Mikhail+Gorbachev

=Part III: Personalities in the Twentieth Century=

Option 24 Mikhail Gorbachev 1931 to 2000
Through the study of Mikhail Gorbachev, students gain an understanding of the role of this personality in a period of national or international history.
 * Principal focus**:


 * Students learn about**:


 * 1 Historical context**
 * Cold War and détente
 * Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
 * the Brezhnev era
 * Reagan’s renewal of the Cold War
 * Soviet economic and social problems
 * nationalist movements within and outside the USSR


 * 2 Background**
 * family background and education
 * early roles within the Communist Party
 * technocrat


 * 3 Rise to prominence**
 * General Secretary of the Communist Party
 * death of Andropov and Chernenko
 * policies of //Glasnost// and //Perestroika//


 * 4 Significance and evaluation**
 * relations with the USA
 * relations with Eastern Europe
 * end of the Cold War
 * collapse of Eastern Europe
 * evaluation: for example visionary, traitor to communism?


 * HSC Question for this section:**
 * One question in two parts that is generic to the 27 personalities.
 * Students answer the question in relation to the personality they have studied, with an expected length of response of around eight examination writing booklet pages (approximately 1000 words) in total.