. ^ McCauley 1998, pp. 262–263.
315. ^ a b McCauley 1998, p. 264.
316. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 215.
317. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 386.
318. ^ Medvedev 1986, p. 160.
319. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 50; Taubman 2017, p. 44.
320. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 94.
321. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 179.
322. ^ McCauley 1998, p. 18.
323. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 142.
324. ^ Taubman 2017, pp. 4–5.
325. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 155.
326. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 290.
327. ^ Rodriguez, Alex (23 March 2008). "Gorbachev a closet Christian?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
328. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 16.
329. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 150.
330. ^ Taubman 2017, pp. 114–115.
331. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 17.
332. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 137.
333. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 163.
334. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 347.
335. ^ Taubman 2017, pp. 136–137.
336. ^ Ljunggren, David (30 August 2022). "Last Soviet leader Gorbachev, who ended Cold War and won Nobel prize, dies aged 91". Reuters. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
337. ^ Heintz, Jim (30 August 2022). "Mikhail Gorbachev, who steered Soviet breakup, dead at 91". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
338. ^ Cullinane, Susannah; Smith-Spark, Laura (30 August 2022). "Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet president who took down the Iron Curtain, dies". CNN. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
339. ^ "Источник: ухудшения здоровья Горбачева нет" [Source: no deterioration in Gorbachev's health] (in Russian). TASS. 20 June 2022. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
340. ^ Вишнева, Светлана (20 June 2022). "Представитель Горбачева подтвердил наличие проблем с почками у политика". radiokp.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
341. ^ "Mikhail Gorbachev was hospitalized in the Central Clinical Hospital". Forbes.ru (in Russian). 11 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
342. ^ "Михаил Горбачев перенес сложную операцию на позвоночнике". Российская газета (in Russian). 14 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
343. ^ "Горбачев находится в Германии на плановом обследовании в одной из клиник". Interfax.ru (in Russian). 22 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
344. ^ "Последний президент СССР Михаил Горбачев госпитализирован". РБК (in Russian). 9 October 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
345. ^ Сарджвеладзе, София (31 August 2022). "Прощание с Горбачевым пройдет 3 сентября в Колонном зале". Главные события в России и мире | RTVI (in Russian). Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
346. ^ Zemlianichenko, Alexander (3 September 2022). "Gorbachev buried in Moscow in funeral snubbed by Putin". TelegraphHerald.com. Archived from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
347. ^ "Gorbachev buried in Moscow in funeral snubbed by Putin". Daily News. New York. 3 September 2022. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
348. ^ a b Taubman 2017, p. 1.
349. ^ "ПРАВИТЕЛИ". levada.ru. 15 February 2017. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
350. ^ Taubman 2017, pp. 1, 539.
351. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 286; McCauley 1998, p. 138.
352. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 391.
353. ^ McCauley 1998, p. 267.
354. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 396.
355. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 410.
356. ^ a b c d Taubman 2017, p. 688.
357. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 687.
358. ^ McCauley 1998, pp. 278–279.
359. ^ Bunce 1992, p. 205; McCauley 1998, p. 275.
360. ^ McCauley 1998, p. 197.
361. ^ "Suing Gorbachev 31 years after the USSR's collapse, a group of Lithuanians sought to hold its last leader to account". Meduza. 3 October 2022. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
362. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 134.
363. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 388.
364. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 416; Steele 1996, p. 145.
365. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 324.
366. ^ Steele 1996, p. 145.
367. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 690.
368. ^ McCauley 1998, p. 276.
369. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 268.
370. ^ Taubman 2017, p. 691.
371. ^ "Praise and Blame: How Russia Reacted to the Death of Gorbachev". Moscow Times. 31 August 2022. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
372. ^ Galeotti 1997, p. 35.
373. ^ McCauley 1998, pp. 257–258.
374. ^ Berger, Marilyn (30 August 2022). "Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Reformist Soviet Leader, Is Dead at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
375. ^ Doder & Branson 1990, p. 366.
376. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1990". Nobel Foundation. 15 October 1990. Archived from the original on 8 November 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
377. ^ "Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library". Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
378. ^ "1994– Mikhail Gorbachev". Archived from the original on 13 October 2011.
379. ^ "Cidadãos Estrangeiros Agraciados com Ordens Portuguesas – Página Oficial das Ordens Honoríficas Portuguesas". ordens.presidencia.pt (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
380. ^ "NCRM: Freedom Awards Winners". Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
381. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
382. ^ "Previous Recipients of Keys to the City". dublincity.ie. Dublin City Council. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
383. ^ "Mikhail Gorbachev". European Academy of Yuste Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
384. ^ "Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf – Beintus Wolf Tracks". Pentatone. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
385. ^ "Reunification Politicians Accept Prize". Deutsche Welle. 17 June 2005. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2006.
386. ^ Kangarooo (8 September 2022). Theatre play "Gorbachev" спектакл "Горбачёв" about Mikhail Gorbachev Михаил Горбачёв – via Rumble.
387. ^ Arutyunyan, Ani (7 July 2021). "Review: Gorbachev at The State Theatre Of Nations". BroadwayWorld. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021. "The production runs from October, 2020. Next dates: 8 September 2021"
388. ^ Mikhail Gorbachev Dies: Last Leader Of Soviet Union Was 91 Archived 25 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine, by Ted Johnson and Erik Pedersen; at Deadline Hollywood; published August 30, 2022; retrieved April 11, 2024
389. ^ O'Sullivan, Michael (22 March 2023). "'Tetris': A heady Cold War thriller about the fight over a video game". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
390. ^ Olek Krupa (9 March 2021). "I Despised Gorbachev Until I Played His Role On the set of "Reagan," I began to understand the Soviet leader". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
391. ^ Wojnar, Jason (21 November 2020). "10 Unintentionally Hilarious Things About Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War". TheGamer. Archived from the original on 18 December 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.

### Sources

[edit]

* Bunce, Valerie (1992). "On Gorbachev". The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review. 19 (1): 199–206\. doi:10.1163/187633292X00108.
* Doder, Dusko; Branson, Louise (1990). Gorbachev: Heretic in the Kremlin. London: Futura. ISBN 978-0-70884940-8.
* Galeotti, Mark (1997). Gorbachev and his Revolution. London: Palgrave. ISBN 978-0-33363855-2.
* Gooding, John (1990). "Gorbachev and Democracy". Soviet Studies. 42 (2): 195–231\. doi:10.1080/09668139008411864. JSTOR 152078.
* McCauley, Martin (1998). Gorbachev. Profiles in Power. London and New York: Longman. ISBN 978-0-58221597-9.
* Medvedev, Zhores (1986). Gorbachev. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-39302308-4.
* Steele, Jonathan (1996). "Why Gorbachev Failed". New Left Review. 216: 141–152.
* Taubman, William (2017). Gorbachev: His Life and Times. New York City: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-47114796-8.
* Tuminez, Astrid S. (2003). "Nationalism, Ethnic Pressures, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union". Journal of Cold War Studies. 5 (4): 81–136\. doi:10.1162/152039703322483765. JSTOR 26925339. S2CID 57565508.

