Why Russia Rejected Freedom (Gorbachev)
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- The real story of what made Gorbachev one of the greatest and most humane leaders of the 20th century - and why Russians despise him.
In this video we explore how his radical series of reforms, Glasnost and Perestroika, unravelled before his eyes - leading to the collapse of Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
This video leaves much out, including Gorbachev's utterly magical relationship with his wife Raisa, who died early. Her death in 1999 was the most important event in his life.
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00:00 Introduction
01:43 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader
03:26 Glasnost
06:36 The reforms unravel
08:20 The Soviet Union collapses
10:47 Gorbachev resigns
12:06 Putin and Gorbachev
15:10 life after power
Gorbatchev used the money he received for his nobel price to found a newspaper, the most prominent and last of the free papers in Russia. He could have bought a yacht.
This says enough about his character.
And that newspaper was shut down by court order today.
That he's a russian fascist ideologue, who's honest to his ruscist goals... naive westerners keep falling for the "good russian" trap...
He's living int he most expensive city on the planet for 30 years on a Soviet president's salary and his granddaughter is a "fashion activist".
This says everything about his character and everything about your intellectual honesty.
You're right. It says a lot
@@NikolaAvramov what does his daughter's career have to do with anything? Stop judging people on what their relatives do. It means nothing.
Remember that it was Yeltsin, not Gorbachev, who led to the tyrant, Putin. Yeltsin gave Putin too much power. Gorbachev remains one of humanity's heroes.
Important distinction: Yeltstin didnt give too much power to putin, but putin took too much power on Yeltstin’s watch. It could be said, that it was more Yeltsin’ inaction that had significant consequences, rather than he’s initiative (because there was none). Could it be, that for those russians, who witnessed Boris’ impotence, a figure projecting strength and sober efficiency would be an obvious role to personify by a savvy politician with great ambitions for power?
Yeltsin was too drunk.
President Bill Clinton, a good friend of Yeltsin, had a private conversation with him, warning Yeltsin "he (Putin) does not have democracy in his heart".
Later, Yeltsin admitted he made a mistake.
Putin's massive human rights abuses over 20 years never triggered widespread outrage and international resolve until now.
Right on the spot
Yeltsin was more in to wodka than anything else...
@@blind8686 well really gorbatchew appointed putin is his sucssesor as evident in his talks to the president of america at the time (i think it was clinton) and he saved him from court because of corruption (putin had a nice place working with the harbour mafia)
The simple fact that he allowed to Eastern Bloc to break up peacefully, makes him one of the most important figures in world history, and worthy of the praise and admiration of generations.
We live in one planet and freedom is the most sacred right of every citizen.
You meant how he followed Yankee orders and allowed nato to expand because he believed the west lies , like a docile puppy ? Ah.. Anglo Saxon thugs logics
I have often marveled at this - it is entirely unprecedented in human history for a paranoid, oligarchic, heavily armed empire to dissolve peacefully. I wonder what we don't know.
@@gabrielsebastian8184Say that yo Netanyahu, SCOTUS of the US, UAE, Qatar, and every other fascist.
Word✌️
I hope that one day he will be celebrated as a hero in Russia, much like he is in Germany. May he rest in peace and his legacy never be forgotten.
His wife Raisa Gorbacheva created programs for the kids with cancers. She was able to acquire funding for these programs. Coincidentally, she died from cancer but she was treated by the best people and by the best medicine of that time in Germany.
oh how i wonder why this russian person is so beloved in germany is so reviled in his home country. is it perhaps due to fact he ruined russia and other soviet states?
Russians don't respect weak men, and they collectively recognized Gorbachev as a weak leader because he didn't rule as an authoritarian, and allowed chaos to ensue. Same with Yeltsin, a completely weak and rudderless man.
Partly, this might be due to the toxic masculanity within culture in Russia. Simply spoken: They do not like losers - even if this only might occur on first glance.
It is very ironic, if you consider "Gorbi as one of the very few political persons larger than life. Many Germans call him that way not because of belittling. It reflects his empathy towards the "normal" ppl who could literally touch him. He was a "One in a million"-guy: Educated, empathetic, common, sense of realism.
It is very sad that many Russians until today do not seem to understand the true strength like the need for acceptance of made mistakes and, as a consequence, striving for resonable changes. Those include painful work of course.
After Jelzin, they decided for the opposite and cheap way. A brute criminal like Putin who rides horses half naked who tried to intimidate our former chancellor Merkel with his dogs - very well aware of her fear of big dogs. The strong kid in the block. Everyone might like being around him in the beginning, however after a while it gets embarassing and he ends up in jail.
I do not know, if Gorbatschow was corrupt or took bribes, however given his previous power and his living conditions in the end, it seems like he kinda had lived in poverty comparatively. It is a tragedy if you see the luxury the oligarchy nowadays endulge.
He won't be forgotten in Germany.
@@Peter-vf3dlGermans suffer from wimp culture, they let black men r word their women
Effect of American black penis dictatorship
As a Belarusian, I am grateful for Gorbachev. He is not perfect and he is a flawed man. Blood was spilled. But he backed down instead of escalating. The same could not be said for Lukashenko. Lukashenko would be willing to kill thousands to preserve his rule. After the 2020 protests, I understood how important it is to have a leader with a conscience
Zhive Belarus! ⬜🟥⬜
Well said.
i could be wrong but i see lukashenko from the start was an good leader but with time him beeing there for so loong he has fallen in his lunacy, now having no were to go were the west wants him down his people hate him and only escape is russia which wants to eat him (sorry for bad englich)
@@itsmellsfishy3978 Above all the thing he wants most is to be in power. To achieve that he needs Putin’s assistance and must therefore has to do his bidding. Belarus is also much more economically dependent on Russia than Ukraine was.
It is not that Lukashenko would be willing to kill, he have already done it, that villain would kill his own mom to retain the power
The more Putin is smashing Gorbatschow’s legacy, the clearer it confirms how much Gorbatschow did for democracy, people’s political awareness and human rights!
he never cared about the people. He only cared about pizza hut.
You just literally said " I don't know shit about Russia" with saying it.
That Putin can get away with it shows how little the Russian people care for those things. They want security. Don't care about democracy, politics, or human rights. Couldn't give a rat's ass, in fact. "Go ahead and kill all the Ukrainians as long as it doesn't affect me. Oh, it involves me? Now I have a problem with it."
"Gorbachev cared about People"
(1990 Tbilisi and Baku Massacre):yeah sure
@@muradborchalinski1069 Gorbachev didn't. Lenin did
Having grown up in an oppositional family in East Germany, I will forever be grateful for Gorbachev’s role in ending the Cold War and bringing about German reunification.
wow! those must have been difficult times! I'm glad that you were not separated from your family. I have read that the DDR was unfriendly toward dissidents and labelled those families as unhealthy and unsuitable for the growth of a child, which could end up in the separation from the child and adoption or orphanage.
@@jagan2 They were difficult, but mostly for teenagers and adults. For example, my parents couldn’t go to university because they refused to join the state’s youth organisations. I don’t think we were in danger of being taken away from our parents, but our family was definitely on the Stasi’s list. Had the DDR gone one for much longer, there were plans for people like my father to be taken and sent to a camp.
@@germansnowman thanks for the answer. I didn't know that only supporters of the government could go to the university! That's awful.
I've started documenting myself on the DDR and Stasi after I relocated to Germany. I'm amazed that in Europe there are still people that support Russia, after all such awful things that the USSR did to people. Unluckily nowadays we have only the klima-obsessed psychos and not many people are interested in the history of the last century.
He is a traitor of Russia because he has destroyed it. He was a child spy for Wehrmacht in WW2.
“My victory is that I abandoned power” Yes! ❤ That’s something Putin doesn’t have the nuts to do.
This channel is full of amazing content, so glad I found it!
