# Mikhail Gorbachev

| Mikhail Gorbachev Михаил Горбачёв |
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| Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 |
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| 1st Preses o the Soviet Union |
| **In office** 15 Mairch 1990 – 25 December 1991 |
| Prime Meenister | Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov Ivan Silayev |
| Vice Preses | Gennady Yanayev |
| Precedit bi | Himsel as Chairman o the Supreme Soviet o the Soviet Union |
| Succeedit bi | Poseetion abolished (Soviet Union collapsed) |
| General Secretar o the Central Committee o the Communist Pairty o the Soviet Union |
| **In office** 11 Mairch 1985 – 24 August 1991 |
| Depute | Vladimir Ivashko |
| Precedit bi | Konstantin Chernenko |
| Succeedit bi | Poseetion abolished |
| Chairman o the Supreme Soviet o the Soviet Union |
| **In office** 25 Mey 1989 – 15 Mairch 1990 |
| Depute | Anatoly Lukyanov |
| Precedit bi | Himsel as Chairman o the Presidium o the Supreme Soviet o the Soviet Union |
| Succeedit bi | Anatoly Lukyanov (executive abeelities transferred tae Preses) |
| Chairman of the Presidium o the Supreme Soviet o the Soviet Union |
| **In office** 1 October 1988 – 25 Mey 1989 |
| Precedit bi | Andrei Gromyko |
| Succeedit bi | Himsel as Chairman o the Supreme Soviet o the Soviet Union |
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| Personal details |
| Born | Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev 2 Mairch 1931(1931-03-02) Privolnoye, North Caucasus Krai, Roushie SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Dee'd | 30 August 2022 (aged 91) Moscow, Roushie |
| Naitionality | Roushie |
| Poleetical pairty | Soviet Communist (1950–91) Independent (1991–2001; 2004–07) Roushie Social Democratic (2001–04) Union o Social Democrats (2007–14) |
| Spoose(s) | Raisa Gorbachova  (m. 1953; d. 1999) |
| Bairns | Irina Mikhailovna Virganskaya |
| Eddication | Law |
| Alma mater | Moscow State Varsity |
| Religion | None: Attitude to religion |
| Signatur |  |
| Wabsteid | gorby.ru/en/ |
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Central institution membership
* 1980–1991: Full member, 25t, 26t, 27t, 28t Politburo
* 1979–1980: Candidate member, 25t Politburo
* 1978–1991: Member, 25t, 26t, 27t, 28t Secretariat
* 1971–1991: Full member, 24t, 25t, 26t, 27t, 28t Central Committee

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Other offices held
* 2001–2004: Chairman, Social Democratic Pairty o Russia
* 1985–1991: Chairman, Defence Cooncil
* 1970–1978: First Secretar, Stavropol Regional Committee

**This airticle is pairt o the seriesThe life o Mikhail Gorbachev**
Gorbachev Era
Revolutions o 1989
Dissolution o the Soviet Union

**Leader o the Soviet Union←** Chernenko
* Last leader
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**Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev** (born 2 Mairch 1931; deed 30 August 2022) wis a Soviet leader. He wis the aicht leader of the Soviet Union, haein been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union frae 1985 until 1991. He wis the kintra's heid of state frae 1988 until 1991 (titled as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet frae 1988 to 1989, as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet frae 1989 to 1990, an as President of the Soviet Union frae 1990 to 1991).

Gorbachev wis born in Stavropol Krai intae a peasant Ukrainian–Roushie faimily, an in his teens, operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated frae Moscow State University in 1955 wi a degree in law. While he wis at the varsity, he joined the Communist Party, an suin became very active within it. In 1970, he wis appyntit the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee, First Secretary tae the Supreme Soviet in 1974, an appyntit a member of the Politburo in 1979. Within three years of the daith of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, follaein the brief "interregna" of Andropov an Chernenko, Gorbachev wis elected general secretary bi the Politburo in 1985. Afore he reached the post, he haed occasionally been mentioned in Western newspapers as a likely next leader an a man of the younger generation at the tap level.

Gorbachev's policies of *glasnost* ("openness") an *perestroika* ("restructuring") an his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contreibutit tae the end of the Cold War. Unner this program, the role of the Communist Party in governing the state wis removed frae the constitution, which inadvertently led to crisis-level poleetical instability wi a surge of regional nationalist an anti-communist activism culminatin in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev later expressed regret for his failure to save the USSR, tho he haes insisted that his policies war nae failures but rather war vitally necessary reforms which war sabotaged an exploited bi opportunists. He wis awairdit the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in 1989, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 an the Harvey Prize in 1992, as well as honorary doctorates frae various varsities.

In September 2008, Gorbachev an business oligarch Alexander Lebedev annoonced thay wad form the Independent Democratic Party of Russia, an in Mey 2009 Gorbachev annoonced that the launch wis imminent. This wis Gorbachev's third attempt to establish a poleetical party, haein stairtit the Social Democratic Party of Russia in 2001 an the Union of Social Democrats in 2007.