## Further reading

[edit]

See also: Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War, bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union, and bibliography of the post-Stalinist Soviet Union

* Brown, Archie. The human factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the end of the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 2020). [ISBN missing]
* Duncan, W. Raymond, and Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl. Moscow and the third world under Gorbachev (Routledge, 2019). [ISBN missing]
* Eklof, Ben. Soviet briefing: Gorbachev and the reform period (Routledge, 2019). [ISBN missing]
* Kotkin, Stephen. Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970–2000 (2nd ed. 2008) excerpt Archived 31 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
* Kramer, Mark. "Mikhail Gorbachev and the Origins of Perestroika: A Retrospective." Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 29.3 (2021): 255–258.
* Lane, David. "The Gorbachev revolution: The role of the political elite in regime disintegration." Political studies 44.1 (1996): 4–23.
* McHugh, James T. "Last of the enlightened despots: A comparison of President Mikhail Gorbachev and Emperor Joseph II." Social Science Journal 32.1 (1995): 69–85 online abstract  Archived 15 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
* Woodby, Sylvia Babus. Gorbachev and the decline of ideology in Soviet foreign policy (Routledge, 2019). [ISBN missing]
* Ostrovsky, Alexander (2010). Кто поставил Горбачёва? (Who put Gorbachev?) Archived 7 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine – М.: Алгоритм-Эксмо, 2010. – 544 с. ISBN 978-5-699-40627-2.
* Ostrovsky, Alexander (2011). Глупость или измена? Расследование гибели СССР. (Stupidity or treason? Investigation of the death of the USSR) Archived 30 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine М.: Форум, Крымский мост-9Д, 2011. – 864 с. ISBN 978-5-89747-068-6.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Mikhail S. Gorbachev collected news and commentary at The New York Times
* Mikhail Gorbachev at IMDb
* Mikhail Gorbachev on Nobelprize.org

Party political offices

Preceded by

Leonid Yefremov

|  First Secretary of the Stavropol CPSU Regional Committee
1970–1978  | Succeeded by

Vsevolod Murakhovsky

Preceded by

Konstantin Chernenko

|  General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
1985–1991  | Succeeded by

Vladimir Ivashko (acting)

Political offices
Preceded by

Andrei Gromyko

as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet |  Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1988–1989)
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (1989–1990)
President of the Soviet Union (1990–1991)
1988–1991  | Office abolished
Awards and achievements
Preceded by

14th Dalai Lama

|  Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1990  | Succeeded by

Aung San Suu Kyi

Award established  |  Recipient of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award
1992  | Succeeded by

Colin Powell

Articles related to Mikhail Gorbachev

* v
* t
* e

Era of Stagnation

Events (1964–1982)|

* Collective leadership
* Glassboro Summit Conference
* Six-Day War
* Prague Spring
* Invasion of Czechoslovakia
* 1968 Red Square demonstration
* Brezhnev Doctrine
* Brezhnev assassination attempt
* Sino-Soviet border conflict
* Détente
* 1973 oil crisis
* Fall of Saigon
* Vladivostok Summit
* Helsinki Accords
* 1977 Moscow bombings
* 1977 Soviet constitution
* 1978 Georgian demonstrations
* Cambodian–Vietnamese War
* Soviet–Afghan War
* 1980 Summer Olympics
* Reaction to 1980–1981 Polish crisis
* Exercise Zapad
* Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev
* Legacy of Leonid Brezhnev

Events (1982–1985)|

* RYAN
* Korean Air Lines Flight 007
* 1983 false nuclear alarm incident
* Able Archer 83
* Uzbek cotton scandal
* 1984 Summer Olympics boycott
* Friendship Games

Politburo members

* 22nd
* 23rd
* 24th
* 25th
* 26th

* Aliyev
* Andropov
* Brezhnev
* Chebrikov
* Chernenko
* Demichev
* Dolgikh
* Efremov
* Gorbachev
* Grechko
* Grishin
* Gromyko
* Kirilenko
* Kiselyov
* Kunaev
* Kosygin
* Kulakov
* Kuznetsov
* Masherov
* Mazurov
* Mikoyan
* Mzhavanadze
* Pelše
* Podgorny
* Polyansky
* Ponomarev
* Rashidov
* Romanov
* Shcherbytsky
* Shelepin
* Shelest
* Shevardnadze
* Shvernik
* Solomentsev
* Suslov
* Tikhonov
* Ustinov
* Voronov
* Vorotnikov

Leaders|

* The Troika (Brezhnev
* Kosygin
* Podgorny)
* Yuri Andropov
* Konstantin Chernenko

Governments|

* Kosygin's 1st
* 2nd
* 3rd
* 4th
* 5th
* Tikhonov's 1st
* 2nd

National economy|

| Reforms|

* OGAS
* 1965
* 1973
* 1979
* Food Programme
* 1984

|

Five-year plans|

* 8th plan
* 9th plan
* 10th plan
* 11th plan

* v
* t
* e

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

* Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War
* Bibliography of Stalinism and the Soviet Union
* Bibliography of the Post Stalinist Soviet Union

Central Committee|

| Leaders|

* Vladimir Lenin (1912–24)
* Joseph Stalin (1924–53)
* Nikita Khrushchev (1953–64)
* Leonid Brezhnev (1964–82)
* Yuri Andropov (1982–84)
* Konstantin Chernenko (1984–85)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–91)

|

General Secretaries|

* Elena Stasova (1917–18)
* Yakov Sverdlov (1918–19)
* Elena Stasova (Mar.–Dec. 1919)
* Nikolay Krestinsky (1919–21)
* Vyacheslav Molotov (1921–22)
* Joseph Stalin (1922–52)
* Nikita Khrushchev (1953–64)
* Leonid Brezhnev (1964–82)
* Yuri Andropov (1982–84)
* Konstantin Chernenko (1984–85)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–91)
* Vladimir Ivashko (acting, Aug. 1991)

Decision-making bodies|

* Politburo / Presidium
* Secretariat
* Orgburo
* Control Commission

Departments|

* Administrative Organs
* Agriculture
* Chemical Industry
* Construction
* Culture
* Defence Industry
* Foreign Cadres
* General
* Heavy Industry
* Information
* International
* Light- and Food Industry
* Machine Industry
* Organisational-party Work
* Planning and Financial Organs
* Political Administration of the Armed Forces
* Propaganda
* Science and Education
* Trade and Consumers' Services
* Transportation-Communications
* Women

Publications|

* Pravda
* Bolshevik / Kommunist

National meetings|

| Congress|

* 1st (1898)
* 2nd (1903)
* 3rd (1905)
* 4th (1906)
* 5th (1907)
* 6th (1917)
* 7th (1918)
* 8th (1919)
* 9th (1920)
* 10th (1921)
* 11th (1922)
* 12th (1923)
* 13th (1924)
* 14th (1925)
* 15th (1927)
* 16th (1930)
* 17th (1934)
* 18th (1939)
* 19th (1952)
* 20th (1956)
* 21st (1959)
* 22nd (1961)
* 23rd (1966)
* 24th (1971)
* 25th (1976)
* 26th (1981)
* 27th (1986)
* 28th (1990)

|

Conference|

* 1st (1905)
* 2nd (1906)
* 3rd (Aug. 1907)
* 4th (Nov. 1907)
* 5th (1908)
* 6th (1912)
* 7th (1917)
* 8th (1919)
* 9th (1920)
* 10th (May 1921)
* 11th (Dec. 1921)
* 12th (1922)
* 13th (1924)
* 14th (1925)
* 15th (1926)
* 16th (1929)
* 17th (1932)
* 18th (1941)
* 19th (1988)

Leadership sittings|

| Elected by the
Central Committee|

| Politburo|

* Aug.–Oct. 1917
* Oct.–Dec. 1917
* 6th (1917–18)
* 7th (1918–19)
* 8th (1919–20)
* 9th (1920–21)
* 10th (1921–22)
* 11th (1922–23)
* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 17th (1934–39)
* 18th (1939–52)
* 19th (1952–56)
* 20th (1956–61)
* 22nd (1961–66)
* 23rd (1966–71)
* 24th (1971–76)
* 25th (1976–81)
* 26th (1981–86)
* 27th (1986–90)
* 28th (1990–91)

|

Secretariat|

* 6th (1917–18)
* 7th (1918–19)
* 8th (1919–20)
* 9th (1920–21)
* 10th (1921–22)
* 11th (1922–23)
* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 17th (1934–39)
* 18th (1939–52)
* 19th (1952–56)
* 20th (1956–61)
* 22nd (1961–66)
* 23rd (1966–71)
* 24th (1971–76)
* 25th (1976–81)
* 26th (1981–86)
* 27th (1986–90)
* 28th (1990–91)

Orgburo|

* 7th (Jan.–Mar. 1919)
* 8th (1919–20)
* 9th (1920–21)
* 10th (1921–22)
* 11th (1922–23)
* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 17th (1934–39)
* 18th (1939–52)

Control Committee|

* 17th (1934–39)
* 18th (1939–52)
* 19th (1952–56)
* 20th (1956–61)
* 22nd (1961–66)
* 23rd (1966–71)
* 24th (1971–76)
* 25th (1976–81)
* 26th (1981–86)
* 27th (1986–90)

Elected by the Central
Control Commission|

| Presidium|

* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 28th (1990–91)

|

Secretariat|

* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)

Collegium|

* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)