You miss the point; Poo Tin doesn't matter. If it wasn't Poo Tin it would have been some other functionary of The System - (although I will admit Poo Tin is particularly effective in the role).
@@graemesydney38 I don’t doubt that. It’s not incompatible what what I said tbf.
He didn't abandon power, he was ousted. Leaders of 3 republics that formed a USSR voided the agreement. Look up Belovezhsk agreement.
Chong Xi Na: Our leaders are just as bad, but they get away with it by lying an saying a country has wmd’s or “let’s go spread democracy to these countries, even if they don’t want it”.
@@graemesydney38 why won't Russians serve americunt gaysex black penis war criminals and be good puppet state
I just don't understand
_“The distance between the continents, should not be measured by the minutes of flight of ballistic missiles but by the closeness of our human values, the most basic of which is life itself.”_ -Mikhail Gorbachev, Agricultural Minister of the USSR, addressing the Canadian Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and National Defence (1983)
Please provide a link. This is proving impossible to google
8 years later he sent tanks and special forces to kill my people. I guess nice quotes are more important in historical context than lives.
@ sorry to be picky but he wasn't in power 8 years after 1983?
@@TheDz1991 Yeah, pretty sure that's Yeltsin.
@@TheDz1991 Of course he was. 1991, intervention in Lituania.
*Greetings from an English-speaking Russian blogger 🇷🇺 Mikhail Gorbachev was not a dictator, not a murderer, or a madman, and this is already a rarity for the Russian authorities now*
Thank for video!
He was never elected
Greetings back at you Nastia!
he was a pizza man & a sell out to his country though!
Gorb was a russian fascist, the only difference is that he at least accepted the reality that previous leaders were using brute force to maintain the ruSSian "exceptionalism" ideals, and he naively thought that ruSSian fascism has enough appeal to work without brute force. I guess you can "thank him" for that.
@@spellman007 tankie
As someone from the UK who went through the cold war.
The world was a much safer and pleasant place under the tenure of Gorbachev
Sleep tight big man 👍
The planet is a CONSIDERABLY worse place without the USSR for most of the world. Sure for you life is pretty chill, living in the imperial core of the west, built with the blood of the third world.
He made Russians poorer so he gets a good boy dog biscuit from ameicunt brutes
Safer for whom???
@@Nik-jq4txон же написал, что из Великобритании. Выводы делайте сами
@@Nik-jq4tx watch the video.
I am old enough to remember all of this.
It was like the world had been holding its breath for decades and finally -could breath again.
"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."
"Those who don't ignore history are doomed to watch in horror as those who do - repeat it."
I cried when he said "не бойся" (don't be afraid). This kindness in his voice, this certainty. It touches me deeply. Whar a humble man, so humane. God, I wish there will be a leader like this in Russia once again. I wish that my fellow citizens would see Gorbachev as he really was.
That is why Vlad and his family left the country at this time, everyone dreams of living under such policies.)
Look forward to speaking more about him soon. On Chat channel.
@@user-nl6zv6hz6x Hmmm. You really like Putin's tactics??
@@karenharper2266 Where did I say that I like Putin's tactics? He is not so bad for Russians, perhaps the best manager in the last 50-60 years. But I would not say that I am delighted.
John Paul said that to.
Both of them were great humans
I didn't know Gorbachev said on his deathbed that everything he tried to build in Russia has "all evaporated." It brings tears to my eyes. I lived thru that giddy time when USSR was opening up, and the surreal elation of the Berlin Wall coming down. I cannot believe the world let this little reactionary Napoleon man Putin get away with so many crimes against his people & progress, with almost no punishment.
World would rather punish russian people for updoots while keep having "business" with Putin
As Ukraine has demonstrated, the people themselves must show opposition and demonstrate their willingness to fight back. Then you will be supported.
I am grateful I was able to speak to Mr. Gorbachev on several occasions even before he was the leader of Russia. He was an amazing man with a vision of a free Russian society.
'Don't be afraid. Let me tell you it needs a lot of time.' Such an interesting historical figure, great video Vlad.
Thank you so much!
In the early 2000’s, Gorbachev came to the US and I got to meet him as part of his protective detail when he came to my city. He was very kind and gracious to all of us, down to earth. Took individual photos with all of us. He impressed everyone.
A rare Russian politician that genuinely cared for people. I remember him. May he rest in peace. I hope he will ultimately be celebrated for his extraordinary achievement. Just think about how he walked away from power. That is ultimately all you need to understand about him.
Yeah…
Cared for people... as a consequence of USSR collapse millions died in 90s from drugs, alcohol, poverty, hunger, unemployment, suicide ( post-Soviet states even still comprise 7 out of 10 most suicidal countries, having all 3 top places ). It's guaranteed many people will keep for many years coming to spit (and sh*t) on his grave
@@mrobocop1666 I more blame yeltsin for that
@@dripster4424 gorbachev started that with liberal politics
@@mrobocop1666 You are so wedded to your view, like being at the bottom of a well and only seeing blackness. Your (presuming you're Russian or of that nature) history is full of such despair and self-violence, if only you were not myopic you might have had a chance to grow out of it.
This man did more for my country than any of our modern leaders, precisely because of the freedom he gave us. I don't know how many consider him a hero, but I do. i think few would have chosen this path, and if anyone else would have taken up the position, we'd likely have had far greater tragedies. I am grateful for what he has done, and I can only hope the Russian people will one day reject the style of leadership they've been under for centuries.
I don't think he was a hero, but at least he knew when to quit.
@@Tuppoo94 I think he was, and knowing when to quit is very important, right?
the most of russians are affected by a strong Stockholm Syndrome. The more the evil putin destroy their future the more they sustain him. The more cruel he is and the more they love him. If you see, the cold war finished 35 years ago and suddenly russian vented out ancestral antiamerican sentiments, they call them Yankees thinking this should offend them becosue this rage is still below the ash. Russians will need one or two generation of freedom to get normal and maybe that day they will understand the huge collapse Gobachev prevented. Unfortunatly putin destroyed everything supporting corruption and managing russia like his own private toy. It's like a kid that whants to drive a car bigger then him and do not whant to leave the wheel.
@@mrmetalzeb4596 Putin is popular because he gives them exactly what they want - the feeling of a feared Russia, and fulfilling their desire to be "on top" again. To have others they can call "less than us", like they did back in the imperial and soviet days. Most Russians suffer from an inferiority complex, not SS.
@@gogudelagaze1585 may be both.. they are patiots! they strongly whant themself to trust the dictator and in my opinion this is the SS component or it's very close. Nazi, gay, empire, gas, preventive war, NATO, special operations? come on.. I can't belive the best chess players on the earth become suddenly all stupid. a nation without a navy, no atomic (they give them back to russia), 1/20 of their army would attak Russia? really? They perfectly know all limitation of freedom but they agree and even swear to be free. It's not intuitive from here.. but we can't imagine what means living in full immersion inside that "environment" higly controlled. Definitly I agree that an inferiority complex coexists.
He always struck me as an earnestly hopeful man. It is interesting to know that even after his hope for the immediate future had faded his hope for the distant future remained.
I thought that was very interesting in the interview shown. He obviously knew he was unpopular in Russia, and the interviewer said that he was afraid Gorbachev would not be recognized for his service. Gorbachev's response was very telling: "Don't be afraid. Let me tell you, it takes a lot of time." So even then, having seen everything Putin had done, Gorbachev felt fully confident that history would see him in a kinder light. How very sage of him.
I was only 10 in 1989 and I remember Gorbatchev as the leader that allowed the unthinkable to happen: re-unification of Germany. He was the relief of tension visible from my home 500 meters from the wall: you could see western Berlin, but we knew we could never ever visit this place.
Without Gorbatchev: I wouldn’t have studied, met my wife from Japan, never moved to Western Berlin, never visited any western country, or even being able to communicate with you all
Too bad for Gorbachov he thought this gesture of goodwill was enough to make central Europe neutral. He could have refused to completely withdraw Soviet troops and instead keep strategic places like Rostock to force Germany into neutrality. That simple thing would have prevented NATO expansion eastward.
