INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mikhail Gorbachev, whose actions as the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union helped shape the world as we know
it today, died after a "serious and long illness" late Tuesday, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Moscow Central Clinical
He was 91.His era started in 1985 with the reform of the Soviet system forever known by its Russian name, perestroika, and ended with the
divisive figure at home, perceived to have instituted policies that precipitated the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the economic chaos
five-year plan that included forced consolidation of small landholdings into state-controlled farms, a process that claimed the lives of
He won a scholarship to the most prestigious university in the Soviet Union, Moscow State University, where he excelled and graduated from
the law faculty with the highest honors
Stavropol region, his construction of the Great Stavropol Canal provided necessary irrigation and produced record crops
he became the party secretary responsible for agriculture as the collective farming model began to falter
to the top job in 1985, the U.S.S.R
Soviet system and bring transparency to its politics by loosening state censorship.Gorbachev also sought to shift control from the Politburo
allowing state enterprises to determine their output levels based on demand and permitting self-financing
Cold War was in full swing when Gorbachev took power
Five years previously, U.S
President Jimmy Carter had refused to send athletes to the Moscow Olympics or meet with anyone from the Soviet leadership to protest the
He visited Britain, France, Germany, Canada and many other countries during his rule
Peace prize for his accomplishments in international relations
vacation with his family in Crimea, hardline politicians and the military staged a failed coup in Moscow and put him under house arrest
By the time he returned to the capital, Boris Yeltsin had seized the momentum and would become the first president of a new Russia
