Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, died Tuesday. He was 91. The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that he died after a long illness. No other details were given.

In a statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered deep condolences over Gorbachev’s death and would send an official telegram to Gorbachev’s family in the morning.

Also read: Mikhail Gorbachev family: Know about his wife Raisa and daughter Irina Virganskaya

Gorbachev was the president of the Soviet Union from March 1990 to December 1991. The communist state collapsed after he resigned. He helped in the end of the cold war. 

Though in power less than seven years, Gorbachev unleashed a breathtaking series of changes. But they quickly overtook him and resulted in the collapse of the authoritarian Soviet state, the freeing of Eastern European nations from Russian domination and the end of decades of East-West nuclear confrontation.

Also read: How Mikhail Gorbachev helped end the Cold War

His decline was humiliating. His power hopelessly sapped by an attempted coup against him in August 1991, he spent his last months in office watching republic after republic declare independence until he resigned on Dec. 25, 1991. The Soviet Union wrote itself into oblivion a day later.

Here is a timeline of Mikhail Gorbachev’s life:

March 2, 1931 – Mikhail Sergeyevich is born in Privolnoye, Stavropol region of southern Russia

1950 – He enrolls at Moscow State University to study law

1952 – Gorbachev becomes full member of the Communist Party. He was active in the Komsomol, the party’s youth organization

Also Read: Elon Musk warns mass extinction: How true is billionaire’s prediction?

1954 – Marries fellow student, Raisa Maximovna Titorenko.

1955 – Returns to Stavropol and begins full-time Komsomol work.

1960 – He was appointed as the first secretary of Stavropol regional Komsomol

1966 – Promoted to head the party organization in the city of Stavropol. He was made a full member of the national Communist Party Central Committee

1971 – Becomes deputy of the the Supreme Soviet

1978 – Appointed Central Committee secretary in charge of agriculture

1979 – Named candidate of the ruling Politburo. Becomes a full member a year later.

March 1985 – Named general secretary of the Communist Party following the death of Konstantin Chernenko.

November 1985 – Met President Ronald Reagan for the first time

1986 – Launches Glasnost and Perestroika

Also read: Donald Trump never had ‘realistic goals’ for Artemis: NASA chief Bill Nelson

1987 – Signs a treaty with Reagan to eliminate both sides’ medium-range nuclear missiles

1988 – Presides over the dissolution of the old Supreme Soviet, to be replaced by the Congress of People’s Deputies and a smaller, full-time legislature, the new Supreme Soviet

1989 – Withdraws Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Elected as President 

1990 – Ends Communist Party’s constitutional monopoly on power. Endorses moves to create a free market economy in Soviet Union. Wins Nobel Peace Prize