Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday, had set out to revitalise the moribund Communist system and shape a new union based on a more equal partnership between the 15 republics, of which the two most powerful were Russia and Ukraine. Yet in the space of six years, both Communism and the Union came crashing down.
Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, has died at 91, Russian media reported Tuesday.
both cases, and it led to the kind of understanding that made possible dramatic decreases in nuclear arms on the western and soviet sides in that period. i think margaret thatcher was one of the people who convinced the reagan administration that they should take seriously the initiatives coming from gorbachev early on. she saw very quickly that he was a completely different type of soviet leader, a new, open minded statesmen although still committed to socialism and the soviet system. so it s that early relationship with thatcher and the bond he forged with reagan later on that were tremendously important to the history of the late 20th century. we important to the history of the late 20th century. important to the history of the late 20th century. we will have to leave it late 20th century. we will have to leave it there, late 20th century. we will have to leave it there, thank - late 20th century. we will have to leave it there, thank you. i
confrontation. that was revolutionary. gorbachev made friends with the soviet union s former enemies. none more than ronald reagan. they negotiated a breakthrough nuclear missile treaty, and formed a strong bond. that same year, gorbachev sat down with nbc s tom brokaw, a tv first, and americans were amazed by the open, reassuring soviet leader and charmed by the first soviet first lady they d ever seen. but it was at home where gorbachev s two ideas, glass november and par stroi ka that a genie out of the bottle even he couldn t put back. translator: we could and should have saved the soviet union, but we lost politically, he says. soviets got more freedom, but nothing to buy.