Elected by
Congress|

| Central Committee|

* 1st (1898–1903)
* 2nd (1903–05)
* 3rd (Apr.–Dec. 1905)
* CC of the 1st Conf. (1905–06)
* 4th (1906–07)
* 5th (1907–12)
* CC of the 6th Conf. (1912–17)
* CC of the 7th Conf. (Apr.–Aug. 1917)
* 6th (1917–18)
* 7th (1918–19)
* 8th (1919–20)
* 9th (1920–21)
* 10th (1921–22)
* 11th (1922–23)
* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 17th (1934–39)
* 18th (1939–52)
* 19th (1952–56)
* 20th (1956–61)
* 22nd (1961–66)
* 23rd (1966–71)
* 24th (1971–76)
* 25th (1976–81)
* 26th (1981–86)
* 27th (1986–90)
* 28th (1990–91)

|

Auditing Commission|

* 8th (1919–21)
* 10th (1921–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 17th (1934–39)
* 18th (1939–52)
* 19th (1952–56)
* 20th (1956–61)
* 22nd (1961–66)
* 23rd (1966–71)
* 24th (1971–76)
* 25th (1976–81)
* 26th (1981–86)
* 27th (1986–90)

Control Commission|

* 9th (1920–21)
* 10th (1921–22)
* 11th (1922–23)
* 12th (1923–24)
* 13th (1924–25)
* 14th (1925–27)
* 15th (1927–30)
* 16th (1930–34)
* 28th (1990–91)

Wider organisation|

| Republican-level|

* Armenian
* Azerbaijani
* Byelorussian
* Bukharan
* Estonian
* Georgian
* Karelo-Finnish
* Kazakh
* Khorezmi
* Kirghiz
* Latvian
* Lithuanian
* Moldavian
* Russian SFSR
* Tajik
* Transcaucasian
* Turkestani
* Turkmen
* Ukrainian
* Uzbek

|

Local-level|

* Obkom
* Okrugkom
* Gorkom
* Raikom
* Partkom

|

Other organs|

* Statute
* All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol)
* Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization
* Higher Party School
* Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Soviet Navy

|

Groupings|

* Ban on factions
* Group of Democratic Centralism (1919–21)
* Workers' Opposition (1920–21)
* Workers' Truth (1921–23)
* Left Opposition (1923–27)
* Workers' Group (1923–30)
* Right Opposition (1924–33)
* United Opposition (1926–27)
* Left-Right Bloc (1930)
* Union of Marxist-Leninists (1932)
* Bloc of Soviet Oppositions (1932–33)
* Anti-Party Group (1957)
* Soyuz (1990–91)
* State Committee on the State of Emergency (1991)

See also|

* Bloc of Communists and Non-Partisans
* General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia
* League of Russian Revolutionary Social Democracy Abroad
* League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class
* Purges
* Siberian Social-Democratic Union
* Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania
* Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad

* v
* t
* e

Heads of state of the Soviet Union

Heads of state|

* Kalinin (1922–1946)
* Shvernik (1946–1953)
* Voroshilov (1953–1960)
* Brezhnev (1960–1964)
* Mikoyan (1964–1965)
* Podgorny (1965–1977)
* Brezhnev (1977–1982)
* Andropov (1983–1984)
* Chernenko (1984–1985)
* Gromyko (1985–1988)
* Gorbachev (1988–1991)

Vice heads of state|

* Kuznetsov (1977–1986)
* Demichev (1986–1988)
* Lukyanov (1988–1990)
* Yanayev (1990–1991)

* v
* t
* e

28th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1990–1991)

* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Vladimir Ivashko
* Mykolas Burokevičius
* Givi Gumbaridze
* Stanislav Hurenko
* Alexander Dzasokhov
* Islam Karimov
* Petru Lucinschi
* Absamat Masaliyev
* Qahhor Mahkamov
* Vladimir Movsisyan
* Ayaz Mutallibov
* Nursultan Nazarbayev
* Saparmyrat Nyýazow
* Ivan Polozkov
* Yuri Prokofiev
* Alfrēds Rubiks
* Galina Semenova
* Enn-Arno Sillari
* Sergey Sokolov
* Yegor Stroyev
* Ivan Frolov
* Oleg Shenin
* Gennady Yanayev
* Anatoly Malafeev
* Stepan Pogosyan
* Lembit Annus
* Dzhumgalbek Amanbayev
* Gregory Yeremey
* Mikhail Surkov

* v
* t
* e

27th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1986–1990)

Full members|

* Heydar Aliyev
* Vitaly Vorotnikov
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Andrei Gromyko
* Lev Zaykov
* Dinmukhamed Kunaev
* Yegor Ligachyov
* Nikolai Ryzhkov
* Mikhail Solomentsev
* Viktor Chebrikov
* Eduard Shevardnadze
* Volodymyr Shcherbytsky
* Alexander Yakovlev
* Viktor Nikonov
* Nikolay Slyunkov
* Vadim Medvedev
* Yuri Maslyukov
* Vladimir Kryuchkov
* Vladimir Ivashko

Candidate members|

* Pyotr Demichev
* Vladimir Dolgikh
* Boris Yeltsin
* Nikolay Slyunkov
* Sergey Sokolov
* Nikolai Talyzin
* Yuri Solovyev
* Alexander Yakovlev
* Dmitry Yazov
* Yuri Maslyukov
* Georgy Razumovsky
* Alexandra Biryukova
* Alexander Vlasov
* Anatoly Lukyanov
* Yevgeny Primakov
* Boris Pugo

* v
* t
* e

26th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1981–1986)

Full members|

* Yuri Andropov
* Leonid Brezhnev
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Viktor Grishin
* Andrei Gromyko
* Andrei Kirilenko
* Dinmukhamed Kunaev
* Arvīds Pelše
* Grigory Romanov
* Mikhail Suslov
* Nikolai Tikhonov
* Dmitry Ustinov
* Heydar Aliyev
* Konstantin Chernenko
* Volodymyr Shcherbytsky
* Vitaly Vorotnikov
* Mikhail Solomentsev
* Viktor Chebrikov
* Yegor Ligachyov
* Nikolai Ryzhkov
* Eduard Shevardnadze

Candidate members|

* Heydar Aliyev
* Pyotr Demichev
* Tikhon Kiselyov
* Vasili Kuznetsov
* Boris Ponomarev
* Sharof Rashidov
* Mikhail Solomentsev
* Eduard Shevardnadze
* Vladimir Dolgikh
* Vitaly Vorotnikov
* Viktor Chebrikov
* Sergey Sokolov
* Nikolai Talyzin
* Boris Yeltsin

* v
* t
* e

25th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1976–1981)

Full members|

* Yuri Andropov
* Leonid Brezhnev
* Andrei Grechko
* Viktor Grishin
* Andrei Gromyko
* Andrei Kirilenko
* Alexei Kosygin
* Fyodor Kulakov
* Dinmukhamed Kunaev
* Kirill Mazurov
* Arvīds Pelše
* Nikolai Podgorny
* Grigory Romanov
* Mikhail Suslov
* Dmitry Ustinov
* Volodymyr Shcherbytsky
* Konstantin Chernenko
* Nikolai Tikhonov
* Mikhail Gorbachev

Candidate members|

* Heydar Aliyev
* Pyotr Demichev
* Pyotr Masherov
* Boris Ponomarev
* Sharof Rashidov
* Mikhail Solomentsev
* Vasili Kuznetsov
* Konstantin Chernenko
* Nikolai Tikhonov
* Eduard Shevardnadze
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Tikhon Kiselyov

* v
* t
* e

Leaders of the ruling Communist parties of the Eastern Bloc

| Party of Labour of Albania|

* Enver Hoxha
* Ramiz Alia

|

Bulgarian Communist Party|

* Georgi Dimitrov
* Valko Chervenkov
* Todor Zhivkov
* Petar Mladenov

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|

* Klement Gottwald
* Antonín Novotný
* Alexander Dubček
* Gustáv Husák
* Miloš Jakeš
* Karel Urbánek

Socialist Unity Party of Germany|

* Wilhelm Pieck
* Otto Grotewohl
* Walter Ulbricht
* Erich Honecker
* Egon Krenz
* Gregor Gysi

Hungarian Working People's Party
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party|

