Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last leader, died at 91 in Moscow on Tuesday. Known for the famous birthmark on his forehead, Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931, and played a central role in ending the Cold War. Photo: Vasily Maximov/VCG

Gorbachev attends the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on Feb. 25, 1986. Gorbachev presided over the meeting as general secretary of the Central Committee and launched his reforms where he championed openness, or “glasnost.” Photo: VCG

Gorbachev poses with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during his visit to the U.K. in December 1984. From 1982 to 1984, Gorbachev was one of the most active Soviet Politburo members, traveling abroad regularly. Photo: Gerald Penny/IC Photo

From May 15 to 18, 1989, Gorbachev paid an official visit to China and met Deng Xiaoping on the second day of the visit. Photo: IC Photo

On Dec. 8, 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan (right) and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in Washington D.C. As a result, the U.S. and the Soviet Union destroyed a total of 2,696 missiles by June 1991. Photo: VCG

Gorbachev (left) meets the President Ronald Reagan and Vice President and President-elect George H. W. Bush (right) at Liberty Village in New York on Dec. 7, 1988. George H. W. Bush succeeded Reagan as the U.S. President in 1989. Photo: VCG

Gorbachev speaks to members of Supreme Soviet, the USSR’s legislative body on Oct. 1, 1988. During the session, he was elected as head of the Soviet state. Photo: Vitaly Armand/VCG

Gorbachev greets East German leader Erich Honecker with a kiss on Oct. 7, 1989. Eleven days later Honecker was forced to resign by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. Photo: Wolfgang Kumm

Gorbachev (third right, second row ) observes a session where East German Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière (second right, first row) signs the treaty on German reunification in Moscow on Sept. 12, 1990. Photo: Vitaly Armand/VCG

“Thank you, Gorbi” was written on the Berlin Wall in October 1990 during German unification. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 15, 1990 for his role in improving ties with the West. Photo: Boris Babanov

In January 1991, more than 100,000 people joined a protest against Gorbachev in Moscow demanding that Gorbachev and his fellow Communists give up power and mourning for Lithuanians killed by Soviet troops. Photo: Vitaly Armand

On Aug. 23, 1991, Boris Yeltsin, the first president of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1999, prompts Gorbachev to read a decree that all Soviet industries would be transferred to the Russian government. On Dec. 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president, marking the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Photo: VCG

Gorbachev (left) with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa and former German chancellor Angela Merkel (right) at the Brandenburg Gate for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 2009. Photo: IC Photo

Gorbachev talks to actor Leonardo DiCaprio at the evening party of the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. Gorbachev was a guest expert in DiCaprio’s documentary “The 11th Hour.” Photo: Andreas Rentz/VCG

A man looks at Gorbachev’s portrait in The Kennedys museum in Berlin, Germany in February 2011. Photo: VCG