Mikhail Gorbachev
David Eddings
Mikhail Gorbachev Biography
Europe Since 1815
Dr. McCoy
The death of Konstantin Chernenko caught the old Brezhnev faction completely off guard. He had only been in office less than a year. They weren’t prepared to replace him with someone of quality. As they were scrambling Mikhail Gorbachev and a new generation of Communist leaders rose to the occasion and took the power role. This new generation didn’t experience the same level of suffering and fear as those before them. This was an absolutely crucial part in trying to explain some of their policies, both foreign and abroad. For the first time a leader of the Soviet Union was a product of the system itself instead of that of one on its leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev became the youngest leader of the USSR since Stalin.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in Stavropol, Russia. His family was a Ukrainian-Russian mix, with his parents immigrating to Russia from Voronezh and Chernigov governorates. Gorbachev grew up during the great Soviet famine of 1932-1933. He was extremely young but in a memoir he recalls, "In that terrible year [in 1933] nearly half the population of my native village, Privolnoye, starved to death, including two sisters and one brother of my father."1 His father’s name was Sergey Adreyevich Gorbachev. He was a combine harvester operator and was a veteran of World War II. Mikhail’s mother’s name was Maria Panteleyevna Gorbachev. She worked long hours as a kolkhoz worker. The term, “kolkhoz” implies that she worked on the collective farms. As a teenager Mikhail started doing the family’s work. He began to help his father as a combine harvester. In 1948, Mikhail and his father brought in a record breaking harvest. For this Mikhail was given the Order of the red banner of Labor and his father was given an even higher medal called the Order of Lenin.2 This would have had to be a great morale boost to just a young peasant boy.3
Mikhail Gorbachev Biography
Europe Since 1815
Dr. McCoy
The death of Konstantin Chernenko caught the old Brezhnev faction completely off guard. He had only been in office less than a year. They weren’t prepared to replace him with someone of quality. As they were scrambling Mikhail Gorbachev and a new generation of Communist leaders rose to the occasion and took the power role. This new generation didn’t experience the same level of suffering and fear as those before them. This was an absolutely crucial part in trying to explain some of their policies, both foreign and abroad. For the first time a leader of the Soviet Union was a product of the system itself instead of that of one on its leaders. Mikhail Gorbachev became the youngest leader of the USSR since Stalin.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in Stavropol, Russia. His family was a Ukrainian-Russian mix, with his parents immigrating to Russia from Voronezh and Chernigov governorates. Gorbachev grew up during the great Soviet famine of 1932-1933. He was extremely young but in a memoir he recalls, "In that terrible year [in 1933] nearly half the population of my native village, Privolnoye, starved to death, including two sisters and one brother of my father."1 His father’s name was Sergey Adreyevich Gorbachev. He was a combine harvester operator and was a veteran of World War II. Mikhail’s mother’s name was Maria Panteleyevna Gorbachev. She worked long hours as a kolkhoz worker. The term, “kolkhoz” implies that she worked on the collective farms. As a teenager Mikhail started doing the family’s work. He began to help his father as a combine harvester. In 1948, Mikhail and his father brought in a record breaking harvest. For this Mikhail was given the Order of the red banner of Labor and his father was given an even higher medal called the Order of Lenin.2 This would have had to be a great morale boost to just a young peasant boy.3