* Mátyás Rákosi
* Ernő Gerő
* Imre Nagy
* János Kádár
* Károly Grósz
* Rezső Nyers

| Polish Workers' Party
Polish United Workers' Party|

* Bolesław Bierut
* Edward Ochab
* Władysław Gomułka
* Edward Gierek
* Stanisław Kania
* Wojciech Jaruzelski

|

Romanian Communist Party|

* Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
* Gheorghe Apostol
* Nicolae Ceaușescu

Communist Party of the Soviet Union|

* Vladimir Lenin
* Joseph Stalin
* Georgy Malenkov
* Nikita Khrushchev
* Leonid Brezhnev
* Yuri Andropov
* Konstantin Chernenko
* Mikhail Gorbachev

League of Communists of Yugoslavia|

* Josip Broz Tito
* Stevan Doronjski
* Lazar Mojsov
* Dušan Dragosavac
* Mitja Ribičič
* Dragoslav Marković
* Ali Šukrija
* Vidoje Žarković
* Milanko Renovica
* Boško Krunić
* Stipe Šuvar
* Milan Pančevski

* v
* t
* e

Revolutions of 1989

Internal
background|

* Era of Stagnation
* Communism
* Anti-communism
* Criticism of communist party rule
* Eastern Bloc
* Eastern Bloc politics
* Eastern Bloc media and propaganda
* Emigration from the Eastern Bloc
* KGB
* Nomenklatura
* Shortage economy
* Totalitarianism
* Anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe

International
background|

* Active measures
* Cold War
* List of socialist states
* People Power Revolution
* Predictions of the collapse of the Soviet Union
* Reagan Doctrine
* Soviet Empire
* Terrorism and the Soviet Union
* Vatican Opposition
* Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

Reforms|

* Uskorenie
* Perestroika
* Demokratizatsiya
* Khozraschyot
* 500 Days Program
* New political thinking
* Sinatra Doctrine
* Glasnost
* Reform and opening up
* Socialism with Chinese characteristics
* Đổi Mới

Government
leaders|

* Ramiz Alia
* Nicolae Ceaușescu
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Károly Grósz
* Erich Honecker
* Miloš Jakeš
* Egon Krenz
* Wojciech Jaruzelski
* Slobodan Milošević
* Mathieu Kérékou
* Mengistu Haile Mariam
* Ne Win
* Denis Sassou Nguesso
* Heng Samrin
* Deng Xiaoping
* Zhao Ziyang
* Todor Zhivkov
* Siad Barre

Opposition
methods|

* Civil resistance
* Human chains
* Magnitizdat
* Polish underground press
* Political demonstration
* Protests
* Samizdat
* Strike action

Opposition
leaders|

* Lech Wałęsa
* Václav Havel
* Alexander Dubček
* Ion Iliescu
* Liu Gang
* Wu'erkaixi
* Chai Ling
* Wang Dan
* Feng Congde
* Tank Man
* Joachim Gauck
* Sali Berisha
* Sanjaasürengiin Zorig
* Vladimir Bukovsky
* Boris Yeltsin
* Viacheslav Chornovil
* Vytautas Landsbergis
* Zianon Pazniak
* Zhelyu Zhelev
* Aung San Suu Kyi
* Meles Zenawi
* Isaias Afwerki
* Ronald Reagan
* George H. W. Bush
* Pope John Paul II

Opposition
movements|

* Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation
* Charter 77
* New Forum
* Civic Forum
* Democratic Party of Albania
* Democratic Russia
* Initiative for Peace and Human Rights
* Sąjūdis
* People's Movement of Ukraine
* Solidarity
* Popular Front of Latvia
* Popular Front of Estonia
* Public Against Violence
* Belarusian Popular Front
* Rastokhez
* National League for Democracy
* National Salvation Front
* Union of Democratic Forces
* Inter-regional Deputies Group
* Alliance of Free Democrats
* Hungarian Democratic Forum

Events
by location|

| Central and
Eastern Europe|

* Albania
* Bulgaria
* Czechoslovakia
* East Germany
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Soviet Union
* Yugoslavia

|

Soviet Union|

* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Chechnya
* Estonia
* Georgia
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Kazakhstan
* Kyrgyzstan
* Moldova
* Russia
* Tajikistan
* Turkmenistan
* Ukraine
* Uzbekistan

Elsewhere|

* Afghanistan
* Angola
* Benin
* Burma
* Cambodia
* China
* Congo-Brazzaville
* Ethiopia
* Mongolia
* Mozambique
* Somalia
* South Yemen

Individual
events|

* Jeltoqsan
* 1987–1989 Tibetan unrest
* Wars in the Caucasus
* 1988 Polish strikes
* Polish Round Table Agreement
* April 9 tragedy
* Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria
* Hungarian Round Table Talks
* Pan-European Picnic
* Baltic Way
* Monday Demonstrations
* Alexanderplatz demonstration
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* Fall of the inner German border
* Malta Summit
* Black January
* 1990s post-Soviet aliyah
* Helsinki Summit
* Revolution on Granite
* Reunification of Germany
* January Events in Lithuania
* January Events in Latvia
* Transnistria War
* 1991 protests in Belgrade
* 1991 Belarusian strikes
* Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
* August Coup
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* Tajikistani Civil War
* Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Later events|

* Colour revolution
* Decommunization
* Lustration
* Democratization
* Economic liberalization
* Post-Soviet conflicts
* Neo-Sovietism
* Neo-Stalinism
* Post-communism
* Yugoslav Wars
* Pink tide

Related|

* Human rights in the Soviet Union

* v
* t
* e

Cold War

* United States
* Soviet Union
* NATO
* Warsaw Pact
* ANZUS
* METO
* SEATO
* NEATO
* Rio Pact
* Non-Aligned Movement

1940s|

* Morgenthau Plan
* Hukbalahap rebellion
* Jamaican political conflict
* Dekemvriana
* Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
* Operation Priboi
* Operation Jungle
* Occupation of the Baltic states
* Cursed soldiers
* Operation Unthinkable
* Gouzenko Affair
* Division of Korea
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Operation Masterdom
* Operation Beleaguer
* Operation Blacklist Forty
* Iran crisis of 1946
* Greek Civil War
* Baruch Plan
* Corfu Channel incident
* Turkish Straits crisis
* Restatement of Policy on Germany
* First Indochina War
* 1947 Polish parliamentary election
* Truman Doctrine
* Asian Relations Conference
* May 1947 crises
* Partition of India
* Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948
* 1947–1949 Palestine war
* 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
* 1948 Arab–Israeli War
* 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
* Marshall Plan
* Comecon
* 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
* Incapacitation of the Allied Control Council
* Al-Wathbah uprising
* Tito–Stalin split
* Berlin Blockade
* Annexation of Hyderabad
* Madiun Affair
* Western betrayal
* Iron Curtain
* Eastern Bloc
* Western Bloc
* Chinese Civil War
* Chinese Communist Revolution
* Malayan Emergency
* March 1949 Syrian coup d'état
* Operation Valuable

1950s|

* Bamboo curtain
* McCarthyism
* Korean War
* Arab Cold War (1952–1979)
* 1952 Egyptian revolution
* Iraqi Intifada (1952)
* Mau Mau rebellion
* East German uprising of 1953
* 1953 Iranian coup d'état
* Pact of Madrid
* Bricker Amendment
* 1954 Syrian coup d'état
* Petrov Affair
* Domino theory
* 1954 Geneva Conference
* 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
* Capture of the Tuapse
* First Taiwan Strait Crisis
* Jebel Akhdar War
* Algerian War
* Kashmir Princess
* Bandung Conference
* Geneva Summit (1955)
* Vietnam War
* Cyprus Emergency
* "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"
* 1956 Poznań protests
* Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* Polish October
* Suez Crisis
* "We will bury you"
* Operation Gladio
* Syrian Crisis of 1957
* Sputnik crisis
* Ifni War
* Iraqi 14 July Revolution
* 1958 Lebanon crisis
* Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
* 1959 Mosul uprising
* 1959 Tibetan uprising
* Laotian Civil War
* Kitchen Debate
* Cuban Revolution
* Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution
* Sino-Soviet split
* Night Frost Crisis

