Question

To what Extent was Gorbachers responsible for
the disintegration the Soviet Union?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as General Secretary of the Communist Party and introduced reforms, the Soviet Union collapsed and newly formed independent nations arose from the ashes.

Although they recognized the need for reform (which is why Gorbachev had been chosen to head the Communist Party), hardliners quickly grew wary of many of these changes, which weakened their own powerful positions and veered away from Communist orthodoxy.

They repeatedly pushed back, and took advantage of the new press freedoms under glasnost to publish attacks on Gorbachev.

Ultimately, in August 1991, a group of these hardliners staged a coup to topple Gorbachev.

The coup failed, but it further destabilized the Soviet system.

In decentralizing power from the massive communist bureaucracy towards local power control, Gorbachev alienated Party apparatchiks, deprived himself of a power base to support his reforms, incited nationalist and independence movements inside and outside of the U.S.S.R. and fatally wounded the Communist Party itself.

Shortly after taking power, Gorbachev tried to tackle these challenges. Under a new policy of glasnost, or transparency and openness, new press freedoms shone a light on many of the most negative aspects of the Soviet Union, both past and present.

And with perestroika, the Soviet Union would undergo a rapid political and economic restructuring that aimed to transform much of society.