Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Russian and Soviet politician who served as the Soviet Union’s last leader. Gorbachev initially supported Marxism-Leninism, but by the early 1990s had shifted to social democracy.
Mikhail Gorbachev did not dissolve the Soviet Union. However, Gorbachev’s decision to allow multi-party elections and establish a presidency for the Soviet Union began a slow process of democratisation that eventually destabilised Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 1988, Time magazine selected Mikhail Gorbachev to be its “Man of the Year” for his work toward ending the Cold War. The next year, it named him its “Man of the Decade.” In 1990, Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Why did the Soviet Union collapse?
On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union formally disintegrated, effectively ending the 40-year Cold War with the United States.
The Soviet Union’s failing post-World War II economy and a weakened military, combined with public dissatisfaction with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost economic and political policies, all contributed to its eventual demise.