The collapse of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics radically
changed the world's economic and political environment. No other
conflict of interest dominated the post World War Two world like
the cold war did. One man is credited with ending the cold war,
Mikhail Gorbachev. This however was not the biggest event Gorbachev
was responsible for. The end of the cold war was just a by-product
of the other major event he was involved with. That is the fall
of communism in the USSR and the collapse of the USSR itself.
Gorbachev a communist reformer was appointed General Secretary
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985. His appointment
followed the death of three previous Soviet leaders in three years.
Leonid Brezhnev was first to go followed by Yuri Andropov and Konstantin
Chernenko. Not being able to afford another short term leader the
old guard appointed the youthful 56 year old Mikhial Gorbachev as
General Secretary.
From the outside it seemed as if this great superpower self destructed
in only three months. The USSR's demise is of course more complicated
than this. The break up of the USSR can be traced back to Gorbachevs
appointment and his early reforms. Gorbachev introduced a wide ranging
program of reform. His major reforms were glasnost, perestroika
and democratisation. These reforms allowed the problems of the USSR
to be uncovered and become public knowledge.
Ethnic unrest, economic inefficiency and historical atrocities
were the major challenges Gorbachev faced. How he dealt with these
challenges and how successful he was is examined in this report.