1960s|

* Congo Crisis
* Simba rebellion
* 1960 U-2 incident
* John F. Kennedy
* Bay of Pigs Invasion
* 1960 Turkish coup d'état
* Albanian–Soviet split
* Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
* First Iraqi–Kurdish War
* Berlin Crisis of 1961
* Berlin Wall
* Annexation of Goa
* Papua conflict
* Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
* Sand War
* Portuguese Colonial War
* Angolan War of Independence
* Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
* Mozambican War of Independence
* Cuban Missile Crisis
* El Porteñazo
* Sino-Indian War
* Communist insurgency in Sarawak
* Ramadan Revolution
* Eritrean War of Independence
* North Yemen civil war
* 1963 Syrian coup d'état
* Assassination of John F. Kennedy
* Lyndon B. Johnson
* Aden Emergency
* Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964
* Shifta War
* Mexican Dirty War
* Tlatelolco massacre
* Guatemalan Civil War
* Colombian conflict
* 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
* Dominican Civil War
* Rhodesian Bush War
* Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966
* Transition to the New Order (Indonesia)
* ASEAN Declaration
* 1966 Syrian coup d'état
* Cultural Revolution
* Argentine Revolution
* South African Border War
* Korean DMZ Conflict
* 12-3 incident
* Greek junta
* 1967 Hong Kong riots
* Years of Lead (Italy)
* Six-Day War
* War of Attrition
* Dhofar War
* Al-Wadiah War
* Nigerian Civil War
* Protests of 1968
* May 68
* Prague Spring
* USS Pueblo incident
* 1968 Polish political crisis
* Communist insurgency in Malaysia
* Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
* 17 July Revolution
* 1968 Peruvian coup d'état
* Revolutionary Government
* 1969 Sudanese coup d'état
* 1969 Libyan revolution
* Goulash Communism
* Sino-Soviet border conflict
* New People's Army rebellion
* Note Crisis

1970s|

* Détente
* Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
* Black September
* Alcora Exercise
* Corrective Movement (Syria)
* Western Sahara conflict
* Cambodian Civil War
* Communist insurgency in Thailand
* 1970 Polish protests
* Koza riot
* Realpolitik
* Ping-pong diplomacy
* 1971 JVP insurrection
* Corrective revolution (Egypt)
* 1971 Turkish military memorandum
* 1971 Sudanese coup d'état
* 1971 Bolivian coup d'état
* Four Power Agreement on Berlin
* Bangladesh Liberation War
* 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
* North Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972
* First Yemenite War
* Munich massacre
* 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency
* Eritrean Civil Wars
* 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état
* 1973 Afghan coup d'état
* 1973 Chilean coup d'état
* Yom Kippur War
* 1973 oil crisis
* Carnation Revolution
* Spanish transition to democracy
* Metapolitefsi
* Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
* Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
* Turkish invasion of Cyprus
* 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état
* Siege of Dhaka (1975)
* Sipahi-Janata revolution
* Angolan Civil War
* Indonesian invasion of East Timor
* Cambodian genocide
* June 1976 protests
* Mozambican Civil War
* Oromo conflict
* Ogaden War
* 1978 Somali coup attempt
* Western Sahara War
* Ethiopian Civil War
* Lebanese Civil War
* Sino-Albanian split
* Third Indochina War
* Cambodian–Vietnamese War
* Cambodian conflict
* Operation Condor
* Dirty War (Argentina)
* 1976 Argentine coup d'état
* Egyptian–Libyan War
* German Autumn
* Korean Air Lines Flight 902
* Nicaraguan Revolution
* Uganda–Tanzania War
* NDF Rebellion
* Chadian–Libyan War
* Second Yemenite War
* Grand Mosque seizure
* Iranian revolution
* Saur Revolution
* Sino-Vietnamese War
* New Jewel Movement
* 1979 Herat uprising
* Seven Days to the River Rhine
* Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

1980s|

* Salvadoran Civil War
* Soviet–Afghan War
* 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts
* Gera Demands
* Peruvian Revolution
* Gdańsk Agreement
* Solidarity
* Eritrean Civil Wars
* 1980 Turkish coup d'état
* Ugandan Bush War
* Gulf of Sidra incident
* Martial law in Poland
* Casamance conflict
* Falklands War
* 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
* Ndogboyosoi War
* United States invasion of Grenada
* Able Archer 83
* Star Wars
* 1985 Geneva Summit
* Iran–Iraq War
* Somali Rebellion
* Reykjavík Summit
* 1986 Black Sea incident
* South Yemen civil war
* Toyota War
* 1987 Lieyu massacre
* Operation Denver
* 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
* Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
* 1988 Black Sea bumping incident
* 8888 Uprising
* Solidarity (Soviet reaction)
* Contras
* Central American crisis
* Operation RYAN
* Korean Air Lines Flight 007
* People Power Revolution
* Glasnost
* Perestroika
* Bougainville conflict
* First Nagorno-Karabakh War
* Afghan Civil War
* United States invasion of Panama
* 1988 Polish strikes
* Polish Round Table Agreement
* 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
* Revolutions of 1989
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* Fall of the inner German border
* Velvet Revolution
* Romanian Revolution
* Peaceful Revolution

1990s|

* Mongolian Revolution of 1990
* Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident
* Gulf War
* Min Ping Yu No. 5202
* German reunification
* Yemeni unification
* Fall of communism in Albania
* Breakup of Yugoslavia
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* 1991 August Coup
* Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Frozen conflicts|

* Abkhazia
* China-Taiwan
* Korea
* Kosovo
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria
* Sino-Indian border dispute
* North Borneo dispute

Foreign policy|

* Truman Doctrine
* Containment
* Eisenhower Doctrine
* Domino theory
* Hallstein Doctrine
* Kennedy Doctrine
* Peaceful coexistence
* Ostpolitik
* Johnson Doctrine
* Brezhnev Doctrine
* Nixon Doctrine
* Ulbricht Doctrine
* Carter Doctrine
* Reagan Doctrine
* Paasikivi–Kekkonen doctrine
* Rollback
* Kinmen Agreement

Ideologies|

| Capitalism|

* Liberalism
* Chicago school
* Conservatism
* American conservatism
* Keynesianism
* Libertarianism
* Monetarism
* Neoclassical economics
* Reaganomics
* Supply-side economics
* Democratic capitalism

|

Socialism|

* Communism
* Marxism–Leninism
* Castroism
* Eurocommunism
* Guevarism
* Hoxhaism
* Juche
* Ho Chi Minh Thought
* Maoism
* Trotskyism
* Stalinism
* Titoism

Other|

* Imperialism
* Anti-imperialism
* Nationalism
* Ultranationalism
* Chauvinism
* Ethnic nationalism
* Racism
* Zionism
* Anti-Zionism
* Fascism
* Neo-Nazism
* Islamism
* Totalitarianism
* Authoritarianism
* Autocracy
* Liberal democracy
* Illiberal democracy
* Guided democracy
* Social democracy
* Third-worldism
* White supremacy
* White nationalism
* White separatism
* Apartheid
* Finlandization

Organizations|

* NATO
* SEATO
* METO
* EEC
* Warsaw Pact
* Comecon
* Non-Aligned Movement
* NN States
* ASEAN
* SAARC
* Safari Club

Propaganda|

| Pro-communist|

* Active measures
* Izvestia
* Neues Deutschland
* Pravda
* Radio Moscow
* Rudé právo
* Trybuna Ludu
* TASS
* Soviet Life

|

Pro-Western|

* Amerika
* Crusade for Freedom
* Paix et Liberté
* Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

* Red Scare
* Voice of America

Technological
competition|

* Arms race
* Nuclear arms race
* Space Race

Historians|

* Gar Alperovitz
* Thomas A. Bailey
* Michael Beschloss
* Archie Brown
* Warren H. Carroll
* Adrian Cioroianu
* John Costello
* Michael Cox
* Nicholas J. Cull
* Norman Davies
* Willem Drees
* Robert D. English
* Herbert Feis
* Robert Hugh Ferrell
* André Fontaine
* Anneli Ute Gabanyi
* John Lewis Gaddis
* Lloyd Gardner
* Timothy Garton Ash
* Gabriel Gorodetsky
* Fred Halliday
* Jussi Hanhimäki
* John Earl Haynes
* Patrick J. Hearden
* Tvrtko Jakovina
* Tony Judt
* Harvey Klehr
* Gabriel Kolko
* Walter LaFeber
* Walter Laqueur
* Melvyn P. Leffler
* Geir Lundestad
* Vojtech Mastny
* Jack F. Matlock Jr.
* Thomas J. McCormick
* Timothy Naftali
* Marius Oprea
* David S. Painter
* William B. Pickett
* Ronald E. Powaski
* Yakov M. Rabkin
* M. E. Sarotte
* Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
* Ellen Schrecker
* Giles Scott-Smith
* Shen Zhihua
* Timothy Snyder
* Athan Theoharis
* Andrew Thorpe
* Vladimir Tismăneanu
* Patrick Vaughan
* Alex von Tunzelmann
* Odd Arne Westad
* William Appleman Williams
* Jonathan Reed Winkler
* Rudolph Winnacker
* Ken Young

