How did the Soviet Union, under Gorbachev's leadership, respond to the disturbances in Eastern European countries?
1) The Soviet Union intervened militarily to suppress the protests.
2) The Soviet Union supported the protests and provided military aid.
3) The Soviet Union did not intervene, allowing the communist regimes to collapse.
4) The Soviet Union imposed martial law in Eastern Europe.

Choose the correct answer from the given options:

3

The Soviet Union, under Gorbachev's leadership, did not intervene when disturbances occurred in Eastern European countries, leading to the collapse of communist regimes.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who had become General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, sought to reform this system. Reforms were necessary to keep the USSR abreast of the information and technological revolutions taking place in the West. However, Gorbachev’s decision to normalise relations with the West and democratise and reform the Soviet Union had some other effects that neither he nor anyone else intended or anticipated. The people in the East European countries which were part of the Soviet bloc started to protest against their own governments and Soviet control. Unlike in the past, the Soviet Union, under Gorbachev, did not intervene when the disturbances occurred, and the communist regimes collapsed one after another.