The End of the Cold War.

Shah

Kunal Shah

Mr. Muratore; MYP World History; Period 5

19 May 2010

Word Count: 1367

The Cold War’s Conclusion

On Christmas Day 1991, at 7:35 p.m., the Soviet flag flying over the Kremlin was lowered and replaced by the new Russian Federation flag. The USSR officially ceased to exist on December 31, 1991. The fall of the Soviet Union signified the end of the Cold War (Nye 2). Obviously, this was a huge moment in our world’s history; a 44-year-old tension between two of the most powerful countries in the world, which almost brought us to a combative war, was destroyed. But how did something that seemed so improbable one decade previously occur so peacefully? The reform by Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan’s coercion as well as reform, and the failures in the Soviet Union and its fall were factors that led to the end of the Cold War.

First, we must analyze the decisions of Mikhail Gorbachev, who dissolved the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. Gorbachev as a leader contributed by bringing Western ideals to Soviet Russia, ultimately thawing the conflict between the USSR and the United States and ending communism in Russia (Hogan 12). When he came to power, Gorbachev did not want to bring down the Soviet Union; he wanted to reform it while maintaining Communism (Gaddis 67). However his reforms not only made his relationship with the United States better, but his decisions led to democratization in Russia. Gorbachev changed the direction of the Soviet Union; he introduced a less aggressive, more defensive foreign policy, and took steps with regards to arms reduction. This changed the tone of the Cold War drastically. By signing the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty, which reduced the stockpile of nuclear weapons in both America and the Soviet Union, the competition that had originally started the Cold War had been eliminated (Wittner 22). As for the the Iron Curtain that made the Soviet Union such an enemy, Gorbachev announced extreme troop reduction in Eastern Europe as well as in occupied parts of the Soviet Union’s satellites (Nye 7). Gorbachev improved foreign relations by bringing down the Berlin Wall, due to his idea that the Soviet Union could survive in a new Europe by taking some Western Ideals while maintaining the Communist Party’s leading role (Sheehan 1). One of Gorbachev’s important reforms for the Soviet Union was his decision to introduce the glasnost, or open discussion; perestroika, or restructuring, and democratization reforms and policies (Nester 5). These actions were taken in order to expose the people to government structure as well as follow a more Marxist model, however, they led to the people calling out for a new government and a capitalist system, which they received, ending the Cold War (Nester 6). Gorbachev’s actions benefited the Russian people as well as Russian-American relations once and for all.

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Another individual who was a great impact on the end of the Cold War was our President Ronald Reagan. He was the leader of the US during the decline of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Reagan fought hard against the country that he deemed an “evil empire”, and his aggressive tactics with regard to military strategies, diplomatic tactics and ideological offensives were one of the major stimulators for the end of the Cold War (Matlock 4). The President particularly in his second term made reforms and treaties vital to the end of the Cold War. Reagan, dismissive of his predecessors SALT II Treaty, actually proposed an arms reduction for both countries (Matlock 5). Reagan’s goal was to shift the United States from reacting to challenges and damage to changing Soviet and Communist behavior (Matlock 5). He directly challenged Soviet leadership to think differently about Soviet security, the place of the Soviet Union in the world, and the nature of the Soviet society (Matlock 6). He was ensuring that Soviet leaders would never think they could defeat the US and that they would prepare for successful negotiations (Kaplan 15, Matlock 6). In order to show clear superiority over the Soviet Union, he increased defense and research spending that would back up foreign policy goals such as suppressing Communism (Matlock 61). One of the important initiatives that Reagan took was the Strategic Defense Initiative. This was a program he launched that was responsible for the research and development of a space-based system to defend the United States from any weapon of mass destruction (Fitzgerald 25). The purpose of the program was to deter attacks from Soviet forces, provide the US with capability to respond to any Soviet forces, and to ensure that peace would be kept between the Soviet Union and America (Reagan). The SDI had a major impact on the Soviet foreign policy because it hinted at a major arms, spending, and defense race in which the Soviet Union could not afford to compete with (Fitzgerald 416). The rapid research and build-up of technology the Americans had pulled off, even though it never was a success, intimidated the Soviet Union, which ultimately responded with rash decisions and increased spending, making the failing economic system worse. Ultimately this made the USSR agree to reduce arms; a good move by President Reagan. Ronald Reagan was an important factor in the end of the Cold War; his fight to end nuclear proliferation and other strategies he used forced the Soviet Union to be exposed to their own weaknesses, many of which led to their, and the Cold War’s, downfall.