Espionage and
intelligence|

* List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United States
* Soviet espionage in the United States
* Russian espionage in the United States
* American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation
* CIA and the Cultural Cold War
* CIA
* MI5
* MI6
* United States involvement in regime change
* Soviet involvement in regime change
* MVD
* KGB
* Stasi

See also|

* Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
* Soviet Union–United States relations
* Soviet Union–United States summits
* Russia–NATO relations
* War on terror
* Brinkmanship
* Pax Atomica
* Second Cold War
* Russian Revolution

* Category
* List of conflicts
* Timeline

* v
* t
* e

Soviet–Afghan War

* Part of the Afghan conflict and the Cold War

Belligerents|

| Alliance|

* Soviet Union
* Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

|

Mujahideen|

* Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen
* Jamiat-e Islami
* Shura-e Nazar
* Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin
* Maktab al-Khidamat
* Hezb-e Islami Khalis
* Hezb-e Wahdat
* Ittehad i-Islami

Leaders|

| Alliance|

* Leonid Brezhnev
* Yuri Andropov
* Konstantin Chernenko
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Babrak Karmal
* Mohammad Najibullah
* Abdul Rashid Dostum

|

Mujahideen|

* Ahmad Shah Massoud
* Abdul Ali Mazari
* Abdullah Yusuf Azzam
* Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
* Abdul Haq
* Abdul Rahim Wardak
* Burhanuddin Rabbani

Events by year|

* 1979
* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989

Military operations|

* Operation Storm-333
* Siege of Khost
* Panjshir offensives
* Siege of Urgun
* Battle of Maravar Pass
* Badaber uprising
* Battles of Zhawar
* Battle of Jaji
* Battle of Arghandab (1987)
* Operation Magistral
* Battle for Hill 3234
* Operation Arrow
* Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan

Civilian protests|

* 3 Hoot uprising
* Kabul students' uprising

Related topics|

* Soviet aircraft losses
* War in popular culture
* Military equipment used by Mujahideen
* Afghanistan War Memorial, Kyiv
* Raids inside the Soviet Union during the war

Films about war|

* List of films
* The 9th Company
* Afghan Breakdown
* Afghantsi
* All Costs Paid
* The Beast
* Cargo 200
* Charlie Wilson's War
* The Kite Runner
* The Living Daylights
* The Magic Mountain
* Peshavar Waltz
* Rambo III
* Pictures from Afghanistan (documentary)
* Bitter Lake (documentary)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Background|

* Nagorno-Karabakh
* History
* Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920)
* Deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* Wars in the Caucasus
* Karabakh movement
* Miatsum
* Armenians in Azerbaijan
* Armenians in Baku
* Azerbaijanis in Armenia
* Anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan
* Armenia–Azerbaijan relations

First war (1988–1994)|

* Çardaqlı clash
* Askeran clash
* Sumgait pogrom
* Gugark pogrom
* Zvartnots Airport clash
* Shusha and Stepanakert pogroms
* Kirovabad pogrom
* Il-76 crash near Leninakan (1988)
* Baku pogrom
* Bağanis Ayrum
* 1990 Tbilisi–Agdam bus bombing
* Operation Ring
* Voskepar massacre
* Battle of Togh
* 1991 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown
* Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
* Siege of Stepanakert
* Operation Dashalty
* 1992 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown
* Capture of Gushchular and Malibeyli
* Capture of Garadaghly
* Khojaly massacre
* Maraga massacre
* Capture of Shusha
* Capture of Artsvashen
* Operation Goranboy
* Mardakert and Martuni Offensives
* Operation Həsənqaya
* Battle of Lachin
* Operation Qazançı
* 1993 Azerbaijani coup d'état
* Battle of Kalbajar
* Battle of Aghdam
* 1993 Summer Offensives
* Operation Geghamasar
* Operation Horadiz
* Operation Kalbajar
* 1994 Baku Metro bombings
* 1994 Iranian Air Force C-130 shootdown
* 1994 Bagratashen bombing
* Refugees in Azerbaijan

Interwar clashes|

* 2008 Mardakert clashes
* January 2009 Agdam military incident
* September 2009 Agdam military incident
* 2010 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes
* 2010 Mardakert clashes
* 2012 Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes
* 2014 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
* 2014 Armenian Mil Mi-24 shootdown
* 2016 Odundağ clashes
* 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
* 2017 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
* Shelling of Alxanlı
* 2018 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
* 2019 clash near Chinari
* July 2020 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
* Incidents
* Protests in Azerbaijan
* Reactions

Second war (2020)|

* Timeline
* Casualties
* International reactions
* Allegations of third-party involvement
* Madagiz offensive
* Aras Valley campaign
* Bombardments (Barda, Ganja, Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, Martuni, Stepanakert, Tartar)
* Battle of Hadrut
* Lachin offensive
* Battle of Shusha
* Russian Mil Mi-24 shootdown
* War crimes
* Treatment of Armenian POWs

Post-ceasefire events|

* 2020–2021 Armenian protests
* Chaylaggala and Hin Tagher
* Border crisis
* September 2022 escalation
* Susuzluq
* Shusha
* Farukh
* 2022 Armenian protests
* Blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh
* 2023 Azerbaijani offensive
* Protests in Armenia
* Flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians
* Berkadzor fuel depot explosion

Main locations|

* Administrative divisions of the Republic of Artsakh
* Stepanakert
* Askeran Province
* Hadrut Province
* Kashatagh Province
* Martakert Province
* Martuni Province
* Shahumyan Province
* Shushi Province
* Armenian-occupied territories
* Aghdam District
* Fuzuli District
* Jabrayil District
* Kalbajar District
* Lachin District
* Lachin corridor
* Qubadli District
* Zangilan District

Political leaders|

* Armenia
* Levon Ter-Petrosyan
* Robert Kocharyan
* Serzh Sargsyan
* Nikol Pashinyan

* Republic of Artsakh
* Artur Mkrtchyan
* Robert Kocharyan
* Leonard Petrosyan
* Arkadi Ghukasyan
* Bako Sahakyan
* Arayik Harutyunyan
* Samvel Shahramanyan

* Azerbaijan
* Ayaz Mutallibov
* Abulfaz Elchibey
* Heydar Aliyev
* Ilham Aliyev
* Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh
* Bayram Safarov
* Nizami Bahmanov
* Tural Ganjaliyev

* Russia
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Boris Yeltsin
* Vladimir Putin

* Turkey
* Turgut Özal
* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Military leaders|

* Armenia
* Vazgen Sargsyan
* Gurgen Dalibaltayan
* Norat Ter-Grigoryants
* Jirair Sefilian
* Tiran Khachatryan
* Seyran Ohanyan

* Republic of Artsakh
* Samvel Babayan
* Kristapor Ivanyan
* Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan
* Monte Melkonian
* Jalal Harutyunyan
* Mikael Arzumanyan

* Azerbaijan
* Isgandar Hamidov
* Rahim Gaziyev
* Surat Huseynov
* Valeh Barshadly
* Mais Barkhudarov
* Hikmat Mirzayev
* Hikmat Hasanov

* Russia
* Viktor Polyanichko
* Pavel Grachev
* Rustam Muradov

* Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
* Shamil Basayev

* Afghanistan
* Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

Peace process|

* Baker rules
* Bishkek Protocol
* Tehran Communiqué
* Zheleznovodsk Communiqué
* OSCE Minsk Group
* Prague Process
* Madrid Principles
* 2020 ceasefire agreement
* 2020–2024 monitoring and peacekeeping
* Russia
* OSCE
* EU
* EUMCAP Oct–Dec 2022
* EUPAT Dec 2022–Jan 2023
* EUMA Feb 2023–present
* 2023 ceasefire agreement

