Daily History Challenge · No. 72 · Tuesday 8 September 2026 · Chain
Puzzle No. 72: Chain
The anchor was Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika (1985 CE). Every challenger is listed below with its year.
The anchor
Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 11 March 1985 and launched two interlinked reform programmes. Glasnost ("openness") relaxed censorship and permitted public discussion of social problems and past state failures, while perestroika ("restructuring") sought to revitalise the stagnant command economy by introducing limited market mechanisms and decentralising decision-making. The reforms, deepened from late 1986, also reshaped foreign policy: Gorbachev pursued arms-control agreements with the West and signalled that Moscow would not use force to preserve communist governments in Eastern Europe (effectively abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine). Although intended to strengthen the Soviet system, the reforms unleashed political ferment, nationalist movements and economic disruption that the leadership could not control. They are widely regarded as decisive in enabling the peaceful revolutions of 1989 and, ultimately, the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The 10 challengers, in order of date
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika
Before Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika