The passing of the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, marks the end of an impactful life with enormous significance for world history. Admired in the West and despised in Russia for drawing down the Iron Curtain, ending the Cold War and presiding over the disintegration of a super powerful state built by communist giants Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Gorbachev leaves behind a complex legacy with implications for the future.