Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

At 54, Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest Soviet leader since Stalin.Unlike other Soviet leaders, Gorbachev had not needed to blindly follow Stalin’s policies. He could pursue new ideas. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian state, it rewarded silence and encouraged individuals from acting on their own, the Soviet society rarely changed. Gorbachev realized that economic and social reforms could not occur without a free flow of ideas and information.
In 1985, Gorbachev announced a policy known as glasnost, he encouraged citizens to discuss ways to improve their society. Glasnost brought remarkable changes. Glasnost is a Soviet policy which permits open discussion of political and social issues and freer dissemination of news and information. In 1985, Gorbachev introduced the idea of perestroika. Perestroika is an economic policy to decentralize the Soviet economy. The term translates to "restructuring" in Russian.

Collapse Of Communism

The fall of Communism was a major turning point in history. The Cold War ended, Diplomats, finally had an opportunity to enter the Soviet Union without military aid,and the Berlin Wall came crashing down. Communist Governments first lost power in Poland in June 1989. Demands for reform spread across East Germany in the fall of 1989 and led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the unification of East and West Germany.