International documents|

* Astrakhan Declaration
* Nagorno-Karabakh Declaration
* NATO Lisbon Summit Declaration
* OIC Resolution 10/11
* OIC Resolution 10/37
* PACE Resolution 1416
* PACE Resolution 2085
* UNGA Resolution 48/114
* UNGA Resolution 60/285
* UNGA Resolution 62/243
* UNSC resolutions
* 822
* 853
* 874
* 884

* v
* t
* e

Refusenik movement and 1990s post-Soviet aliyah

(c. 1970 – 2000)

Background|

| Causes|

* The Holocaust
* Antisemitism in the Soviet Union
* Joseph Stalin
* Zionism
* Six-Day War
* Emigration from the Eastern Bloc
* Slánský trial
* Anti-cosmopolitan campaign

|

Jewish groups|

* Ashkenazim
* Mountain Jews
* Karaim
* Krymchaks
* Bukharan Jews
* Georgian Jews

Events|

* Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair
* 1970s aliyah
* Jackson–Vanik amendment
* Helsinki Accords
* Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews
* Operation Solomon
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union

People|

| Soviet Union
Commonwealth of Independent States|

| Pro-government/antisemitic|

* Leonid Brezhnev
* Yuri Andropov
* Mikhail Gorbachev
* Mikhail Suslov
* David Dragunsky
* Yakov Fishman
* Adolf Shayevich
* Emomali Rahmon

|

Jewish|

* Ida Nudel
* Natan Sharansky
* Yuli Edelstein
* Eduard Kuznetsov
* Iosif Begun

United States|

* Jimmy Carter
* Ronald Reagan
* George H. W. Bush
* George Shultz
* Henry M. Jackson
* Charles Vanik
* Menachem Mendel Schneerson
* Meir Kahane

Israel|

* Golda Meir
* Yitzhak Rabin
* Shimon Peres
* Menachem Begin
* Yitzhak Shamir
* Benjamin Netanyahu
* Simcha Dinitz
* Avraham Burg
* Nehemiah Levanon
* Yehuda Lapidot

Other|

| Pro-Soviet|

* Władysław Gomułka

|

Pro-Jewish|

* Nicolae Ceaușescu

Organisations|

| Soviet Union|

* Communist Party of the Soviet Union
* Communist Party of the Russian Federation
* Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public
* Moscow Helsinki Group
* Pamyat

|

United States|

* Jewish Defense League
* American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
* Union of Councils for Soviet Jews
* National Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry

Israel|

* Nativ
* Jewish Agency

Aftermath|

* Russian Jews in Israel
* Yisrael BaAliyah
* Channel 9

* v
* t
* e

Time Persons of the Year

1927–1950|

* Charles Lindbergh (1927)
* Walter Chrysler (1928)
* Owen D. Young (1929)
* Mohandas Gandhi (1930)
* Pierre Laval (1931)
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932)
* Hugh S. Johnson (1933)
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934)
* Haile Selassie (1935)
* Wallis Simpson (1936)
* Chiang Kai-shek / Soong Mei-ling (1937)
* Adolf Hitler (1938)
* Joseph Stalin (1939)
* Winston Churchill (1940)
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941)
* Joseph Stalin (1942)
* George Marshall (1943)
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944)
* Harry S. Truman (1945)
* James F. Byrnes (1946)
* George Marshall (1947)
* Harry S. Truman (1948)
* Winston Churchill (1949)
* The American Fighting-Man (1950)

1951–1975|

* Mohammed Mosaddeq (1951)
* Elizabeth II  (1952)
* Konrad Adenauer (1953)
* John Foster Dulles (1954)
* Harlow Curtice (1955)
* Hungarian Freedom Fighters (1956)
* Nikita Khrushchev (1957)
* Charles de Gaulle (1958)
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1959)
* U.S. Scientists: George Beadle / Charles Draper / John Enders / Donald A. Glaser / Joshua Lederberg / Willard Libby / Linus Pauling / Edward Purcell / Isidor Rabi / Emilio Segrè / William Shockley / Edward Teller / Charles Townes / James Van Allen / Robert Woodward (1960)
* John F. Kennedy (1961)
* Pope John XXIII (1962)
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)
* Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)
* William Westmoreland (1965)
* The Generation Twenty-Five and Under (1966)
* Lyndon B. Johnson (1967)
* The Apollo 8 Astronauts: William Anders / Frank Borman / Jim Lovell (1968)
* The Middle Americans (1969)
* Willy Brandt (1970)
* Richard Nixon (1971)
* Henry Kissinger / Richard Nixon (1972)
* John Sirica (1973)
* King Faisal (1974)
* American Women: Susan Brownmiller / Kathleen Byerly / Alison Cheek / Jill Conway / Betty Ford / Ella Grasso / Carla Hills / Barbara Jordan / Billie Jean King / Susie Sharp / Carol Sutton / Addie Wyatt (1975)

1976–2000|

* Jimmy Carter (1976)
* Anwar Sadat (1977)
* Deng Xiaoping (1978)
* Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)
* Ronald Reagan (1980)
* Lech Wałęsa (1981)
* The Computer (1982)
* Ronald Reagan / Yuri Andropov (1983)
* Peter Ueberroth (1984)
* Deng Xiaoping (1985)
* Corazon Aquino (1986)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1987)
* The Endangered Earth (1988)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (1989)
* George H. W. Bush (1990)
* Ted Turner (1991)
* Bill Clinton (1992)
* The Peacemakers: Yasser Arafat / F. W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela / Yitzhak Rabin (1993)
* Pope John Paul II (1994)
* Newt Gingrich (1995)
* David Ho (1996)
* Andrew Grove (1997)
* Bill Clinton / Ken Starr (1998)
* Jeff Bezos (1999)
* George W. Bush (2000)

2001–present|

* Rudolph Giuliani (2001)
* The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper / Coleen Rowley / Sherron Watkins (2002)
* The American Soldier (2003)
* George W. Bush (2004)
* The Good Samaritans: Bono / Bill Gates / Melinda Gates (2005)
* You (2006)
* Vladimir Putin (2007)
* Barack Obama (2008)
* Ben Bernanke (2009)
* Mark Zuckerberg (2010)
* The Protester (2011)
* Barack Obama (2012)
* Pope Francis (2013)
* Ebola Fighters: Dr. Jerry Brown / Dr. Kent Brantly / Ella Watson-Stryker / Foday Gollah / Salome Karwah (2014)
* Angela Merkel (2015)
* Donald Trump (2016)
* The Silence Breakers (2017)
* The Guardians: Jamal Khashoggi / Maria Ressa / Wa Lone / Kyaw Soe Oo / Staff of The Capital (2018)
* Greta Thunberg (2019)
* Joe Biden / Kamala Harris (2020)
* Elon Musk (2021)
* Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Spirit of Ukraine (2022)
* Taylor Swift (2023)
* Donald Trump (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children

1994–2000|

* Audrey Hepburn's Enchanted Tales – Audrey Hepburn (1994)
* The Lion King Read-Along – Robert Guillaume & Various Artists (1995)
* Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf – Patrick Stewart (1996)
* Stellaluna – David Holt (1997)
* Winnie-the-Pooh – Charles Kuralt (1998)
* The Children's Shakespeare – Various Artists (1999)
* Listen to the Storyteller – Graham Greene, Wynton Marsalis, and Kate Winslet (2000)

2001–2011|

* Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Jim Dale (2001)
* Mama Don't Allow – Tom Chapin (2002)
* There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly – Tom Chapin (2003)
* Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus: Wolf Tracks – Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Sophia Loren (2004)
* The Train They Call the City of New Orleans – Tom Chapin (2005)
* Marlo Thomas and Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long – Marlo Thomas & Various Artists (2006)
* Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates and Dogs – Bill Harley (2007)
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Jim Dale (2008)
* Yes to Running! Bill Harley Live – Bill Harley (2009)
* Aaaaah! Spooky, Scary Stories & Songs – Buck Howdy (2010)
* Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies – Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton (2011)

In 2012, the category was merged back into Best Children's Album.

