When Mikhail Gorbachev came on power in March 1985, he was determined to change and revitalize the whole country after many years of stagnation during Brezhnev’s ruling. He wanted to do this by modernizing and changing elite and the whole system in Communist Party by implementing reforms that were called Glasnost and Perestroika. What he actually wanted was end of Stalinist system and begin of socialist system that was truly democratic. Many saw Gorbachev’s way of ruling and enthusiasm as a threat for the Soviet Union, because they thought that it had lost its traditional discipline, organization, and ideology that provided a shell to the Soviet political order. Many would say that the Gorbachev’s reconstruction of the Soviet political and economic system did cost USSR of dissolution and did cause a fall of communism in Europe, but on the other side, there were many other causes that influenced on that before Gorbachev’s coming on power. That’s why this extended essay is going to explore to what extent did Gorbachev and his policy cause the dissolution of USSR and fall of communism in Europe? However, this essay is going to take not only Gorbachev’s ruling into consideration, but also the recent period before him and main domestic and foreign causes that influenced breakdown of USSR and communism. …show more content…
One of the first reformers after Stalin was Nikita Khrushchev who started reforming policy of Soviet Union in a way that it would become completely opposite than Stalin’s policy. However, Khrushchev was dismissed after the failure of his agricultural policy and he was inherited by Leonid Brezhnev. During his ruling Soviet Union experienced complete