50 Fun Facts About Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev holds what place in Soviet history?

He led the country from 1985 until it ceased to exist at the end of 1991, adding the role of head of state in 1988.

Gorbachev was born in 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, in which region of southern Russia?

The village was split between Russians and ethnic Ukrainians, and both of his grandfathers spent time in labour camps under Stalin.

As a teenager Gorbachev spent his summers operating what on a collective farm?

He and his father sometimes worked 20-hour days, and after a record 1948 harvest the boy was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.

What did Gorbachev study at Moscow State University, graduating in 1955?

It was an unusual choice, as law was not a well-regarded subject in Soviet society; he was admitted without an exam thanks to his peasant background and labour medal.

Gorbachev married fellow student Raisa Titarenko in which year?

She went on to teach Marxist-Leninist philosophy and defended a sociology thesis on collective-farm life.

In which southern Russian region did Gorbachev spend his early career, becoming first party secretary in 1970?

There he oversaw construction of the Great Stavropol Canal and sent his only daughter to an ordinary local school rather than one for party elites.

Gorbachev became general secretary in March 1985 after the death of which short-lived leader?

Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko had all died within three years, and the Politburo turned to its youngest member.

Gorbachev was the eighth person to hold which post?

He later added the newly created executive presidency of the Soviet Union, an office only he ever held.

What does the Russian word 'perestroika' literally mean?

The policy sought to decentralise economic decision-making and is often blamed for hastening the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.

What does 'glasnost' mean?

Under the policy Stalin-era history was re-examined, censored books reappeared in libraries and pre-publication censorship eased.

Which third slogan, meaning 'acceleration', did Gorbachev push in his first years?

He introduced it in his report to the 27th Party Congress in 1986 alongside perestroika and glasnost.

Which 1988 law allowing private businesses is called the most radical economic reform of early perestroika?

An earlier Law on State Enterprise had already let factories set output by demand rather than by plan.

The 1986 explosion at which nuclear plant, and its cover-up, became a catalyst for glasnost?

Soviet television did not admit the accident until the evening of 28 April, two days after reactor 4 blew up.

Where did Gorbachev and Reagan hold their October 1986 summit that nearly abolished ballistic missiles?

The talks collapsed over Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, but the progress made led to the INF Treaty the following year.

What US programme did Gorbachev demand be confined to the lab, sinking the 1986 Iceland deal?

Reagan promised to share the 'Star Wars' technology; Gorbachev retorted that the Americans would not even share oil-drilling technology.

In which city did Reagan and Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty on 8 December 1987?

It banned all ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km, and the US Senate approved it 93-5 the following May.

How many missiles had the two superpowers destroyed under the INF Treaty by the 1991 deadline?

Ten years of on-site inspections followed; the US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, accusing Russia of violations.

Reagan's 1987 challenge 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' was delivered at which Berlin landmark?

Speechwriter Peter Robinson kept the line in despite objections; Time noted the speech got little coverage at the time.

Gorbachev withdrew the Red Army from which nine-year war?

He also proposed a three-stage plan to abolish all nuclear weapons by the end of the 20th century.

Gorbachev's policy of letting Eastern Bloc states go their own way was jokingly named after which singer?

A Foreign Ministry spokesman coined the 'Sinatra Doctrine' in October 1989, replacing the Brezhnev Doctrine of intervention.

Who coined the phrase 'Sinatra Doctrine' on 25 October 1989?

A month earlier Poland had elected its first non-communist government since the 1940s.

Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush declared the Cold War over at a stormy 1989 summit off which island?

Rough seas earned it the nickname 'Seasick Summit', and some meetings had to be cancelled or moved.

Aboard which Soviet cruise ship were the December 1989 Bush-Gorbachev summit meetings finally held?

Bush handed every participant a piece of the Berlin Wall as a memento.

Which West German chancellor pushed for rapid reunification against Gorbachev's wish for a gradual process?

Thatcher and Mitterrand shared Gorbachev's unease about a dominant reunited Germany, but reunification came in 1990.