@@hendrikdependrik1891 NATO didn't just expand, but former members of warsaw pact joined NATO, because you simply couldn't trust Russia being a friendly, non-imperialist country.
Russia's political elite had its glory for long enough at the cost of many eastern European countries.
Maybe you see Gorbatchev weak, but as Vlad said he had a working moral compass. A neutral zone like Rostock is not justifiable with that compass
@@hendrikdependrik1891 just stop it... those countries simply fled into the open arms of nato because everyone with half a brain could see were russia was going since the chechen wars. and why would nato reject them when they are up to nato standards?
Neutrality? Ukraine in 2014 was neutral, Moldavia is neutral, Sweden and Finland were neutral. And now? If Poland would not have become a NATO member it would have acquired nuclear arms, Neutrality. Given all the fear of a USSR revived neutrality only would have been an option with a much more peaceful Russia.
I was 10 and I remember my mum handing me a dozen newspapers and telling me to read and understand what was going on because it was so important.
But... I was 10 and was busy playing with my Legos.
What it meant to her was now Gran and herself could go to Ukraine and Poland and look for their families.
Everybody was dead, the Nazis and Stalin's lot had killed them all.
I recall the feeling of a deep disappointment and anger when the Red Army attacked in Lituania. Gorbatschow turned from a lightning house to a tyrant and I couldn’t believe it. Was this still the man who brought freedom? Was he the hero we had thought he would be, or just another soviet leader? Over the time, I learned that even great man make horrible mistakes and I returned to admire him as the outstanding historical figure he was. We have lost a great person and a friend.
I can’t imagine the anger and disappointment one must of felt back then in Lithuania, but honestly as a Russian - despite the horror and blood at Vilnius, I am relieved that that’s all it was. If it was Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev or Tsar Putin; Vilnius, and not only in Litva but also Tallinn, and Riga may have been burned to the ground..
There were also Jeltoqsan protests in Kazakhstan in 1986, suppressed with extreme brutality, including taking young women out of the city and leaving them in snowy wilderness without winter clothing to find their way back home.
So no, he was not a friend. But you know what, among the heads of state of the Russian Empire, USSR and the Russian Federation in the last 150 years, he might have been the best one.
It seems I'm roughly the same age as Vlad, and I'm also Soviet born. I wouldn't sing such high praises to Gorbachev, but I agree that, all things considered, he did quite well in that difficult situation, and likely prevented more bloodshed than he wsa responsible for.
@@alloymetal7861 vilnius and tbilisi. he was as bad as the rest of them. eff him. can you imagine if soviet union was still here, he would be a ruler from 1985 to 2022. thank god, soviet union went to hell.
Stalin (in)famously said, “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.” I think that the downfall of the USSR was also not helped by what happened in Chernobyl in April 1986. "No good deed goes unpunished".
@@Artyomi Thanks, I appreciate this coment as someone who lived through the years of the latter stages of the old cold war as an outside observer. My father's family came from post war East Germany, and this year I move from the UK to Tallinn. I'm slowly learning much more about Slavic and Baltic histories, especially Estonia as it will soon be my new home. In Estonia there's ghosts and remnants of the Soviet era and Russian Empire, Nazi, Swedish Empire, German Empire mixed into the population with old folklore, historic litertature, paganism, peasant farming, the language and culture almost lost to occupations.
Great video, Vlad. I remember Michail Gorbachov and his wife Raisa visiting Poland in the eighties, I was a child back then but still could sense a gust of hope in moods of adults surrounding me. I do hope that in the future Russians will appreciate the work he has done, he certainly already has my gratitude.
I feel like people really underestimate just how much the 90s harmed his legacy and what he symbolised. Because for the vast majority of people, things like "freedom", "democracy" and so on don't really mean much. Majority care way more about stability and prosperity.
A country can't save itself if it sees it's only true liberator as an enemy. Gorbachev was the only leader in modern times in Russia that actually gave the people the power to choose it's own destiny but instead the people failed their liberator.
Gorb the traitor USSR was the freedom when it broke up the criminals from the prisons became the oligarchs and Putin their grandmother disgusting WEF bootlicker , with ussr in place there would never be a 3 year scamdemic lockdown .. Globalism is a cancer not a cure.
Thank you for this video! Gorbachev's legacy has been so confusing, but now I understand why some people celebrate him while others curse him. His goal of saving the USSR by reforming it may have been unachievable, but as a German I am very grateful for how he oversaw the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Looking at the collapse of the Russian Empire under the Tsars and the Russian civil war which the USSR emerged from, the 90s could have been infinitely more horrifying if it wasn't for Gorbachev.
Especially the way he gave up his power deserves more recognition. That's not something you see many leaders in autocratic systems do.
His giving up power is why he’s compared with George Washington. I only wish he’d had someone like Alexander Hamilton to help him build durable Democratic institutions. And just when we come to appreciate their legacy, fascistic forces try to obliterate it.
How come the 90s would be more terrifying without him?
@@robto Imagine if instead someone unlike him was in power, someone who was more willing to slaughter the rallying peoples of the republics and crush the movements for independence as they grew with brute force. Imagine someone in charge so out of touch that they felt the only rational response to their collapse was to force the US, their indoctrinated adversary, to collapse too, but not by its own choices, imagine such a person ordering a nuclear strike on the united states, not caring about the aftermath but believing a world without their precious union was not a world worth living in, so nuclear war could have been on the cards. imagine if just violence broke out across the former union and surrounding powers had to enter the conflict as violence spilled over into the now independent eastern bloc's borders. many things more than this could have happened if someone with a harsher tone was in power, look at any two-bit dictators treatment of their own people who stand by the principle of "at all costs."
@@robto were you paying attention?
@@robto At least there wasn't a full-blown civil war in the 1990s. That's what he was pointing out.
I shook hands with this man when he came to Yugoslavia. I was a kid in primary school. It was like I meet the Holywood superstar of communism... really a shame Putin trampled his legacy. But I think in the future, he will be recognized as a great man.
*Dude, you don’t know anything about this person, your opinion is based on the Western vision of Gorbachev, in Russia this person is hated on a par with Yeltsin, Napoleon and Hitler did not bring so much grief to the Russian people!*
@@UltraTotenkopf Hated by Russian people clinging to empire above all else. Here in post-Soviet republics, we don't mourn the colapse of the USSR, and Gorbachev is viewed fairly. He is not idolized because freedom is not what he had in mind for us, but he was a ruler with positive convictions. Modern Russia has had every reason to demonize Gorbachev, so it's very interesting to me that you would think their view of him is somehow accurate.
he is hated because he was a rag, and was only capable of empty conversations. this is what concerns ordinary Russians. but the rich oligarchs, including Putin, are of course very grateful to him, without him they could count on an official dacha and an official limousine at most. but thanks to Gorbachev, they had the opportunity to get their hands on oil, gas and metallurgical concerns
@@NordStar7 Sounds like he is scapegoat. I mean all Eastern Europe went through same process, but nowhere it want so bad like in Russia. Its basically robber barons heaven.
@@UltraTotenkopf That is more on you than on him though.
i watched a podcast about the goulags some months ago. that's when i learned that Gorbachev had some members of his family who were thrown into that hell of a place. a man who understood from a young age the atrocities of goulags can't become a murderer. he did his best, and the task was colossal, for a country that large.
As a German I feel bad for Gorbatschow, that he had to witness his life's work regarding Russia being destroyed in such a way and the Russians falling under tyranny yet again.
This is literally the man responsible for enabling our people to regain their freedom as a unified country and I believe he should be honored with a statue commemorating this.
As a German, I hope you are contemplating how your country has been Putin’s main enabler.
