Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the new leader after Brezhnev's death due to the fact he was young, his energy and political skills. Mikhail Gorbachev led the Soviet into a second Russian Revolution. He made changes in the Soviet Union, one was glasnost which allowed churches, books to be published that were previously banned. This brought many changes reporters were now allowed to look into social problems and criticized government officials in public. He also had another reform called perestroika which restructured the economy. He was trying to revive the Soviet economy. The Soviet Union and the Communist party became more open due to these reforms. Glasnost is one of the reforms by Gorbachev which means openness since the media was open and people can actually say their opinion. The reforms made by Gorbachev led to a series of democratic revolutions in the Eastern Bloc countries and eventually the fall of the Soviet Union and Communism in most countries.

The Collapse of Communism

Communism was once the dominant economic system in Russia (Former USSR) and eastern Europe. During a series of events during 1989 to 1991 it eventually caused the downfall of Communism. There were many struggles within the Eastern Bloc and were now opposing Communism and went through democratic revolutions. The Soviet Union were unwilling to help the Eastern Bloc countries and just let them have the revolutions. The pressure in East Germany forced the change and a new president was elected. The new president had the Berlin Wall destroyed and ended up unifying Germany. The fall of Eastern Germany led to other countries following suit and the Soviet Union collapsed. The people removed Mikhail Gorbachev from power and most of the Communist countries changed with that. Some of the countries like North Korea, Cuba and China remained communist even after the fall of the Soviet Union.