# Mikhail Gorbachev The last leader of the [[Soviet Union]], whose reforms — glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) — inadvertently triggered the collapse of the communist system he intended to save. Gorbachev's tenure (1985–1991) ended the Cold War, dissolved the [[Eastern Bloc]], and unified Germany, making him simultaneously the most consequential reformer and the most consequential system-destroyer of the 20th century. In the West, Gorbachev is celebrated as the man who ended the Cold War peacefully. In Russia, he is widely reviled as the man who destroyed a superpower. This split perception matters to the vault because the American conservative narrative credits Reagan's military buildup and ideological confrontation — not Gorbachev's reforms — with winning the Cold War. That narrative underpins the hawkish strain of Republican foreign policy and the conviction that projecting strength, not negotiating, defeats adversaries. Gorbachev died on 30 August 2022 at age 91. ## See Also - [[Soviet Union]] — the state he led and dissolved - [[Eastern Bloc]] — the alliance system his reforms unraveled - [[Nikita Khrushchev]] — the earlier reformer who tried de-Stalinization - [[Leonid Brezhnev]] — the stagnation-era leader Gorbachev succeeded