-
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev became a Communist Party General Secretary
In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to be a communist party leader. Gorbachev then introduced a major campaign against corruption. He also spoke about the need for Restructuring within the Union. Then he came through with plans of economic, political and cultural reforms which had the aim of making the Soviet economy more efficient. his actions had the intent of turning the soviot union into a market economy. But other leaders ensured him that his reforms were innefective. -
Boris Yeltsin
Gorbachev appointed a new head of the Moscow Communist Party. His name was Boris Yeltsin. Later in 1991 he served as the president of the newly founded russian federation. His main key to success was vowing to turn russias economy into a free market. -
Gorbachev's Book and Yeltsin's Job
Gorbachev went before the communists' Central Committee and proposed a political and an economic reform.
By now the outside world had taken notice of the reform, and started to wonder whether he can pull it off.
In November, Yeltsin was forced out of his job as Moscow party boss. He had pushed for perestroika too far and too fast, which obviously cost him his job. -
Political Iceberg
Perestroika hits its first major political iceberg. It has already been resisted by bureaucrats trying to block Gorbachev's economic reforms. Now, hardline communist newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya publishes a clarion call for communists to resist Gorbachev's reforms. The call comes in a letter from a Leningrad chemist, Stalinist Nina Andreyeva, but Gorbachev is out of the country and hardliners are suspected of being behind it.
In the Baltic States, meanwhile, thoughts of independence are beginnin -
Elections Held for New Parliment
Elections were held for the new parliament set up as part of Gorbachev's reforms. It was called the Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was back in national politics.
Live television broadcasts of parliament later proved so popular they have to be taken off the air.Gorbachev has also pulled the last Soviet troops out of the deeply unpopular and costly war in Afghanistan. His popularity remained high. -
Warsaw Pact
Gorbachev announced that countries in the Warsaw Pact are free to decide on their own futures. Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement has already trounced the communists in Poland in June elections. Walesa took office in August.
Across Eastern Europe, people want change and are risking making their feelings known. Last time it was tried - in Hungary in 1956 and in Prague in 1968 - Soviet forces ruthlessly crushed the protests. This time, the will of the people prevails. -
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was torn down in an incredible display of "people power". Scenes of joy were broadcasted around the world as families and neighbours are united. Only months earlier those who tried it risked being shot. Czechoslovakia was the next country to break free. The "Velvet Revolution" bloodlessly ousts the communists and installed playwright Vaclav Havel as president. -
Soviet Union
Collapse of the Soviet UnionRussians, still firmly bound within the Soviet Union, are nevertheless allowed to vote for their own president for the first time. They choose Yeltsin. He and his arch-rival Gorbachev are both now working from offices in the Kremlin. The scene for the final showdown is set. Soviet president Gorbachev, Russian president Yeltsin and the communist old guard all want power. And the independence clamour has been growing. -
Soviet Union seperated into 15 countries
The Soviet Union is entering its final days. Moscow officially recognised their status as sovereign states on September 6th 1991.Other countries have already begun to move away. Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova are among the first to leave the ussr( what is becoming the ussr).But the Soviet Union is dealt its fatal blow as the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus meet secretly to plan a new union. The soviot union broke apart and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) formed.
