Benjamin HarrisonBREAKING DOWN THE WALL: LEGACY OF MIKHAIL GORBACHEV VIA

GLASNOST AND PERESTROIKASenior Division

Individual Website

I have always been interested in the Soviet Union; it’s been one of my favorite areas of study. I loved to learn about how a group of people could come together in a Union and live under a dictatorship and have it last so long considering the conditions. For me, I think the leader that had the largest impact of the USSR was Mikhail Gorbachev as a result of the reforms that he tried to make to the Soviet Union in order to make it more Westernized and Socialist and move out of Communism. Although, in the end, these reforms might have meant the end of the Soviet Union because these citizens are finally given such new freedoms that they didn’t know what to do with it so they went to the extremes and blamed the government for everything that wasn’t perfect in their lives. Because of all the revolts being lead by the people of the USSR, the government was forced to shut down and dissolve the USSR because of these new freedoms. I was able to talk with some experts on the Soviet Union about their views on Gorbachev and how his reforms worked. The differing views of all these professionals amazed me, and seeing how skewed the results were fascinated me even more and encouraged me even farther in the direction of researching this intriguing man. The research that I conducted lead me to my own opinions of to what extent Gorbachev’s reforms were successful, so when I discussed this with more experts I was able to finally debate my own ideas and refute the ideas and have a professional talk with these experts.

After performing this research and doing plenty of interviews, I decided to do a website because I feel like it’s the best way to organize my ideas and present them in a proper manner. I am able to present my own ideas originally and have videos, quotes, and pictures that I can use to back up my reasoning. The presentation of the website as a whole helps my ideas flow and keep them all together and focused on a specific topic because of the multi-media platform. As my header picture, I wanted to incorporate the most important things into one picture: a picture of Gorbachev, his reforms, and the USSR flag. After I completed my thesis and my headings, I tried to find the best videos and pictures that would support all of my pages and headings so it could all make sense and flow as easily as possible for someone who hasn’t done as much research to understand it clearly. I used a bounty of primary and secondary sources that help to enrich the ideas of Gorbachev and further my reasons for the answer to my thesis.

Word Count: 465