Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev) (;
pronunciation: ) (born
March 2, 1931), was leader of the
Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. His attempts at reform led to the end of the
Cold War, but also inadvertently caused the end of the political supremacy of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Early life and political career
Mikhail Gorbachev was born into a peasant family in the village of Privolnoye near
Stavropol. He studied law at Moscow University, where he met his future wife,
Raisa. They were married in
September 1953 and moved to Mr. Gorbachev's home region of
Stavropol in southern Russia when he graduated in 1955.
Gorbachev joined the CPSU in 1952 at the age of 21. In 1966, at age 35, he graduated from the Agricultural Institute as an agronomist-economist. His career moved forward rapidly, and in 1970, he was appointed First Secretary for Agriculture and the following year made a member of the Central Committee. In 1972, he headed a Soviet delegation to
Belgium and two years later, in 1974, he was made a Representative to the
Supreme Soviet, and Chairman of the Standing Commission on Youth Affairs. He was elevated to the
Politburo in 1979. There, he received the patronage of
Yuri Andropov, head of the
KGB and also a native of Stavropol, and was promoted during Andropov's brief time as leader of the Party before his death in 1984. With responsibility over personnel, working together with Andropov, 20 percent of the top echelon of government ministers and regional governors were replaced, often with younger men. During this time
Grigory Romanov,
Nikolai Ryzhkov, and
Yegor Ligachev were elevated, the latter two working closely with Gorbachev, Ryzhkov on economics, Ligachev on personnel. He was also close to
Konstantin Chernenko, Andropov's successor, serving as second secretary
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