Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died at the age of 91. He was not loved at home, but in Germany he is considered one of the outstanding politicians of our time.
Mikhail Gorbachev had a decisive influence on the events of the 20th century. As the party leader of the Soviet Union, he became one of the creators of world history.
This is well understood by the Germans, who consider the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner one of the fathers of the country’s reunification. That is why in Germany he is always met with awards, repeatedly awarded with awards and prizes.
But not in post-Soviet Russia – and this, undoubtedly, is the tragedy of the fate of this remaining Russian politician.
Born in 1931 in Stavropol, Gorbachev made a rapid career in the party, and in March 1985 the top leadership of the party elected him general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Cardinal changes on a global scale
The young and dynamic 54-year-old Gorbachev had to raise the superpower, which was sinking deeper into stagnation, especially in economic terms, on its feet. To counter the “class enemy” – the United States – Gorbachev began to implement reforms with unusual enthusiasm, trying to change the bureaucracy and corrupt Soviet structure.
The concepts of “glasnost” and “perestroika” have become known throughout the world, and this is precisely the Russian sound. To ensure the success of domestic reforms, Gorbachev set out to pursue a consistent policy of peace and détente toward the United States and its Western allies in the Cold War. This course, called “new thinking”, led to completely unexpected consequences for the entire history of the world.
By the time Gorbachev was elected the first president of the USSR in 1990, the outer ring of the “Soviet empire” had almost ceased to exist.
The year 1989 became a landmark in the modern history of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, whose people freed themselves from the socialist dictatorship. The Moscow-led eastern bloc’s military alliance, the Warsaw Pact, was broken. And the citizens of the GDR, the most important “trophy” of the USSR in the Second World War, demanded not only freedom and democracy, but also reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany.
Green light for German reunification
Contrary to the disagreement of many of the most conservative representatives of the Soviet nomenklatura, Gorbachev did not interfere with the implementation of these processes. Thus, he opposed Soviet foreign policy doctrine, which provided for violent suppression of uprisings in territories controlled by the USSR.
Gorbachev’s humanitarian convictions undoubtedly inspired him to pursue a new foreign policy.
An important role in German policy was also played by great trust in Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who later said: “Mikhail Gorbachev’s personal decisions in a difficult historical situation cannot be underestimated. Within 24 at the time of the fall of the wall the Stasi and the KGB tried to prove to him that the Soviet troops in Germany were in danger and that the Soviet army had to intervene. Gorbachev did not give in to them.
The friendship between Mikhail Gorbachev and Helmut Kohl significantly influenced the fact that the consent of the Soviet Union to the reunification of Germany was received. This decision was later included in the final treaty agreement with respect to Germany between the FRG and GDR, on the one hand, and France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the USA, on the other.
The collapse of the USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded in promoting a policy of détente in international relations and thus gained recognition and trust in the West, but in the Soviet Union itself, political power was just as quickly removed from his hands.
Gorbachev’s reforms destroyed the foundations of the Soviet system, but did not create new structures capable of replacement. While Europeans, especially Germans, in 1990, after the reunification of Germany, admired their idol who ensured the success of peaceful democratic revolutions, the planned Soviet economy continued to crumble.
The Soviet national republics, above all the Baltic – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – turned away from the center of Soviet-Russian influence in Moscow. The crisis did not pass the very heart of the country – Russia, where its future president, Boris Yeltsin, will take control into his own hands.
The welfare of the Soviet people, who never elected Gorbachev in free and direct elections, worsened every day, and Gorbachev himself was blamed for it. Historians still debate whether his policies alone led to the collapse of the USSR, or whether the Soviet system at the time was in any case unwilling to change.
Gorbachev continued to lose power and recognition. At the same time, privileges and influence gradually slipped from the hands of the entire Soviet nomenklatura. In 1991, after Gorbachev refused to support hardliners’ demands to use force to quell discontent in the rebelling republics, a putsch was staged against him.
Mikhail Gorbachev, who was in Crimea at the time, was placed under house arrest. But the coup in August collapsed due to popular opposition in Moscow, led by Boris Yeltsin, shortly before that, elected president of Russia.
Another world
When Gorbachev returned from Crimea to Moscow, the world was different. Soviet structures lost influence, and the post of the President of the USSR was practically abolished. Including due to the fact that the predecessor Gorbachev himself contributed to the promotion of many putschists to power. On December 25, 1991, a few hours before the dissolution of the USSR, in a televised address to the people, he announced his resignation from the presidency.
After his farewell speech, Gorbachev almost disappeared from the Russian political horizon. In the 1996 Russian presidential election, he received only 0.5 percent of the vote. But in the West, Mikhail Gorbachev remained a beloved and popular politician even after his resignation.
There is a certain tragedy in this ambivalent assessment of Gorbachev, although one does not lose hope that in Russia one day they will begin to remember him with a kind word. In German history textbooks, the first and last president of the USSR, in any case, will always occupy an important and honorable place.
Source: Russian Service DW
News from Correspondent.net on Telegram. Subscribe to our channel Athletistic
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.