That’s my take.
He didn’t have any say in the political structure of the U.S.S.R. falling apart. But he was smart, and patriotic, and a good enough human being to not go out in a blaze of glory, something many of us worried about regarding his aged predecessors.
Maybe enlightened self-interest- he was young enough to have something to lose in WW3, as opposed to Andropov and other really old guys. He could have made the eventual dissolution of the USSR much more costly and violent.
“He didn’t have any say in the political structure of the U.S.S.R. falling apart.”
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I would disagree. While he surely didn’t mean to dismantle it, his reforms - glasnost and perestroika - backfired on him, both being implemented at the same time and too quickly. Political foes and reformers could speak openly and open protests occurred. So his part was mostly one that he stumbled into.
“Maybe enlightened self-interest- he was young enough to have something to lose in WW3, as opposed to Andropov and other really old guys.”
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Interestingly enough, unlike the old guys before him, Gorbachev was the only USSR president who was born in the Soviet Union. The rest were born before the USSR was established.