Glasnost was one of the major political initiatives launched by Soviet Secretary-general Mikhail Gorbachev. For the first time in Soviet history, there was open discussion of many key political and key issues. Gorbachev´s intention was to reform the Communist system, to democratize it and make it less authoritarian. It was sort of a spring in public affairs. Nevertheless, a freer new atmosphere led to protests in many Soviet republics, nationalist sentiments were reborn, political instability ensued. In the last years of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev resembled more and more a wizard that had liberated forces he could not control anymore. His position became too weak after a conservative coup d´etat staged in Moscow. It failed but severely undermined his position and strengthened the standing of the president of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin. The Soviet Union broke apart in December 1991.
