Gorbachev’s Reforms Source Analysis Worksheet

In this activity, students will examine how Mikhail Gorbachev’s twin policies of Perestroika and Glasnost attempted to reform the Soviet Union during the 1980s, and they will analyse why these reforms instead accelerated its collapse by weakening central authority and exposing decades of economic failure. They will also explore the global consequences of these changes, including the wave of 1989 revolutions across Eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the formal dissolution of the USSR in December 1991.

It has 11 questions for students to answer, as well as a paragraph response section for them to demonstrate their understanding of the topic.