Stalin and Gorbachev are often the focus of discussion when talking about the Soviet Union, with the former seen as the leader who propelled the Soviet Union to greatness, and the latter seen as leading the Soviet Union into decline.
1991 marked Gorbachev's sixth year in power and the year of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the midst of criticism and abuse, Gorbachev ended his career in the Soviet Union.
However, there is a detail that has not been widely noticed is that after decades of Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as soon as Gorbachev took office, there was a noticeable shift in the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The coming to power of Gorbachev.
After Chernenko's unexpected death in March 1985, the Soviet Union was in dire need of a leader, and Gorbachev, as the country's deputy, naturally became the supreme leader and became the backbone of the Soviet Union.
At the beginning of his tenure, Gorbachev promised to lead the Soviet Union back to the top. Previously, Gorbachev was in charge of the agricultural and industrial sectors, not without achievements, at least guaranteeing the basic life of the Soviet people.
The Soviet people had high expectations for Gorbachev, hoping that he would understand the real needs of the Soviet people and lead the country back to its former glory.
Gorbachev demonstrated a different philosophy from his predecessors and began to implement a series of bold reforms. And the first task of reform was to improve the icy relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Over the past few decades, there have been two attempts at strategic détente between the United States and the Soviet Union, but with limited success. Gorbachev's inauguration changed the situation, not only by resuming diplomatic dialogue with the United States, but also by meeting with Reagan at the end of the year in Geneva, which became a historic moment.
Since the 70s, the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union have rarely met, and the last meeting was the negotiation and treaty signing between Brezhnev and Carter on strategic issues.
The meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan, despite their different positions, did not prevent the two sides from pursuing a common goal of easing relations. At that time, the Soviet Union was already showing signs of decline, and if the member countries sought independence, it would not only put great pressure on the Soviet Union, but also affect the United States, so Reagan wanted to avoid such a risk.
On the other hand, the United States continued to expand its influence during the Cold War, not only militarily, but also secretly developing space after the Apollo 11 moon landing**. The Soviet Union, although it also had intentions, was significantly behind the United States. In order to fend off the American threat, the Soviet Union had to seek détente with the United States.
As a result, the relationship between the two sides has taken a turn.
Reforms have gone astray. However, the American détente alone could not restore the USSR to its glory,
Internal reform is key.
Gorbachev's first domestic measure heralded a challenging path to power.
During that period, the Soviet economy was sluggish, the people were living in hardship, and many people resorted to drinking alcohol to escape reality. Gorbachev believed that the main reason for the backwardness of the productive forces was social laziness caused by the alcoholism of the people, so a ban was introduced.
While Prohibition ostensibly improved alcoholism, it actually prompted the Soviet people to turn to black market trading. Instead of boosting productivity, this led to a further recession and turned the population into reversion to Gorbachev's policies.
Subsequently, Gorbachev promoted the development of heavy industry with the goal of "accelerating economic and social development", ignoring agriculture and light industry. Such a single-sector development strategy is clearly wrong, and even if the USSR is given 50 years, it will not be possible to achieve full development.
Due to the heavy industry, agricultural output fell sharply, and the Soviet Union had to import grain from China, India and other countries, which increased costs and further led to popular disappointment with Gorbachev.
In desperation, Gorbachev began to reflect and decided to reform the political system. At this time, the elder Bush of the United States took office and put forward the policy of "beyond containment", aimed at strengthening US-Soviet cooperation and encouraging the Soviet Union to join the international community.
Bush Sr. suggested that the Soviet Union reduce its control over the people, respect human rights, and achieve "liberalization." Inspired by this, Gorbachev began to gradually pursue a policy of openness and liberalization, including in 1990 by proposing political pluralism and allowing for a system of political pluralism.
Gorbachev also introduced the "Haval Plan" and the "500-Day Plan", hoping to emulate the development model of Western countries.
However, Gorbachev ignored a key issue: the Soviet Union was a socialist country, and the implementation of the ** system would inevitably lead to unrest.
All Gorbachev's decision-making was directed towards "democratization", imitating the Western model. In 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, further cementing his path to "democracy".
Gorbachev's goal was indeed to restore the glory of the Soviet Union, but more to the hope that the Soviet Union would become a superpower like the West.
Evaluation of Gorbachev.
Some consider Gorbachev to be "alone" because at that time the Soviet Union had tense relations with many major powers and was itself in decline, and there were not many countries that maintained ties with the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev, anxious for development, anxious to regain his foothold internationally, was too eager to see himself as a leader abandoned by the international community.
It was extremely difficult for the Soviet Union, which was in decline, to suddenly take a step alongside the United States as a world leader. The United States did want to help the Soviet Union, but the extent of the decline of the Soviet Union was unknown to the United States.
Putin sees Gorbachev as a coward, a sinner in Russian history. The failure of the economy to develop, the failure of political reforms, not only the destruction of the CPSU with their own hands, but also the collapse of the USSR.
However, in the eyes of Western countries, Gorbachev was seen as a brave man. The elder Bush once appraised Gorbachev as a great leader who provided the possibility for world unity.
This seems to be a compliment to Gorbachev, but in essence alludes to Gorbachev's incompetence, as Bush Sr. only mentions that Gorbachev has made it possible for the world to cease to be the world, not a contribution.
The "liberalization" proposed by the old man did not require Gorbachev to blindly imitate the West, but to implement a liberalization policy according to the national conditions of the Soviet Union, and it is clear that Gorbachev did not take this aspect into account.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev started his entertainment career amid criticism, and even played the scene of the collapse of the Soviet Union in a movie, showing that his attitude towards the collapse of the Soviet Union has been calm.
The collapse of the Soviet Union did put pressure on the United States in the short term.
Many believe that the United States had some operations behind the collapse of the Soviet Union, such as promoting "liberalization" and "political pluralism." In fact, the collapse of the Soviet Union did not do good for the United States in the short term.
The United States is concerned about the nuclear issue. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, nuclear and space technology were snatched by the member states like scattered treasures, and if these countries mastered nuclear **, they would pose a threat to the United States.
However, as the "winner" of the Cold War, the United States saw these risks as insignificant. In the long run, the collapse of the Soviet Union was in line with America's goal of expanding power.
The United States had promised not to expand NATO to the east, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States began to extend olive branches to Eastern European countries to demonstrate its hegemony.
Therefore, the collapse of the Soviet Union was a risk for the United States in the short term, but in the long term it was the hegemony that the United States was seeking.
Successive US leaders have generally had ambiguous evaluations of Gorbachev, ostensibly praising him for his excellence, but in fact reflecting Gorbachev's limitations. For the United States, Gorbachev may be excellent, but for the USSR he was more of a symbol of disaster.
Small countries died because of foreign enemies, and large countries died because of internal strife", the collapse of the Soviet Union was inseparable from Gorbachev, but the United States also played a role in adding fuel to the fire in this civil strife.