Now that personal factors that ended the Cold War have been analyzed, the approach of impersonal factors that ended the Cold War must be shown. Looking at the timeline of events around the time of the end of the Cold War, there were many deeper causes for the demise of the Cold War and Soviet Union (Nye 11). Obviously, these causes were attributed to the deterioration of Communist influence on the people. One was the soft power of liberal ideas, provided by growth of international communication and contact, while the success of the Western economy parallel to the failure of the Soviets’ gave more appeal (Nye 12). Other deep causes of the ending of the Cold War in USSR were the decline of communist ideology and economic failures (Nye 14). In the early Cold War, communism had power over the people, but after the exposure of Stalin’s crimes, due to Gorbachev’s glastnost policy, and the economic downturn, communism was overthrown (Nye 14). Between the 1970s and 80s, the USSR’s economy was spiraling down. The United States was far ahead in technology and national product, having 30 million computers to the USSR’s 40,000 in 1985 (Nye 18). Gorbachev’s goal was to cut military spending in order to improve the economy (Smitha 6). But by doing so, he had no choice but to let go of the Communist Soviet Satellites, which were one of the reasons America was in the war (Smitha 6). The Soviet Union pulled out of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, and allowed peaceful revolutions and the overthrowing of Communist governments to occur in many other Soviet satellites (Smitha 7). Although the economy did not improve immediately, and Gorbachev himself was overthrown by a new democratic government, the ending of Communist influence in Eastern Europe was a prime factor in the end of the Cold War.

In conclusion, the Cold War was the centerpiece of the 20th century, and ended due to influence by the General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and by President of the United States Ronald Reagan, and because of the gradual end of Communist influence on Soviet Satellites. As the events of the Cold War played out through the 1980s, both sides began to decline from the peak of nuclear and arms proliferation, and the Soviet Union began to adopt more Western Ideals and put Communism back into history. If it had not been for these significant events, this diplomatic yet terrifying war might still have been going on, maybe even evolved into something violent. The right actions were taken at the right time, and although it may have been a useless war, the world evolved enormously and we ended a terrible conflict that dominated the era.

OPVLs

Ronald Reagan’s Speech announcing SDI

The Origin of this speech is from Ronald Reagan’s presidential administration in March of 1983. The Purpose of the speech was to inform the American people about the new measure that the Reagan administration was taking in order to protect Americans, deter, and defeat the Soviet Union; a Strategic Defense Initiative program which would research in and develop new technology and weapons that would shield and protect our country and possibly our allies from weapons of mass destruction. Another purpose of the speech was to evolve the tactics that the government would take in order to keep national security, as well as intimidate the Soviet Union with the showing off of money and time being put into something that could render their nuclear stockpile useless. The Values of the speech are that it is a primary source from the leader of one of the countries involved in the war, it is a speech given during the war so that it was not tampered with and the most accurate information is given, and that it was a historic moment for our country and boosted morale. The Limitations of the speech were that it was biased, seeing as it came from one of the parties involved in the conflict, so it was biased towards the US winning, and that the negatives of the decision were not presented nor where they available in the speech, and finally that there were no specifics as to what kind of defense SDI would be or how it would work.

Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended by Jack Matlack

The Origin of this book was the research and experience of Mr. Matlack during the Cold War, and was published in 2005. The Purpose of the book was to inform the people about the factors from both sides (the US and USSR) that ultimately ended the Cold War, and to give an inside look on what strategies occurred and the actions by the leaders of both parties in the conflict. Another purpose, obviously, was to sell copies of the book and make money. The Values of the book is that it comes from a primary source, Jack Matlack, who was the US ambassador to the Soviet Union during the end of the Cold War, that the actions of both parties in the war are presented, and that there was sufficient and accurate research due to funds for the book. The Limitations of the book were that since Matlack is an American he was biased towards the American side and made them look like the outright winners, and since the purpose of the book was to make money raw information could have been skewed or exaggerated to be more appealing.

Works Cited

Primary Sources

Fitzgerald, Frances. Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars, and the end of the Cold War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Gaddis, John Lewis. The United States and the end of the cold war: implications, reconsiderations, provocations. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.

Hogan, Michael J. The End of the Cold War: Its Meaning and Implications. Cambridge

England: Cambridge UP, 1992.

Matlock, Jack F. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War ended. New York: Random House, 2004.

Reagan launches SDI. Perf. Ronald Reagan. YouTube. 23 Mar. 1983. 20 May 2010 <>.

Secondary Sources

Beschloss, Michael. "THE THAWING of the Cold War. (cover story)." Newsweek 143.24 (2004): 41. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 20 May 2010.

"Cold War." Global Security. 14 May 2010 <>.

Hoffman, David E. "Hastening an End to the Cold War (washingtonpost.com)." Washingtonpost.com. 6 June 2004. 14 May 2010 <>.

Kaplan, Fred. "How Reagan won the Cold War." Slate Magazine. 9 June 2004. 20 May 2010 <>.

Nester, William R. International relations: politics and economics in the 21st century. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001. 245-50. 16 May 2010 <>.

Nye, Joseph S. "Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War." Harvard - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs 5 Apr. 2006. 20 May 2010 <>.

Schaff, Marta. "Gorbachev & the End of the Cold War." Gorbachev & the End of the Cold War

(2009): 1. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 20 May 2010.

Sheehan, James. "Stanford Scholars Reflect on the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall." Interview. Berlin Wall and the Cold War. 9 Nov. 2009. 16 May 2010 <>.

Smitha, Frank E. "The Soviet Union Disintegrates." MacroHistory : World History. 17 May 2010 <>.

Wittner, Lawrence S. "Reagan and Nuclear Disarmament." Boston Review %u2014 Home Mar. 2000. 20 May 2010 <>.