@@Windwond which is precisely why ex-chancellor Schröder, who is one of the figureheads of this issue, became a persona-non-grata in the public eye
It's worth noting that the Russia has about half the population that the Soviet Union had. That's a lot of people living in former Soviet countries, most of which are democratic. His legacy may only be half the size he hoped it would be, but it's still very good.
@@BaddeJimme but even Russia (I’m right here) is more free than under bolsheviks. Now it is comparable to the Tsar before the 1905 revolution and Bolsheviks blended together, but it is better than sole bolsheviks.
I grew up in Eastern Europe and I cannot tell you how many times I thanked Gorby in my thoughts.
4:03 - the cool thing about Glasnost' is the etimology. ГЛАСНОСТЬ has the root [ГЛАС] meaning "voice" so the word, literally, means "the degree of having a voice" 🤯 And Gorby brought that "degree" to a whole other level!!
Can’t believe I am shedding a tear about Gorbachev. We have lost so much
Lost opportunities. He made a few mistakes but was a good man.
@@bernicecurtis7952killers of millions - good man?
To Mikhail Gorbachev, a complicated soul and a hundred times the man and the leader that Vladimir Putin could ever hope to be.
Especially a good man. Putin is not a never will be anything close to "a good man".
@@miroslavdusin4325 he's also never giving in to the US or Western Europe, unlike Gorbachev. Gorby dissolved their biggest threat, which is why hes so loved by the West, even though he was a communist.
@@dragons_hook He was doing it for Russia and he really helped them. The empty shops that was a reality, that nothing worked as well, ideologic nonsenses everywhere too. Seems like Russians prefer to eat stones and be a great power to be a normal country with high standard of living.
@@dragons_hook THE SU was dissolving by itself rapidly, ever since the mid 70's when still under Brezhnev. Like Potiemkin a couple hundred years earlier all the following SU leaders, Andropov and Tschernenko were just keeping up a facade.
Gorbachev didn't dismantle the old SU, he was just the bearer of bad news.....
So they did the classic Russian thing they shot the messenger instead of taking care of the problem.
Nepotism, corruption, alcoholism and incompetence killed the SU, like it killed tsarist Russia and its killing Putins Russia again today, either one owns one's mistakes or one is damned to repeat them again and again.....
@@dragons_hook he is loved for his humanity and environmental work. He was also a visionary. In truth a giant of a man surrounded by dwarves.
There will be a time when people, in Russia, will ask how their countrymen could be so blind to see Gorbachev as a villain and Putin as a hero, while the truth was so violently screaming in their faces.
It's equally enraging and heartbreaking.
I know, right?
How is "colonialism bad" not a part of their curriculum?
Burning freedom and democracy on a big fire.
Just for a few more years of strutting around pretending that being a "superpower" matters more than freedom, integrity and wealth.
We'll, they're about to find out.
In the worst way possible.
Maybe you are the one not knowing that much about reality im Russia during that period. Russians aren't blind. Their country faced the worst human catastrophe after the WWII with the dissolution of the USSR. Economic depression, mass poverty, chaos, violent crime, corruption, civil war, and oligarchy, and Yeltsin were the immediate legacy of Gorbachev's reforms. It's totally understandable that many Russians will see him not as positively as a Polish, or German would.
@@robto Was all that Gorbachev's fault? Or was it the result of a broken, corrupt, illiberal, highly centralized and dysfunctional society and system built up over decades and centuries of oppression?
It is easier -- but unrealistic -- to blame a single man than to see the whole picture.
This attitude is what keeps Russia stuck in the past -- and will lead to Russia's ongoing decline as long as it prevails.
@Lycanthrope Allowed how? The 3 guys broke up Soviet Union behind Gorbachov's back while they had him isolated and locked up in a Crimean villa JUST in order to get him out of power. What do you propose he do to avert this? He didn't really have friends in the upper echelons. The reforms were because he realised that ALL THESE PEOPLE were a problem, that they were letting the country rot, as one says, "the fish rots from the head down".
@Lycanthrope Power & politics are far more complex than that.
Of course it is easier to blame or blindly follow a single leader than to invest time carefully studying history and understanding the massively complex forces that leaders like Gorbachev have had to manage. Not an easy situation to be in.
One of the proudest moments of my life was meeting him in Washington while he was General Secretary. I was able to shake his hand, look him in the eye, both of us with the warmest genuine smiles, and tell him that we are deeply honored to have him visit and that he has our complete support. Quite a journey from the day I signed up for my first Russian class in 1981.
He was heartbroken when the 'regime' just forced him to stay out of politics.
A great man!!!
"My victory is that I abandoned power." - Gorbachev (12:02)
Dictators and dictating do a disservice to humanity by suppressing it as opposed to letting it grow to it's best potential. Gorbachev understood this and envisioned his people to grow and thrive. Now his work is being undone, the greatest human catastrophe in this century.
What's the greatest human catastrophe of this century?
@@robto Well of this century so far, it’s definitely the war between Russia and Ukraine. Far too many lives have been cut short.
@@robto the nothing happened in that square in china happened
@@robto Let me get back to you on this in 78 years.
@@robto As I said: the restoration of power rather than the abandoning of power as worked for by Gorbachev.
These videos are so great. They give such a unique, intelligent, easy to understand perspective on the great mystery of Russia. Thank you so much for making them. 👍 since the war in Ukraine I have learnt so much from your channel. 👍
I am so glad!
@@VladVexlerThis was a really incredible video. I can't thank you enough - I'm going to cry inside for many weeks over this one.
Do you know someone more important figure than Gorbachev and the pope? Felix Y Manalo. He is god's last messanger. Read the INCMEDIA.
@@VladVexler you the man, bro, you deserve more way more subs
I think there are some similarities between him in the USSR and Jimmy Carter in my own country. Both of them pointed their countries in directions that could have produced a very different world. Both of them were widely vilified. It may be that neither of them had a chance.
Heavily agree
Goberchev once was quoted as saying "Time is a merciless judge"Actuallly time has judged his administration.
His legacy will come back when Russians understand how destructive Putin is. I lived through these times in Poland, just before Berline Wall felled and it was time of hope for the Eastern Block. Great presentation, thanks
I think it will be some time after that, but Russia will come for Putin soon. This war against the will of people was unwinnable from the moment he started it in 2014. For a man who offers nothing but a false sense of unity and the enforcement of fragile power, there can be no escape in such a defeat.
That defeat has already happened. His conditions for victory are unattainable, nor can he possibly fabricate them in a convincing way. You can never force anyone to agree with you, let alone love you, and the more you try, the more you will already have lost.
Unfortunately the Russians admire cruelty. Their favourite leaders are Ivan the Terrible and Stalin. The more of a murderous dictator Putin becomes, the more the people will love him.
@@christopherlord3441 Well, my knowledge is not extensive, but from what I have learned, Russians have mostly, and for a very long time, been told that they are the most peaceful and nature-loving people in the world who are only good-hearted and generous and never, ever attack anyone.
While Gorbachev was in power he started to bring some real history into the history curriculum at schools, for instance. For the first time ever, kids were told about that time when Russia attacked Finland for no good reason. ( I think there were a few times) This was genuinely upsetting for a lot of parents whose kids came home and talked to them about this new-old fact. They had never heard about Russia attacking anyone before, and it hurt their worldview to believe it.
So if they are like alien-humans that don't value love, don't value fairness, who are strictly and genetically incapable of empathy and who get pleasure primarily from watching the experience of others being in pain, not caring if they might be the next to suffer, then why does/did the government lie to them like they have done/do?
No, I think that other-ing people in such a 2-dimensional way so as to strip them of their depth and common humanity is just a lazy shorthand to justify a refusal to even try to understand. No advancement is possible for so long as people continue to see each other in that way.
Human feelings and needs are universal, once we get past the differences in expression.
