Mihail Gorbaciov was born in 1931 in a village in southern Russia. He had a difficult childhood during Stalin's dictatorship, with his grandfather imprisoned in a concentration camp. Gorbaciov joined the Communist party and studied law, graduating in 1955. He steadily rose through the ranks of the Communist party, becoming head of the regional committee in Stavropol in 1970 and a member of the Central Committee in 1971. He was elected General Secretary in 1985 after the deaths of his predecessors Andropov and Chernenko. Unlike previous Soviet leaders, Gorbaciov had traveled abroad, raising hopes he would be a more liberal leader and enact reforms.

1. Gorbaciov was born in 1931, in the village of Privolnoe, from the region of Stavropol, in the south of Russia. His childhood coincides with the bloodiest period of the dictatorship exerted by Iosif Stalin. Mihails own grandfather, Andrei, spent nine years in Stalins concentration camps and was not released until 1941, a few months before Germany invaded Russia. Mihail was too young to fight in the Second World War, but his father was enrolled, and his older brother died in the battle. The German occupation lasted almost eight years in the village of Privolnoe. However, nothing was a hindrance to Gorbaciovs career. He used to have excellent results at school; at fifteen he enlisted himself in the Komsomol (the Union of the Communist Youth) and afterwards he worked on a combine-harvester in agriculture for four years. In 1950 he entered the State University in Moscow, where he studied Law School and got his diploma in 1955. In 1952, during college years, Mihail became a member of the Communist Party and met his future wife, Raisa Maximova Titorenko. They got married immediately after Gorbaciov got his diploma and had only one girl, Irina. Mihail Gorbaciov - a Political Personality of the 20th Century Mihail Gorbaciov - a Political Personality of the 20th Century

2. After graduating, Gorbaciov came back to Stavropol and began his gradual ascension through the Communist Party. In 1970he became the Prime-Secretary of the regional party committee, and in the following year he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He got promoted in 1978, when he moved to Moscow, as a secretary of the Central Committee regarding agricultural problems. In 1979, Gorbaciov became a surrogate member of the Political Office (that represented the leading organ of the Soviet Union), and in 1980 he became a full member. All these promotions were undertaken between 1964 and 1982, when the Soviet Union was being led by Leonid Brejnev. After his death, the leadership was assumed by the Andropov (1982 1984) and Cernenko (1984 1985), at this date Gorbaciov being an important member of the Political Office. Cernenko died on the 11th of March 1985 and Gorbaciov was elected General Secretary the next day.

3. The voting of the Political Office was secret, but it was rumored that Gorbaciov won at a very tight score before Victor Grisin, a firm conservatory. Can you imagine how different could it have been if two or three persons would have voted differently? Unlike most of the Soviet leaders, Gorbaciov had traveled abroad (France, 1986; Italy, 1967, Canada, 1983; England, 1984), before he became the leader of the Communist Party. That is why, when he was elected, many occidentals hoped that Gorbaciov would be a liberal and more modern leader that his predecessors. Their hopes have turn out to be entitled, but no one anticipated the speed and the amplitude of his reforms.

4. May 31, 1988: U.S. President Ronald Reagan, left, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev walk in Red Square in Moscow, Soviet Union. In the background is St. Basil's Cathedral.

5. Mihail Gorbaciov - a Political Personality of the 20th Century 11 martie 1985 – 25 decembrie 1991

7. Mihail Gorbaciov - a Political Personality of the 20th Century

8. The meeting of Gorbacev with John Paul II gave a definitive hit to the atheism of State of the Soviet Union

9. Mihail Gorbaciov - a Political Personality of the 20th Century