Soviet troops killed 15 protesters in January 1991 in which Baltic capital?

A referendum that March returned 76.4% for continued federation, but the six rebellious republics boycotted it.

Where was Gorbachev on holiday when hardliners launched their coup in August 1991?

The 'Gang of Eight' kept him under house arrest and announced that he was ill.

Which vice president was named as acting leader by the August 1991 coup plotters?

His trembling hands at the press conference made many viewers assume he was drunk.

The August 1991 coup collapsed after how many days?

It ran from 19 to 21 August; three young men died in a night-time clash near the Moscow White House.

Yeltsin famously spoke from atop a tank belonging to which division during the 1991 coup?

The Taman and Kantemir divisions had rolled into Moscow on Yanayev's orders along with airborne troops.

Which coup plotter, the interior minister, died by suicide with his wife as arrest loomed?

On the night of 24 August crowds also pulled down the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky outside KGB headquarters.

Leaders of which three republics signed the Belavezha Accords of 8 December 1991, declaring the USSR dead?

Gorbachev learned of it by telephone from Belarus's Stanislav Shushkevich and was furious, calling the deal 'illegal and dangerous'.

What organisation did the Belavezha Accords create to succeed the Soviet Union?

Eleven of the twelve remaining republics, all but Georgia, joined it at Alma-Ata on 21 December.

Which republic's 1 December 1991 independence vote did Gorbachev see as the fatal blow to the Union?

Turnout was 90% and he had expected voters there to reject independence.

What replaced the Soviet flag over the Kremlin on the evening Gorbachev resigned, 25 December 1991?

In his televised speech he handed the nuclear launch codes to Yeltsin and 'discontinued' his activities as president.

Which two Soviet republics' leaders alone backed Gorbachev's federal-state plan in late 1991?

Yeltsin promised to veto any unified state in favour of a loose confederation.

Which country awarded Gorbachev its Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 1988?

Two years later he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leading role in the peace process.

Time magazine named Gorbachev what for the 1980s?

Western crowds greeted him with what the US press dubbed 'Gorbymania'.

Gorbachev finished seventh in the 1996 Russian presidential race with roughly what vote share?

He won about 386,000 votes; Yeltsin beat the communist Zyuganov in the run-off.

Gorbachev shared a 2004 Grammy with Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren for a recording of what?

It won Best Spoken Word Album for Children.

Gorbachev famously appeared in a 1997 television commercial for which company?

He was also portrayed in Rocky IV in 1985 and in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Raisa Gorbacheva died in 1999 of which illness, after treatment in Münster, Germany?

She had raised money for children's blood-cancer treatment; her husband was later buried in the same grave at Novodevichy Cemetery.

Raisa Gorbacheva was born in 1932 in Rubtsovsk, in which part of the Soviet Union?

Her father was a railway engineer from Chernihiv; her public role as first lady was a novelty at home.

Where is Gorbachev buried?

He died on 30 August 2022, aged 91; his funeral had an honour guard but was not a state funeral.

How old was Gorbachev when he died in 2022?

He had suffered from severe diabetes and a 'severe and prolonged illness'.

Which honour did Gorbachev become the first recipient of in 1992?

In 2005 he received the Point Alpha Prize for supporting German reunification.

Which Gorbachev foreign minister resigned in 1990 warning 'a dictatorship is coming'?

He turned down the vice-presidency, and Gorbachev appointed a little-known replacement instead, a choice that backfired eight months later.

Which of these personal habits describes Gorbachev, according to biographers?

He often referred to himself in the third person, tried to dress fashionably and enjoyed football and detective fiction.

After visiting St Francis's tomb in 2008, Gorbachev clarified his religious position as what?

He had been baptised Orthodox and his grandparents were practising Christians.

What was the 1990 economic reform package drawn up by Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's advisers called?

It called for decentralisation and some privatisation, and was abandoned after warnings from the party apparatus.

Which environmental organisation did Gorbachev launch in 1993?

He followed it with the World Political Forum and in 1995 initiated the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.