@@kristalkristal2506 Wouldn't it be nice if that were true? I don't know where this fantasy comes from, but actually the Russians are primarily indoctrinated by the Russian Orthodox Church, coupled with worship of the Tsar. So the Tsar's holy wars were always the height of national glory, and the most wonderful achievement for each individual Russian. But as a Finn I am glad to hear your story. Russia has one of the greatest literatures of the world, and many Russians are well-informed about all aspects of Russian history.
@@christopherlord3441 Please don't take this as whataboutism. I passionately hate whataboutism. It's more along the lines of "before you cast a stone".
In the first crusade, western christians invaded eastern christian territories and brutally slaughtered whole villages in extraordinarily sadistic ways. When they got hungry, they cannibalized their quarry sometimes. The western christians on the crusade did not know that there was such a thing as eastern christians, and the language and cultural differences kept them from finding out. I do not know if those who commissioned that crusade knew about eastern christians, but I am sure that some of them were educated enough that they must have known.
I really consider this to be a contender for the most revolting and barbaric of human activities ever to be carried out, and yet we just fail to remember that it happened, also that it was followed by many other crusades, none of which brought anything good into the world.
So hearing someone remarking on a history of bloodshed in service of some mystical idea of divine racial annointment and/or mission is not very impressive to me. Nor should it be to anyone. People have done a lot of stupid and crazy shit. Tell me something I don't know.
This is not in any way exceptional, autrement dit. To put it in Christian terms: If you want to tell your brother how to clarify his vision of the world, first remove the veil that is obscuring your own vision.
And before you think I am some kind of neo-fascist, Russian-nonsense convert, let me tell you that it's not the case. I am a Ukrainian-Canadian, and I am as far left as you can get before you start wanting to attend clandestine meetings to strategize on how to spark the socialist revolution.
The Soviet Union was destined to collapse anyway. Gorbachev provided a cushion and minimized the bloodshed. As flawed as he was I will always be thankful for the route he chose to take.
North Korea was definitely in a worse shape than USSR in 80s. They are here till today. It could exist, though as a bloc of oppressed souls.
Gorbatchev freed all these poeple. In European satellite states it was 106.5 mio people.
Later the whole USSR.
Yes, they were uneducated. Imagine that North Koreans are feeed today. They would be unready to manage their affairs. They would be abused because of their naivety.
At least, they would have such a chance.
The ussr was undemocratically dissolved
ruclips.net/video/mdFTgCf67Bw/видео.html
No, he could reformed it in Chinese way, but instead millions died in 90s from drugs, alcohol, poverty, hunger, unemployment, suicide ( post-Soviet states even still comprise 7 out of 10 most suicidal countries, having all 3 top places ), terrible mafia rule and criminal violence. It's guaranteed many people will keep for many years coming to spit (and sh*t) on his grave
@@mrobocop1666 you are comparing the Soviet Union, which had control over countries that are very different both culturally and linguistically, to China which is more homogeneous (with some slight varying regional differences). Two are very different. One was more bound to face collapse than the other.
The CCP also had no moral qualms have over flattening protestors with tanks.
Thank-you for this video. He was a fascinating man. He was very close to Yakovlev who was the ambassador to Canada when Gorbachev was Agricultural secretary. Much of his drive for reform came from seeing how much more efficient western farms were at that time compared to the USSR. He travelled quite a lot and developed warm relations with many of his counterparts during his time as Agriculture secretary. His obvious and unashamed love for his wife, family and fellow citizens is always what I will remember most.
Lack of theft and graft can really improve agriculture. Of course in America we have cheap, illegal labor.
As a Romanian I see a lot of similarities with how democracy went down in my country, despite the fact that there are many differences. For instance, older people here have a lot of nostalgia regarding the comunist period and some even go as far as saying that Ceaușescu was a good leader. It's hard to blame them, that's all they ever knew and when freedom came it was strange for them because they had no idea what to do with it. The 90's were terrible here, as in many countries from the eastern block, with extreme poverty, hyperinflation, violent crime etc. People looked back at the stability of the comunist time and thought that life was better.
All of that is of course false and Romania today, a full EU member, is a much better place to live than Russia and I cannot help but wonder what Russia could have been today if it had better leaders.
Anyway, in my opinion Gorbachev was a great leader, flawed sure, but looking at his soviet background it's kind of amazing who he turned up.
RIP!
The West has never allowed Russia to live and develop, NATO and the Russophobic EU do not consider Russian Europeans and would do everything to threaten the security of the country and prevent Russia from developing economically. We are enemies and Romania has chosen a side.Gorbachev is a traitor who gave eastern Europe to the Americans in order for missiles to target our cities from there.
A Cristian Tudor Popescu fan I see? It's amazing how many falsehoods you could pack into that comment...
1. Living standards were objectively better in the 80s than in the 90s for most Romanians. In spite of libertarian utopianism, unfeathered capitalism does not bring prosperity. Obviously Romania is better off now, but a lot of that is far more due to technological progress, affordable Chinese products (not judt consumer goods but even stuff like Solar panels or wind turbines) and EU development programs, as well as the typical economic benefits of being part of a large trading block, than to any capitalist "opening up" policies, a lot of which just exacerbated poverty in the 90s
2. Russia did attempt many times to join NATO and integrate with the EU in the 90s and early 2000s (including during the early Putin years), only to be met with rejection from a dominant hegemonic west. It's not what could've been if Russia's rulers were different - a less autocratic Russia would've just as well been rejected by America because Russia remained too geopolitically independent for America's liking...
3. This is essentially a pro-US hegemony propaganda channel - there's nothing different here from what you'll hear in mass media discorse in terms of political positions, (eg Putinist Russia is evil, which is true tbf - the only omission there is that by many metrics the US and NATO are worse; The west is great and "democratic" - eve though it's s bunch of corporate-ruled oligarchies etc) except you'll get the same propaganda points delivered with more intelligence and a deeper analysis, as Vlad is generally better at this than most media.
I've experienced this bitter distain for Gorbachev from Russians & it amuses me that they can't grasp the simple fact that with or without him, the Soviet Empire was bankrupt & destitute. They seem to think that military power & "strong leaders" is all you need to be a great nation 🤷♂️
Well now they get the first hand experience in seeing where military power and strongmen leads them. Into the abyss.
USA same.
@@AlfaGiuliaQV they will blame the other.
@@crhu319 Not really. The US absolutely loves the military, but hates strong leaders, particularly at the top. Any strong leader loved by half of the country would be hated by the other half. Our political system was designed to allow one side to sabotage the other. The downside is the comically dysfunctional state of our government, but things could be worse...
If Gorbachev never became the leader of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union could have been saved.
I remember that someone in my area had named his cat " Gorby" in honour of Gorbačëv
I remember the period of Glastnost and Peristroika like it was yesterday. Until that point, the USSR was more or less “the enemy”. This changed almost everything. For the first time, I looked at the people and didn’t see “the enemy”...in fact, I was excited at the prospect of our nations getting closer. I was genuinely happy for the people of the USSR/Russia.
Fast forward a few decades...Gorbachev said it himself. His legacy has been completely undone. By a guy who “loves his nation” but couldn’t care less about the people. Sad that Gorbachev had to witness this in his last days.
Side note: am I seeing things, or was that actually Dmitry Medvedev at Gorbachev’s funeral?
I am rereading 'The Brothers Karamazov' and currently on 'The Grand Inquisitor' chapter 5. "Choosing 'bread' jumps out as a parallel to the struggle described here. I've just found your channel and enjoying the topics given my love of Russia. I was so hopeful and excited to welcome the freedom of Glasnost and Perestroika. Now we sit on a potential nuclear power plant disaster.... willing to destroy all rather than change. I sit powerless, worried, prayerful, sad. Thank you for your wisdom.
"You don't need to fear your own people, damn it."
Yet time and again Russia has put this aspiration to death - often literally. I don't suppose there is an answer to this paradox, just a shoulder shrug.
Vlad, thank you for this extraordinarily humane video about Gorbachov.
