{"id":161333,"date":"2022-09-01T18:58:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T18:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/mikhail-gorbaciov-e-un-pezzo-di-storia-se-ne-va\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T11:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:26:10","slug":"mikhail-gorbachev-and-a-part-of-history-goes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/mikhail-gorbachev-and-a-part-of-history-goes-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of an era"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of an era<\/span><\/h1>\n

Mikhail Gorbachev died in Moscow on 30 August 2022. With his leadership, he marked the end of the Cold War and played a central role in profound transformations that reshaped Russia and the global geopolitical order.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Mikhail<\/a>
Mikhail Gorbachev photo of 03-12-1989 Photo by RIA Novosti archive, image #29280 \/ Yuriy Somov \/ CC-BY-SA 3.0<\/span> (photo processing Roman Kubanskiy<\/a>)
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Short Biography<\/span><\/h2>\n

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev,<\/strong> also known as Gorbachev or \u201cGorby<\/strong><\/em>,\u201d was born in Privolnoye on 2 March 1931, into a poor peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian origin. He was a Soviet politician and later, after 1991, a political figure of post-Soviet Russia, as well as the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

In 1952, Gorbachev joined the Communist Party and began studying at Moscow State University, where he graduated in law in 1955. In 1953, he met and married his fellow student Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko (later Raisa Gorbacheva)<\/strong>, who remained a key figure in his personal and public life.<\/p>\n

His political leadership brought an end to the Cold War<\/strong> and introduced two major reforms that profoundly changed not only the Soviet Union but also global politics and geography.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"President<\/a>
President Ronald Reagan Greeting Mikhail Gorbachev at Villa Fleur D’Eau During Their First Meeting at The Geneval Summit in 1985 – Series: Reagan White House Photographs, 1\/20\/1981 – 1\/20\/1989<\/a><\/span>Collection: White House Photographic Collection, 1\/20\/1981 – 1\/20\/1989<\/a><\/span> Photo by Michael J Goodwin (NARA Staff)’s <\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perestrojka<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

The term perestroika<\/em> means \u201creconstruction\u201d or \u201crestructuring\u201d and refers to a series of reforms introduced in the mid-1980s aimed at modernizing the Soviet economic and political system.<\/p>\n

Its main goals included:<\/p>\n