Cold War Files: All Units: Events: Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power

After the death of Yuri Andropov and then Konstin Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev emerged as the new General Secretary of the CPSU. His policies of peristroka and glasnot brought a new openess to the Soviet Union. It also exposed the many failings of the communist system. Gorbachev would oversee the eventual breakup of the Soviet Empire.