It is such a pity that we in Europe - and the USA - blew the opportunity to integrate Russia into the common European house, he so vividly promoted. Russia should be our friend, not our enemy. With Gorbachov this could have been possible.
Racism begets racism. Though with Putin gone I think we'll be willing to give Russia the chance it deserves.
Where do you get the idea that Russians want to be integrated into Europe?
I see very little evidence of it.
It is just a myth, as Vlad indicated, that Europe or the U.S. could have ever achieved this. Yes, mistakes were made by the West, but overtures were also repeatedly rejected by a *still* fully hubristic Russia.
Russia had the chance but under Putin refused to finish the required reforms towards democracy it needed.
@@captainmcawesome7908 You mean selling off his country to pig western elites that will stomp his entire people like under Yeltsin? Keep your "democracy" away sheep
Влад, спасибо, что доносите такие хорошие объяснения на английском англоговорящему миру!
Many people were suspicious of him in the west in the mid eighties, but quite a lot of people had warmed to him by the latter half of the decade. I was a teenager here in Australia back then, and knowing nothing of the Soviet Union. I though he would succeed with Perestrokia and like many in the west I think I over estimated the USSR's strength. I was suprised when eastern Europe started revolting, of course I knew nothing of people's troubles there. When the wall fell in Germany, it felt like something nobody ever expected had just happened. When the USSR dissolved shortly after, it was another shock. The troubles of the 90s economic shock were blamed on Gorbechev, even though there really was'nt any other way forward. You can't blame the issues on him, Communism was not only dead by this stage but had resulted in an economy that was ill suited to a market conversion. He also was'nt responsible for the terrible corruption and other problems that came after he left office!
As 20-something Brit living under the threat of nuclear war in the 80's I recall when the wall came down. It was so exciting. Gorbachev prevented bloodshed and brought freedom. He was a visionary and a man of peace. RIP.
We had so much hope that things would be better for those living on what had been on both sides of the iron curtain?
I'd say our hard-line neoliberals bear a good chunk of the responsibility for what happened to Russia.
(And a lot of what's happening to us.)
@@grmpEqweer The Russians need to take responsibility for themselves. No more free stuff, no more, "here it fell of the back of a truck" and no more no-show jobs because you know somebody. They run their lives like mobsters and mob families. And we Americans were promised a "peace dividend" that never materialized because we run our county like Rome in its decline. We even have Senators who get a salary but much, much more from trading favors, giving paid talks, and magically getting rich.
As a child of the late 60s, 70s and 80s I spent my youth fully expecting to die in a global nuclear war. Gorbachev, through his statemanship, made all those fears go away. Truly the greatest Russian I've ever heard of.
the US is the only country to have actually used nukes and still have the most in the world. they are still a HUGE threat to peace.
So true.
hear, hear!
The whole irony is that he dispelled YOUR fears, the fears of a man who is a citizen of a civilized space that does not wish anything good to the Russian people. And he let down his own people, destroyed the state and destroyed a huge number of lives. You in the West - complacently call it freedom. He condemned people to humiliation and suffering. All for the sake of money and approval from the West. That is why his legacy will be forever in the dustbin of the history of his own people. And that is why our people saw the price and the humiliation get in return when we reach out to the West in the hope of improving relations
It was Reagan who did that, he stood up to the Soviets.
The truth is that one man can't change the system, a good system is much better than a good leader.
Thank you for this heartfelt appraisal of Gorbachev and his times. One day he will be seen by the Russian people for what he was: a man of principle and courage, a decent, emphatic person, flawed, yes but always on the side of humanity. Disgraceful as they are, his errors - like the Lithuanian crackdown - must be seen in context and contrasted with what would have happened under any other Soviet leader.
I mean - considering that most states of the eastern bloc are free today - his legacy seems to be one of at least partial success.
Yeah, free...
Free? That's why people are leaving it?? Shitty economics, shitty science, corrupt government, oligarchs controlling the whole country, shitty wages? Is this what you call "freedom". I would rather be free in a working matter, so that i can be member of a working union, that i can suggest ideas to improve the conditions, like it was in Soviet Union. Nowadays working conditions in Russia are trash.
@@rpvd9080 I cannot comment on your living conditions. But I know that countries like Poland and Ukraine will never want to go back to being appendages to the Russian empire nor does East Germany.
As I have said in other threads & in other words, we loved Gorbachev here in America during the 1980s. We had lived under the threat of imminent thermonuclear annihilation our entire lives & here came Gorbachev trying to end this threat. I am very disheartened that we once again are facing extinction.
I understand that I am being a bit simplistic, that I am speakingfor myself & that no human being is without flaws, but I'll take my joy where I can find it.
Russia doesn't have many operative nukes. They have a short shelf life and are expensive to maintain. Remember half-life when talking about radioactive materials? A hydrogen bomb degrades 50% in 20 years. Russia has lots of nukes but they aren't even installed in missiles anymore. Our nukes were recently updated. We (USA) have way more than double, ready to go.
Putin knows this. Add the European nukes and it's game over for Russia.
Russia has an economy that is smaller than Texas, they can't afford to have a big army, up to date tanks and fighter aircraft and keep their nukes fresh. Can't be done. They can't even defeat Ukraine. None of their weapons work as they claimed.
Agreed. It's not the common people who want war, much less nuclear war.
@@TheBandit7613: Thanks. Your comment does comfort me somewhat. I am hoping that all the talk about using nukes by Putin's lackeys is just bluster.
That Russians despise Gorbachev today speaks volumes about the contemporary Russian. Their minds have been drawn down to a very dark place.
Thanks for your videos Vlad. In South Africa we have political parties that idolise Putin and the soviet leaders such as Lenin and Stalin. They are very intelligent people, these politicians, but I'm afraid that they are keen students of the soviet rise to power and they would very much like to repeat it here. I hope my countrymen find your content.
Thank you so much Vlad for this video. You gave him justice in it. He was so romantic the way he loved and loved his wife he did. I'm so glad he's buried next to her.
It was painful for me not to include their relationship. But the video was getting too long. I will talk about their relationship on Chat. I think I might make a short video just about their relationship.
@@VladVexler please do more videos on his life, even a series it would be great. I don't think anybody who watches your videos would not be interested.
As far as I can tell, you are by far the best informed and most insightful, succinct, and engaging educator on the platform concerning this topic. I found your channel in my search for a deeper understanding of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict's origins than the media has been able (or willing) to provide. To anyone who asks me about it, I refer them to your videos as must-watch material. At a time of rampant deception, obfuscation, oversimplification, bias and sensationalism, the importance of the service you are providing cannot be overstated. Keep up the excellent work.
Sean that’s so kind of you. Thank you. This video of course touched on about 1% of what’s to be said on Gorby. I will be doing a slow and long chat about him on the Chat channel in the next day or so.
"deaper understanding of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict"... so keep digging deeper... cause it's not a "conflict", it's a Russian war against the Ukrainian nation and state
@@psychologianiestacjonarna6558 I never said it wasn't a war of Russian aggression, which it obviously is. That position is consistently maintained as a fundamental premise in the content posted here, so the above commendation implicitly agrees with that point. To be clear, a war of Russian aggression still qualifies as a conflict.
Well said
@@beeroftherat1 it's a war against NATO.
Amazing presentation. This video helped me understand Mr. Gorbachev and the difficult transition he was trying to achieve for his country and people. A very thought provoking analysis. Thank you for your efforts in making this presentation.
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy.”
*So this applys to Gorbatchev as well*
What I love about Gorbachev is that when you look at those events you get the feeling that it HAD to be him. No one would have or could have done it the way he did. And had it been ANYONE else, things would have gone down very differently and not for the better.
Goodbye Gorby. You deserve a better world than this one.
That he does.
