The Soviet Leader Who Accidentally Destroyed the Soviet Union

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]The reformer who saved America by destroying himself never fired a shot.

[00:00:03]It's 1985, [music] Moscow, Soviet Union. A younger leader takes power promising to fix communism without breaking it. He opens the press, allows criticism, and restructures the economy. His goal is simple: make the system work better while keeping the empire together. Glasnost brings free speech. Perestroika brings economic freedom. For a time, the world watches in amazement, but openness reveals decades of lies. Economic restructuring exposes massive corruption. The very transparency meant to save the system turns people against it. Protests erupt across Eastern Europe. The Berlin Wall falls. Soviet republics declare independence one by one. The last Soviet leader was Mikhail Gorbachev.