Published
Article written by
Mikhail Gorbachev died at the age of 91 on Tuesday August 30. Back on the political life of the last leader of the USSR, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
On Tuesday August 30, Mikhail Gorbachev died at the age of 91. In six years of power, he changed his country and the world. The son of farmers, Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, beginning major reforms. Its objective was to save the Soviet regime through democracy. He launched glasnost (transparency) and perestroika (reconstruction).
Appreciated in the West, he signed with US President Ronald Reagan one of the most important disarmament treaties of the Cold War. In 1989 he withdrew the Red Army from Afghanistan. But that year, for the whole world, he was above all the one who allowed the fall of the Berlin Wall. At home, Mikhail Gorbachev is the man of crisis, his Nobel Peace Prize did not prevent him from being booed on the square red, May 1, 1990. On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev signed his letter of resignation and at the same time the end of the USSR.
all the news in video
Receive the essentials of our news with our newsletter
Newsletter subscription
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you newsletters.
articles on the same topic
Seen from Europe
Franceinfo selects daily content from European public audiovisual media, members of Eurovision. These contents are published in English or French.