* v
* t
* e

Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize

1901–1925|

* 1901: Henry Dunant / Frédéric Passy
* 1902: Élie Ducommun / Charles Gobat
* 1903: Randal Cremer
* 1904: Institut de Droit International
* 1905: Bertha von Suttner
* 1906: Theodore Roosevelt
* 1907: Ernesto Moneta / Louis Renault
* 1908: Klas Arnoldson / Fredrik Bajer
* 1909: A. M. F. Beernaert / Paul Estournelles de Constant
* 1910: International Peace Bureau
* 1911: Tobias Asser / Alfred Fried
* 1912: Elihu Root
* 1913: Henri La Fontaine
* 1914
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917: International Committee of the Red Cross
* 1918
* 1919: Woodrow Wilson
* 1920: Léon Bourgeois
* 1921: Hjalmar Branting / Christian Lange
* 1922: Fridtjof Nansen
* 1923
* 1924
* 1925: Austen Chamberlain / Charles Dawes

1926–1950|

* 1926: Aristide Briand / Gustav Stresemann
* 1927: Ferdinand Buisson / Ludwig Quidde
* 1928
* 1929: Frank B. Kellogg
* 1930: Nathan Söderblom
* 1931: Jane Addams / Nicholas Butler
* 1932
* 1933: Norman Angell
* 1934: Arthur Henderson
* 1935: Carl von Ossietzky
* 1936: Carlos Saavedra Lamas
* 1937: Robert Cecil
* 1938: Nansen International Office for Refugees
* 1939
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943
* 1944: International Committee of the Red Cross
* 1945: Cordell Hull
* 1946: Emily Balch / John Mott
* 1947: Friends Service Council / American Friends Service Committee
* 1948
* 1949: John Boyd Orr
* 1950: Ralph Bunche

1951–1975|

* 1951: Léon Jouhaux
* 1952: Albert Schweitzer
* 1953: George C. Marshall
* 1954: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
* 1955
* 1956
* 1957: Lester B. Pearson
* 1958: Georges Pire
* 1959: Philip Noel-Baker
* 1960: Albert Luthuli
* 1961: Dag Hammarskjöld
* 1962: Linus Pauling
* 1963: International Committee of the Red Cross / League of Red Cross Societies
* 1964: Martin Luther King Jr.
* 1965: UNICEF
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968: René Cassin
* 1969: International Labour Organization
* 1970: Norman Borlaug
* 1971: Willy Brandt
* 1972
* 1973: Lê Đức Thọ (declined award) / Henry Kissinger
* 1974: Seán MacBride / Eisaku Satō
* 1975: Andrei Sakharov

1976–2000|

* 1976: Betty Williams / Mairead Corrigan
* 1977: Amnesty International
* 1978: Anwar Sadat / Menachem Begin
* 1979: Mother Teresa
* 1980: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
* 1981: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
* 1982: Alva Myrdal / Alfonso García Robles
* 1983: Lech Wałęsa
* 1984: Desmond Tutu
* 1985: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
* 1986: Elie Wiesel
* 1987: Óscar Arias
* 1988: UN Peacekeeping Forces
* 1989: Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama)
* 1990: Mikhail Gorbachev
* 1991: Aung San Suu Kyi
* 1992: Rigoberta Menchú
* 1993: Nelson Mandela / F. W. de Klerk
* 1994: Shimon Peres / Yitzhak Rabin / Yasser Arafat
* 1995: Pugwash Conferences / Joseph Rotblat
* 1996: Carlos Belo / José Ramos-Horta
* 1997: International Campaign to Ban Landmines / Jody Williams
* 1998: John Hume / David Trimble
* 1999: Médecins Sans Frontières
* 2000: Kim Dae-jung

2001–present|

* 2001: United Nations / Kofi Annan
* 2002: Jimmy Carter
* 2003: Shirin Ebadi
* 2004: Wangari Maathai
* 2005: International Atomic Energy Agency / Mohamed ElBaradei
* 2006: Grameen Bank / Muhammad Yunus
* 2007: Al Gore / Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
* 2008: Martti Ahtisaari
* 2009: Barack Obama
* 2010: Liu Xiaobo
* 2011: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf / Leymah Gbowee / Tawakkol Karman
* 2012: European Union
* 2013: Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
* 2014: Kailash Satyarthi / Malala Yousafzai
* 2015: Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet
* 2016: Juan Manuel Santos
* 2017: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
* 2018: Denis Mukwege / Nadia Murad
* 2019: Abiy Ahmed
* 2020: World Food Programme
* 2021: Maria Ressa / Dmitry Muratov
* 2022: Ales Bialiatski / Memorial / Center for Civil Liberties
* 2023: Narges Mohammadi
* 2024: Nihon Hidankyo

* v
* t
* e

1990 Nobel Prize laureates

Chemistry|

Elias James Corey (United States)

Literature (1990)|

Octavio Paz (Mexico)

Peace|

Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)

Physics|

* Jerome I. Friedman (United States)
* Henry Way Kendall (United States)
* Richard E. Taylor (Canada)

Physiology or Medicine|

* Joseph E. Murray (United States)
* E. Donnall Thomas (United States)

Economic Sciences|

* Harry Markowitz (United States)
* Merton Miller (United States)
* William F. Sharpe (United States)

Nobel Prize recipients
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995

* v
* t
* e

Laureates of the Prince or Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

* 1981: José López Portillo
* 1982: Enrique V. Iglesias
* 1983: Belisario Betancur
* 1984: Contadora group
* 1985: Raúl Alfonsín
* 1986: University of Salamanca and University of Coimbra
* 1987: Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
* 1988: Óscar Arias
* 1989: Jacques Delors and Mikhail Gorbachev
* 1990: Hans-Dietrich Genscher
* 1991: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
* 1992: Frederik W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela
* 1993: United Nations Blue Berets stationed in Ex-Yugoslavia
* 1994: Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat
* 1995: Mário Soares
* 1996: Helmut Kohl
* 1997: Government of Guatemala and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity
* 1998: Emma Bonino, Olayinka Koso-Thomas, Graça Machel, Fatiha Boudiaf, Rigoberta Menchú, Fatana Ishaq Gailani, and Somaly Mam
* 1999: Pedro Duque, John Glenn, Chiaki Mukai, and Valeri Polyakov
* 2000: Fernando Henrique Cardoso
* 2001: International Space Station
* 2002: The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
* 2003: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
* 2004: The European Union's Erasmus Programme
* 2005: Simone Veil
* 2006: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
* 2007: Al Gore
* 2008: Manhiça Centre of Health Research (Mozambique), Ifakara Health Institute (Tanzania), Malaria Research and Training Centre (Mali), and Kintampo Health Research Centre (Ghana)
* 2009: World Health Organization
* 2010: The Transplantation Society and the Spanish National Transplant Organization
* 2011: Bill Drayton
* 2012: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
* 2013: Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science
* 2014: Fulbright Program

Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

* 2015: Wikipedia
* 2016: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement
* 2017: The Hispanic Society of America
* 2018: Amref Health Africa
* 2019: Salman Khan and the Khan Academy
* 2020: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
* 2021: Camfed, Campaign for Female Education
* 2022: Ellen MacArthur
* 2023: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi)
* 2024: Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI)
* 2025: Mario Draghi

* v
* t
* e

Candidates in the 1996 Russian presidential election

Winner|

* Boris Yeltsin Independent
* campaign

Lost in runoff|

* Gennady Zyuganov Communist Party
* campaign

Other candidates|

* Alexander Lebed KRO (campaign)
* Grigory Yavlinsky Yabloko (campaign)
* Vladimir Zhirinovsky LDPR (campaign)
* Svyatoslav Fyodorov PST
* Mikhail Gorbachev Independent (campaign)
* Martin Shakkum Independent
* Yury Vlasov Independent
* Vladimir Bryntsalov Independent

Withdrew|

* Aman Tuleyev Independent
* Viktor Chechevatov Independent

Portals:

* Biography
* Soviet Union
* Russia
* Politics

Mikhail Gorbachev at Wikipedia's sister projects:

* Media from Commons
* News from Wikinews
* Quotations from Wikiquote
* Texts from Wikisource
* Data from Wikidata

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Japan
* Italy
* Australia
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Portugal
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Latvia
* Croatia
* Chile
* Greece
* Korea
* Sweden
* Poland
* Vatican
* Israel
* Finland
* Catalonia
* Belgium

Academics|

* CiNii

Artists|

* MusicBrainz
* Grammy Awards
* FID

People|

* Trove
* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB

Other|

* IdRef
* NARA
* SNAC
* Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine
* Yale LUX

*[m.]: married
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[c.]: circa