As a young American teenager, growing up in the late 1980's & 1990's, I was then, as I am now, interested in human rights, animal rights, and how politics affects us all. I watched, mesmerized, as President Reagan gave his "tear down this wall" speech and waited to see what would happen. My heart hoped and bled for the German people. It was horrible to think of the two halves of Germany being separated from their loved ones. Then President Gorbachev acted in the best interest of the people and I was certain that the Russians were in good hands too. Gorbachev projected love and empathy when he did right by the Germans. In Gorbachev, I saw more than someone who loves...I saw that he is love. He may have "blood on his hands", but somewhere, somehow those transgressions were washed away. It was evident to me that he loved his people and became more than the President of the great and beautiful Russia. He also, became a citizen of the whole world. He was given power and he used it for good. When we bless our neighbor, we bless ourselves. I admired him then and I admire him still. Now, hearing how the majority of Russia thinks ill of him perplexes me. Lately, I've been trying to understand the people of Russia due to the war in Ukraine...just trying to understand why one nation inflicts suffering onto another. Once again, my heart is breaking for nations across the pond (the Ukrainians and the Russian people). In my humble opinion and limited experience, it seems that the majority of Russians have been fed ice cream flavored sh** (propaganda). I've eaten this ice cream myself and gradually found it does not bring proper nourishment. It only makes one sicker and sicker. I don't share any of this in judgement...just honesty. When I see Gorbachev in the next life, I will smile and embrace him as a brother.
I genuinely felt a wave of sadness come over me when I heard about his passing. I wasn't alive in the 80s, but he seemed like a normal, kind man. If I imagine my father (normal guy) as the head of a totalitarian communist superpower, I see Gorbachev. Looks and mannerisms aren't that far off.
_In a blessed falling asleep, grant, O Lord, eternal rest unto Thy departed servant, Mikhail Gorbachev, and make his memory to be eternal. Amen._ ☦✝
Whilst a man with his flaws like all of us, and certainly with blood on his hands, in my opinion overall he was a great statesman. I hope he will eventually one day be remembered for his achievements in Russia. That they'll see he cared about the common people. One of the few who gave up power by himself instead of trying to cling to it.
Nobody is saying that he wasn't a good person, by character. Nicholas II (aside from his spoilt nature, dancing with the French curing wartime) was also a good, kind person by all accounts. Humble, too- admitted his unreadiness for the Tsar's throne.
That did not absolve him of his incompetence.
And neither does Gorbachev's good intentions absolve him.
He failed to stop Yeltsin's referendum- whatever you may think of the ultimate moral right of the USSR collapsing, its sudden and violent transition into capitalism created a lost decade in virtually all of the post-Soviet space.
His perestroika was executed poorly- he wasn't even aiming to dissolve the Union, he was a Leninist, while Yeltsin was the nationalist. So by his own standart, he did not achieve his goals of reform. Political freedom should have come after economic reform, slowly.
But no, it needed to be a grand gesture, and my family along with millions of others paid for it.
Vlad's appeal says nothing to me, sorry. After gangs roam the streets, pensions collapsed, followed by a default in 1998, I have no sympathy for "Gorby". He was a fool.
@@LancesArmorStriking I would say that in Russia it is more than a lost decade and that they're dragging another country backwards now too..
For all of his flaws, the peaceful dissolution of the USSR, in contrast to Yugoslavia for example, is a great achievement even if he didn't meant for this to happen beforehand. He gave freedom to the Eastern bloc, allowed the reunification of Germany and allowed to SSR's to decide their own future (something the current "president" doesn't seem so keen of letting them do). He could have created a bloodbath in Europe, like Putin is doing now, but he choose not to. It's sad that this legacy has been destroyed by the dictator.
@@dylanvogler2165 "Peaceful dissolution" Stop right there and go read some history
@@konstantinkelekhsaev302 *relatively peaceful. As it could have been much, much worse.
Also I am pretty sure I know more about history than you lol. As I am sure I read and study more history in a week than you do in a year lol
@@dylanvogler2165 So the Chechen Wars, Tajik Civil War, Georgian Civil War, Transnistria War were all relatively peaceful ?
I remember him from when I was little. Gorby lol. He seems like... a parent who wants to let their children make their own mistakes and learn for themselves. I do love his singing voice too.
Good choice of music, the fall of the Berlin Wall together with Ode an die Freude really touched me 8:57
I am glad you didn’t skip what happened in Lithuania. In Latvia 7 people were killed in January 1991, as they stood unarmed against the Russian military. Two of them were cameramen. I was born in 1993, so I grew up with an illusion, that we live in a very safe and free country, while the previous generations are deeply traumatized by the Soviet Union. Anything could have happened.
Man he did one good thing and you hate him for it.
@@retardedfishfrogs1 I see him as a captain of a sinking ship. The economic and moral fall of the Soviet Union was inevitable. Gorbochev couldn’t win a war if he wanted to. He simply made the best choice with what he had.
But you cannot make a person love Gorbochev for not killing everyone, and just killing the person’s family. The west can love Gorbochev, but not the east, although for very different reasons. Russians see the loss of power as a tragedy. The non-russian part of the soviet block celebrates the eventual collapse of the union. We became free.
The Baltic countries had one of the best economies in USSR, I don't know what they tell you in your school. It's just stupid how Baltic States think all their problems come from USSR and russians.
@@PettyBlue1 Dude everybody voted against the dissolution of the USSR, even Ukraine but the referendum wasn't honored. So much for being free. Enjoy your 40 times more expensive gas nowadays for your idealism.
@@rpvd9080 empty shops, communal flats and zero private business scream of great economy. You really live in a far away place, if you need school for someone to teach this. It’s not like it was reality a thousand years ago. Everyone lived through it, the evidence is all over the place.
Mozart‘s Requiem at the beginning - thank you. Perfect choice 🙏❤️.
Perfect video.
I was a child back then still - I liked him a lot, I remember this absolute surprise when the Berlin wall fell without blood shed. The people travelling to western Europe through the Hungarian border before that. And they were not stopped!! It was an incredible miracle, we were all like glued to the tv. And after that the first impressions how it was really like behind the iron curtains all these years and how the people were really like! Before a diffuse cloud of suspicions was all we heard on the news. Now it was suddenly real people like you and me who were forced to live a terrible life we thought. And finally they were free! Our hearts went out to them!
It took a while to realize that not everyone there agreed it was terrible.
But he was our hero back then for us children - finally the iron curtain fell, no more dead-end at Austria’s eastern borders with nowhere to go in that direction anymore - a whole new world opened up - and the world felt like an a bit more peaceful and united place for us.
Thank you, brilliant video, thank you also for the memories it triggered in me.
He resembles Nemtsov in his interacting with ordinary citizens. Nemtsov acted amazingly like there was no hierarchy when speaking with
Well done Vlad, again!!!! Thank you and Happy New Year with good health!!!
I've had tears over this man since his passing. Thank you very much for this video. Brent Collins.
Thank you Brent. A lot of people are feeling orphaned.
@@VladVexler Empires will rise and fall. The USSR was an empire with a communist structure. It's collaps was not to be reversed.
why? he sold out the people of the USSR. this is well documented history?
ruclips.net/video/mdFTgCf67Bw/видео.html
Rest in peace Mr. Gorbachev you have genuinely earned it.
Requiem in pax
rest in pizza Mr. Hut.
This was a moving and beautifully done show, Vlad! State of the art. Thank you for your insight into one of the most iconic, turbulent and profound histories of a nation in our world.
I hope that someday, the young people of Russia will realize Gorbachev's undertaking of peaceful coexistence, de-militarization, opening of markets, and de-nuclearization. He knew he had sinned in the past, and moved in small ways to repent, to build a better future. Easily one the most positive figures of the 20th Century.
Before listening to your video! I loove Gorbatchev. Glasnost and Perestroika and above all he had it, he had love for others. No power hungry person, an unusual man to come to power.
He loved his wife, never will forget him being so sad when he lost her.
I am German, all Germans liked him of course. Such a change in rulership, a human being, loving nature, humble.
