The end of the Cold War was one of the most unexpected and important events in geopolitics in the 20th century. The end of the Cold War can be defined as the end of the bipolar power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, which had existed since the end of the World War II. The conclusion of the Cold War can be attributed to Gorbachev’s series of liberalizations in the 1980s, which exposed the underlying economic problems in the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc states that had developed in the 1960s and 70s and prevented the USSR from being able to compete with the US as a superpower. Nevertheless, Reagan’s policies of a renewed offensive against communism, Gorbachev’s rejection of the Brezhnev doctrine and the many nationalities …show more content…
These subsidies prevented the USSR from internal reforms or modernizing their economy and eventually the subsidies were not enough to hold the bloc together. Another lost lasting problem was agricultural stagnation, which had existed since Stalin collectivized. Little was accomplished to improve the agricultural situation, despite evidence from Hungary in 1970s that modern American technology could revive communist agriculture (Friedmann 225). Declining food production led the USSR to begin importing more and more food from the West. “In 1972 the USSR increased its grain and soy imports from 8.3 to 22.8 million tons” (Friedmann 225). This created an interesting relationship where the USSR was trying to compete with US as a superpower, yet was receiving food aid. Simultaneously, as USSR could afford less and less to subsidize the Eastern bloc, it had turned to the West for help. “It was difficult for the Soviets to insist on bloc loyalty […] when the USSR was making its own deals with the West” (Friedmann 220). This led to stronger economic ties between communism and capitalism, which underscored the failure of communist autarky. It …show more content…
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan began pursuing what became known as the Reagan Doctrine: “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings” (Smith 130). This renewed the US’s appeal to moral authority to fight Communism. Reagan backed up this doctrine with drastic increases in defense spending and massive projects like the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This required the Soviet Union to also increase their defense spending in order to remain militarily competitive with the United States. However, the Soviet Union was in a much worse place to do so as they already had considerable debt and a much weaker economy. Paradoxically, the USSR’s push for new military spending ended up only weakening their power by destabilizing their economy further. SDI was particularly worrisome to the Soviets because it completely threatened the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) whose balance of power had prevented nuclear war for the past 40 years (Smith 133). The United States also used the CIA to funnel money and arms to rebels and dissenters in Communist countries (Smith 130). While in most cases only a minor cause of the end of Communism, this support was especially important in Poland where it helped keep Solidarity alive during its years underground and in Afghanistan where the United
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
Odd Arne Westad, Director of the Cold War Studies Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how the Cold War “shaped the world we live in today — its politics, economics, and military affairs“ (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). Furthermore, Westad continues, “ the globalization of the Cold War during the last century created foundations” for most of the historic conflicts we see today. The Cold War, asserts Westad, centers on how the Third World policies of the two twentieth-century superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union — escalates to antipathy and conflict that in the end helped oust one world power while challenging the other. This supplies a universal understanding on the Cold War (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1).
Gorbachev’s input and his clear goal of eliminating the arms race made it more possible for better Soviet-American relationships. Thus, Gorbachev, domestic politics and economic factors are more important to the end of the Cold War than Reagan. The realization that world peace is not reliant on military power transformed the Soviet-American relationship from the threat of mutual destruction and long lasting stereotype to an equilibrium of great power. Overall, an agreement can only be made when two sides
With this book, a major element of American history was analyzed. The Cold War is rampant with American foreign policy and influential in shaping the modern world. Strategies of Containment outlines American policy from the end of World War II until present day. Gaddis outlines the policies of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, including policies influenced by others such as George Kennan, John Dulles, and Henry Kissinger. The author, John Lewis Gaddis has written many books on the Cold War and is an avid researcher in the field. Some of his other works include: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past, Surprise, Security, and the American Experience, and The Cold War: A New History. Dr. Gaddis received his PhD from the University of Texas in 1968; he currently is on a leave of absence, but he is a professor at Yale . At the University, his focus is Cold War history. Gaddis is one of the few men who have actually done a complete biography of George Kennan, and Gaddis even won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012.
Interestingly, it took three decades for the Soviet Union to become a superpower, becoming the main challenger of American supremacy. Though, it only took three years for Soviet power to collapse. But why, many historians argue that Mikhail Gorbachev underestimated President Ronald Reagan. Historian, Vladislav Zubok’s, A Failed Empire, brings to life an analysis of the Cold War from the perspective of the Soviet Union. Zubok explores the Soviet’s experiences from a wide array: international calculations, interplay of foreign politics, and lasting consequences of de-Stalinization. It is from these experiences that we can gain an understanding to Gorbachev and the fall of the Soviet Union. Additionally, we will see how Gorbachev’s actions altered
In the minds of many Americans Ronald Reagan is the president that ended the Cold War, but is this view accurate? They claim Reagan's unprecedented military spending forced the Soviets to crumble. However, many critics of the president's outspending theory claim that the Russian economy would have imploded without such spending, and a military buildup of that kind did nothing but delay peace. Although, Reagan's willingness to negotiate was a clear factor in ending the Cold War, his aggressive arms race may have done more to forestall peace than abet it. The ascendance of Mikhail Gorbachev to power, the stagnating economy of Russia, and the personal friendship forged between Gorbachev and Reagan were the clear factors that contributed to the war's end.
