Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who brought down the Iron Curtain, passed away at the age of 91:
Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, when his initial goal was to get the country out of the economic and political crisis it was in, but at the same time preserve its socialist character.
Gorbachev promoted reforms in the Soviet Union that were divided between political and economic liberalization.
Since the Soviet Union needed a loan for economic reforms, Gorbachev promoted the relationship between it and the United States.
Gorbachev met several times with American presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to settle relations and end the nuclear arms race.
Gorbachev at a summit meeting with Reagan, photo: AP
The end of the Soviet iron hand over Eastern Europe led to the democratization of the former Soviet protectorates.
In 1989, the political reforms promoted by Gorbachev led to presidential elections for the post of President of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev worked to reconcile the reformists and the reactionaries and failed to prevent the strengthening of separatist national movements that called for the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev visiting Israel, photo: Assaf Kaliger
Gorbachev was under house arrest during the failed August 1991 putsch organized by reactionaries who worked to preserve the Soviet Union but ultimately precipitated the collapse of the superpower.
At the end of the putsch, the president of Soviet Russia, Boris Yeltsin, signed with his counterparts in Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Belarus on the dissolution of these countries from the Soviet Union.
Also, Gorbachev lost most of his authority that was transferred to Yeltsin during the putsch.
Gorbachev later remained involved in the politics of the new Russian Federation before retiring.
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