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Curated playlist

Mikhail Gorbachev

  • Governors Island SummitThe Governors Island Summit ended early because of an earthquake far away.
  • New Union TreatyHardliners held Gorbachev in his Crimean dacha two days before a treaty signing. The New Union Treaty was never signed.
  • Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)Soviet voters in March 1989 crossed off unopposed Communist candidates, startling the ruling party.
  • Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Gorbachev refused to declare a state of emergency during the August 1991 coup.
  • Sinatra DoctrineA Soviet spokesman explained a major policy shift by quoting a Frank Sinatra song.
  • START IA 13,000-pound steel blade sliced apart 375 B-52 bombers under the START I arms treaty.
  • Dissolution of the Soviet UnionOn December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned and handed Yeltsin the Soviet nuclear launch codes.
  • Gulf WarA rounding error in a Patriot missile's computer let a Scud kill 28 US soldiers in Saudi Arabia.
  • Malta SummitThe Malta Summit brought United States President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev together on the 2nd and the 3rd of December 1989. It happened just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The two men…
  • Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces TreatyReagan and Gorbachev signed a 1987 treaty to destroy a whole class of nuclear missiles.
  • Geneva Summit (1985)Reagan asked Gorbachev what they would do if aliens invaded. It came up at their 1985 Geneva Summit, by the fireplace.
  • Common European HomeWas Gorbachev's Common European Home a real vision or a ploy to hold the Soviet sphere together?

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