I watched interviews with him within the last time, to hear what he says. He looked sick in the later videos, I was a little worried. He talked like your neighbor, no political Tamtam. Always Gorbatschow ( in Germany he is written like that).
People want strongmen, no bloodshed was his aim. He was a man like God praises: Wisdom, peace loving, doing everything with love.
IMO, What’s so tragically compelling about this saga - this particular leadership story of totalitarian vs liberal - is who the people themselves have chosen, as well as whom they despise.
Wonderful as always, Vlad. Spaseeba.
I find it hard to comprehend, are they delusional? Haven't they examined their own history?
@Kathyrn Reilly Sadly, no. Though, to be fair, they’re hardly unique in that. Most people don’t have a firm grasp of history… and tyrants, would be and otherwise, prefer it that way.
@@kathrynoreilly6064 they have a very twisted version of their history...
This is a common thread running through Russian history. Many of the Russian intelligentsia going back to the 18th century lament that the average Russian mindset is wired"backwards". Filled with mysticism and a lack of self worth. The younger generation in Russia today seems more pragmatic and due to the internet have a clearer idea of the world at large so it's hopefully with them the future can improve for Russia, but we've said that many times before.
@@dylanvogler2165 yes especially of late, but over the past twenty years there was access to historical information from a wide variety of sources, like never before. I myself read English history on Irish affairs for deeper understanding
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Dear Vlad, congratulations for the 50K subscribers. You deserve it! 🤗
Lovely you thank you thank you!!!
This video was seriously well done!
Thank you!
I used to see him on TV as a child. Never understood back then, but I always heard him say "свабода" a lot. It means a lot more to me now. Hearing him speak so freely in these clips is refreshing.
I grew up during the Cold War in the UK and my abiding memory at the time was of relief and Joy that we no longer had to be enemies. The idea that Gorbachev was loved in the West because he took away the nuclear threat (as claimed by at least on poster in this comments section) is misplaced. That feeling was very prominent in people's minds in the 50's and 60's but by the 80's I don't think anyone believed in it anymore. It was much more a case of the world suddenly becoming a more open place. How utterly tragic that all that has been lost.
I agree 100%
The feeling of liberation was tangible. In all western countries there was hope for the end of Cold War and Russians would be happy.
Yes, we were naif.
Anyway he looked like a good person with a friendly gaze.
Great report with great editing
He looked so defeated towards the end. Everything he did undone. He will get the recognition he deserves one day.
In Ukraine we love our leader for a month after he is elected, hate him for the rest of the term, and after we get a new leader to hate we look back at the old one. In Russia they love their leader for the entirety of his rule, and hate him ever after
I suppose that trend might be different with your current leader by now? :)
@@Pyriphlegeton Well yes, obviously. Pre invasion however his polling numbers were at all time low
He was human as I hope any human could be. Made mistakes but had his people and world peace as his primary goals. RIP we need more Gorbachovs
Thank you Vlad. Your videos are an astonishing accomplishment. I have followed you for a couple months, and I have rarely, if ever, seen better historical, political and philosophical video essays about Russian culture online. This documentary about mr. Gorbachev made me cry, damn. Thank you for your great work ❤
Outstanding, informative, and timely. Well done once again, Vlad!
Gorbachev might've ordered to crush an independence movement in Estonia in the early 90s as well but Dzhokkar Dudayev, the first president of Ichkeria, who was the commander of the 23rd Strategic Bomber Division refused and quit the Red Army in response. It's a tragedy what modern Chechenya has become and I think about the injustice constantly.
My grandparents were and my parents are still very grateful for Gorbachev for letting the Union dissolve relatively peacefully though but I think the biggest hero during the cold war for me personally is Stanislav Petrov. I think many people don't know how close people in the USSR & the USA were to nuclear annihilation in 1983. Maybe you could do something on Stanislav Petrov if you can? A $1000 is a goddamn disgrace for averting nuclear war single-handedly.
I'm one of those people who don't know, and would like to know
Always upvoting for mentions of Stanislav Petrov- I will sincerely say I have no idea how much of the story is true and how much is myth, I've only ever heard very obscure parts of the internet talk about him and you never know how much truth there is to be found there, but that also kind of means there's all the more merit for more public parts of the world to really dig into the story and discuss it- shine a light on how sometimes, the exact right person in the exact right time and place can make all the difference.
Not many know about that little incident during military exercises. Check out today's 10/16 hromadske channel for a tour of a missile silo in Ukraine. It's a long documentary with a tour by a veteran missile-eer and has easy CC English.
Without Gorbachev the USSR would have creaked and groaned on for maybe another 10 years before collapsing under it’s own weight and probably a resultant human catastrophe. As you say he was flawed and a product of the bloody Soviet system with no doubt blood on his hands on the way up but ultimately for saving so many lives I believe he was a hero.
RIP Mikhail, now back with his beloved Raisa. 🫡
@Lycanthrope It would have been worse, so much worse. Soviet Union had a number of early famines, one of them remembered by Ukrainians as Holodomor, and that would have happened again but on 10x scale, 100x scale, unimaginable, the system couldn't hold. Even the standard of living in Russia has somewhat recovered, and most post Soviet countries have fared much better than that, Baltics are positively comfy. Had it not been for a small handful of madmen in Russia, Ukraine would have had a similar level of prosperity to the newer EU countries if not that much better, and it was actualy faring better than the vast majority of Russian area even regardless up until feb.
I have first hand experience of the 90s, i do. It was terrible, but it could have been that much worse.
@Lycanthrope I know it was very bad but could have been a whole lot worse.
@@ianelstub4097 Worse how ?
@@konstantinkelekhsaev302 military intervention in the Baltic States (I know there was limited intervention) civil war in Russia on top of the economic collapse that did happen, millions displaced or dead.
such enlightening videos! dont stop!!
In 1988/89, I was a conscript soldier in the Norwegian Armed Forces (12 months' service), one of about 190,000 soldiers in a country that at the time had only 4 million inhabitants. The fear of the Soviet Union was serious and we learned to kill with both rifles and knives despite the fact that I served in field surgery which is protected under the Geneva Convention. Of course we had heard of Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika, but we did not dare to believe that the Soviet Union was changing. Norway's politicians and generals obviously didn't dare either. Then the wall fell in the autumn of 1989 shortly after I had finished my military service. Coincidence meant that that night I was heading north on the Autobahn in Germany. Just north of the city of Kassel, we met a caravan of East German cars where people were celebrating with flags out of the car windows. People were really in a festive mood and their joy was palpable. I will never forget the sight. Vladimir Putin is truly a tragedy and a monster from a bygone era now over 30 years later.
To me in the UK, Gorbachev was imaginative and creative, with a world view that far exceeded the limited outlook of Reagan and Thatcher in the West. With Western support, he may have completed his transformation of the USSR and kept villains like Putin out of office. What surprised me, is that many Russians appeared to prefer Thatcher to Gorbachev.
I know very little on the subject but to my limited knowledge he seemed to care about the people more than the power he could have wielded
Surely his love is a power that a tyrant cannot ever truly achieve
In the 10+ years I've been watching RUclips.. this is handsdown the best video I've ever watched, I don't ever recall been so excited to be notified when you drop a new video, and this was excellently done.. well done sir 👏
The best video on RUclips is Red Letter Media's review of The Phantom Menace.
This is number two 😉
Your comment is definitely the most hyperbolic I've ever read in my entire life.
@@AstroGremlinAmerican Just as yours is pointless
Thank you so much for this offering. It touched me and gave me hope
This was fascinating and enlightening, …Powerfully presented Vald, thank you
He is a tragic hero in the ranks of Claudius; a man who wanted to actualize a democratic socialist dream and promise, and though he failed he at least ended an authoritarian nightmare. Putin doesn't even have the decency to attend Gorbachev's funeral simply out of function while he sullies Gorbachev's legacy; Russia's first chance for freedom and democracy since 1917.
Putin’s childish disrespect.