How did Gorbachev's reforms lead to the breakup of the Soviet empire?
1 Answer
Gorbatchev allowed the Popular Democracies to be autonomous, it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Explanation:
Gorbatchev became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, his rise to power was due to the decline of the Union. He was known as a reformator, he introduced the glasnost(transparency in Russian) which legalized freedom of speech and thought and the perestroika(reconstruction in Russian) which liberalized the economy to a certain extent.
Gorbatchev came to power at a time when the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable.His reforms were aimed at avoiding such a fate, they failed to that regard. By liberalizing both the economy and society, he discredited communism as an ideology. By putting an end to the hegemony on the Eastern Bloc(composed of Popular Democracies), he led the Soviet Union to self-destruction, indeed as Tocqueville said , a tyrannic power is meant to decline not when it becomes tougher but precisely when it loosens its grip on the oppressed.
