Mikhail Gorbachev's life in dates

March 2, 1931: He is born into a peasant family in the village of Privolnoye in the southern Stavropol region.

1946: Starts working as an operator of a combine harvester on a collective farm. | Above: In this undated photo obtained from the Kommsomol Young Communist League, Mikhail Gorbachev poses for a picture at the age of 19, wearing the Red Banner of Labor medal he received for driving a harvest combine on the plains of southern Russia.

1952: Joins the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union, made up of several socialist republics.

1953: Marries Raisa Titarenko whom he met at university while studying law. They will have a daughter, Irina, in 1957. Raisa dies in 1999 from leukaemia. | Above: Mikhail Gorbachev holds onto his hat and the waist of his wife Raisa, who waves to reporters in spite of driving wind and rain as they board Ilyushing-62 at end of a summit in Reykjavik October 13, 1986.

1985-1991: He leads the Soviet Union as general secretary of the Communist Party and as president when the post is introduced in 1990.

October 1985: Presents a modernising economic reform plan known as perestroika. | Above: Mikhail Gorbachev addresses the National Parliament, in Moscow, Soviet Union on Wednesday, November 27, 1985.

1987: He and the US president, Ronald Reagan, sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty on slashing their nuclear arsenals, ending a superpower build-up of warheads. | Above: US President Ronald Reagan (R) and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty at the White House, Washington on December 8 1987.

1988-1989: Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan, defeated after a 10-year campaign.

1990: Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for reforms leading to the end of the Cold War between Eastern and Western blocs.

August 1991: Hardline communists carry out a failed coup while Gorbachev is on holiday in Crimea. A series of Soviet republics begin declaring independence. | Above: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev shakes hands with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the Russian Parliament after failed coup attempt against Gorbachev, in Moscow August 23, 1991.

December 1991: After the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine conclude that the Soviet Union no longer exists and sign accords for its dissolution, Gorbachev resigns. | Above: In this file photo taken on December 25, 1991 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reads his resignation statement shortly before appearing on television in Moscow, to announce his decision to the Nation.

1996: He stands as an independent in presidential polls but takes only 0.5 percent, Boris Yeltsin winning the election.