In the early 1980s prior to Gorbachev’s presidency, the soviet economy was wracked by chronic shortages of food and consumer items. These shortages were in part due because of Leonid Brezhnev leadership being inefficient at directing the soviet economy. It was against this backdrop of economic decline and political instability that Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. Gorbachev came from a peasant family and this humble background played a large role in his political thinking and gave him a strong humanitarian sympathy. His separation from the old regime gave him greater freedoms to move away from old thinking and enact policies grounded in a new way of thinking. Gorbachev was under different circumstances than past leaders because people at around this time wanted the country to move in different directions and at the same time, this led to Gorb...
In 1945, most of the countries around the world are devastated further to World War II which had stroke the globe for six years. Only the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, also called USSR, seem to be in a stable economic situation despite weighty losses. Both states are considered to be the great winners of the war and this is the beginning of a confrontation between two superpowers but also the confrontation between two distinct ideologies: communism and capitalism.
When World War II ended in 1945, the world was wrought with distrust and paranoia. During the war, United States had successfully detonated two atomic bombs in Japan. The introduction of nuclear power into warfare, proved to be the most lethal weapon in the history of combat. In addition to a claim on such technology, a country had the power and the means to spread its political and social ideals. After the detonation of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union was eager to catch up with the Americans. This “need” would lead to the concept of brinkmanship, a nuclear arms race, and the expansion of Soviet ideals. The Soviets were successful during World War II, which resulted in the growth of the economy, nationalism, communist movement, as well as the need for nuclear power. Although the Soviet Union culminated great economic prosperity and power during World War II, the Soviet Union collapsed after the Cold War erupted in 1947. The struggles of nuclear power and revolts against communism led to this dissolution.
During the cold war the Soviet Union played a big part. When Stalin was still president and Stalin’s ‘legacy’ which were to remain Soviet Union an authoritarian, one-party state and economically it was focused on producing military hardware rather than housing, transport, food, consumers goods and health care. Mikhail Gorbachev reported to have said ‘We can’t go on living like this,’ on his behalf of being the youngest first university-educated General Secretary leader to the Politburo. Gorbachev was responsible for the collapse of the soviet system, because of Gorbachev introduction of two key ideas, Gorbachev and Reagan’s relationship during the cold war, and Gorbachev keeping the Soviet Union relations with the United States.
Also, the Soviet Union’s quest to remain a world superpower cost it dearly, as they were hard pressed to keep up with US defense spending under Ronald Reagan. The “Soviet Union was spending a large percentage of its GNP on the military because of the expansion of US spending” (p.3.fsmitha.com). Th...
The Cold War (1945-1991) was a substantial war that was fought on an. economic, philosophical, cultural, social and political level. This impacted globally and changed the majority of the world’s societies to a. liberated fashion, rather than the archaic and conservative ways. Global war is a war engaged in by all if not most of the principle nations of the world, a prime example of such would be of the two great wars. Therefore the cold war can’t be classified as a global war in terms of the military and actual warfare’s, as the two superpowers (Soviet Union and USA) fought indirectly with each other, however to an extent the cold war can be said it’s a global war in terms of its politics and economics. The The effects of the Cold War were definitely felt globally and had an aftermath.
Focusing on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, it suggests that he sought a fundamental transformation of the geopolitical structure of the Cold War. Realizing that the continuation of an uneasy truce with the West would be unproductive for both sides, Gorbachev pursued a peaceful program of foreign relations. To that end, he sought to end the division of Europe and to move U.S.-Soviet relations from antagonism to strategic partnership. An integral part of this strategy included the withdrawal of coercive Soviet power from Eastern Europe. Hoping to retain influence or at least “friendly” governments in the region, Gorbachev wanted to ensure Soviet security without preserving a pillar of contentious relations with the West. The “velvet revolutions” were necessary for his success
James was losing hope. His vision had gone blurry from the throbbing in his knee. He did not have the time to check his leg before, but the pain reminded him to. James looked down to see blood pooling on the floor coming from a barbed arrow in his thigh. One of the minions must have landed a lucky shot on him. James couldn’t give up not with his livelihood at stake. Screams and the clash of weaponry echoed around him, but they seemed distant and he couldn’t make out any of the words. James used his sword as a crutch and began to lift himself as to lean against the nearest wall. As his head peeked over the top of the parapet walls he saw the battlefield splayed before him, but it couldn’t possibly be the same battlefield he commanded moments
Once, there was a girl, her name was Robin, and she lived in Canada deep in the woods.