Gorbachev Problems

As a teenager in the 1980’s, I was able to witness many historical events unfold. One of the most memorable was in 1987, President Ronald Regan called upon the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall!” In 1989, the world watched as the physical pieces of a wall that symbolized terror, hatred and fear for 28 years, came tumbling down.

The Berlin Wall had been in place for 26 years. Increasing unrest was occurring in Berlin, and at this crucial time Ronald Reagan, as several presidents had done before him, traveled to the Brandenburg Gate, seen by most as the symbolical center of the wall. On June 12, 1987, he then spoke of peace between the USSR and the Western world, while motivating Berliners to help take down the wall and come together as a nation once more. Throughout the speech “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate”, by Ronald Reagan, he makes use of imagery as well as appeals to ethos and pathos to incite the German people to rise up and destroy the Berlin Wall, reunifying Germany.

In President Reagan’s speech regarding the Berlin wall entitled “Address at Brandenburg Gate” delivered on June 12th, 1987, Reagan takes the position as the rhetor with the sole purpose of convincing the city of Berlin to unite and get rid of the wall separating the city in two. The wall is described by Reagan multiple times and is described to be both a physical and non-physical wall. Most of the city is separated by the physical wall and those that aren’t are heavily guarded and prevent travel to the other side. The discourse was intended to not only be heard by the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, but by most of Europe and North America. The exigency in Reagan’s

The end of the Cold War can be credited to the actions of Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and George Bush, as well as the breakup of communist satellite nations. Ronald Reagan with his increased spending in the defense sector instigated an arms race with the Soviet Union in an attempt to overwhelm the Soviet Union through military influence. However, the Soviet Union was unable to keep up with the arms race due to a weak and stagnating economy since building new weapons was costly. Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 also introduced two new policies, Glasnost and Perestroika which ended political censorship and restructured the economy respectively. Glasnost allowed for the actions of the Soviet Union’s government to be publicly displayed and further reduced the appeal of communism. George Bush and Gorbachev both signed the START I and START II treaties which further reduced the number of nuclear warheads on both sides. The breakup of satellite states also contributed to the end of the cold war as the Soviet Union stated that they would not provide military help to the various communist governments. This eventually lead to the falling out of Communist parties in several

The person I choose for this topic is Ronald Reagan, he is a big part on how the Cold War ended. Russia, as everyone knows, has always been competitive with the U.S.A, the two countries always go back and forth with each other to be the first at everything. Now the Berlin Wall had been there for some time, ever since 1961. The communist government of Eastern Germany created the wall because they wanted to prevent disaffected people who were trying to fleeing to the West. But with this little did they know the trouble it would cause for the future. There were four powers during the time, Russia, France, Britain, and the United States. Berlin was in the Russian sector, but because the powers were only split amongst four countries it became a

Mikhail Gorbachev is a foreign leader who worked with Reagan and also wanted to eliminate communism. If the Soviet Union collapsed, then all influences of communism would stop, which is what Reagan and Gorbachev wanted (Marsico, 84). The nation as a whole agreed that they did not want communism to spread beyond the borders of East Germany and seep into their culture. During the span of 1985-1988 five meetings between the Americans and the Communists negotiated issues of diplomacy. By the early 1980’s the Soviets had built up weaponry which was almost comparable to America’s weaponry, but as the decade went on the Soviets were unable to keep up (Marsico, 84). This inferiority pleased the American people. By 1991 the cold war had concluded. on June 12, 1987, Reagan asked Gorbachev helped to eliminate the oppressive influence that communism had outside of the soviet union (Marsico 85-86). He wanted to stop the influences so that communism would not spread any further than it already had. Standing beside the berlin wall, which separated East and West Germany, Reagan gave a speech which reminded every one of the differences between the two sides. General Secretary Gorbachev” Reagan challenged him, “if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the soviet union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate, Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!”

One of Reagan’s main concerns was the Soviet Union. Reagan stated, “The march of freedom and democracy...will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history ...”12 All through his term he worked to collapse the Union, to end the Cold War, and to tear down the Berlin Wall. Margaret Thatcher commented that “Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot”.10 Reagan set up the collapse of the Soviet Union in a couple of ways. First, he put more funds into the U.S. military, forcing the Soviets to do the same.11 second, he was confident that the U.S.S.R was crumbling and failing even when those around him believed that Communism was strong. Third, he was not intimidated by the Soviets and, while he respectfully met and listened to Gorbachev, he was not wavering and was determined. Even though many factors contributed to the fall of Communism, Reagan sped the process up and the Union officially fell apart in

Despite the increase of defense projects and counter-Soviet initiatives, Reagan did desire for negotiation and improve relations between Washington and Kremlin (Rossinow, 224). Soon afterward, during his second term, Reagan held meetings with leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with whom he negotiated a treaty to eliminate a range of nuclear weapons. Between the two men was a forged relationship- as a partnership, as friends. Reagan, surprisingly, even suggested that both powers should do what they can to ensure that such weapons entirely removed from the world (Rossinow, 232)- although the proposal 's implementation did not work, it still did prove interestingly of Reagan 's thinking to establish disarmament, even if it never happened. Nonetheless, ending the war after so many decades of tension was a monumental triumph for the US and American policy.

Gorbachev is known for being the first leader of the Soviet Union to meet with an American president since the beginning of the Cold War. President Reagan and President Gorbachev met through summit meetings for years. President Reagan stood firm against the Soviet Union. The vital product of their negotiations was the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF). The INF was the first treaty of the Cold War to condense the number of nuclear missiles. As a result of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty, 2,692 missiles were destroyed in ninety-four years. On June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall and gave a speech that said authoritatively, “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”. With many compromises, Gorbachev and Reagan ended the Cold

He also laid the framework with Gorbachev for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which reduced both countries’ arsenals of nuclear weapons. therefore cutting. Reagan and Gorbachev's relationship was vital for the fall of the soviet union, and the end of the cold war.

In conclusion, Ronald Reagan imposed his foreign policies in order to bring the end of the Soviet Union because he regarded them as the evil empire that imposed communism. Reagan fought to bring the end of communism and the Soviet Union was the major country that was a communist based government. Reagan direct challenged the USSR into an arms race, that weakened its economy when the country spend so much money on the military advancement and development. Not only was it Reagan, but also Michael Gorbachev also imposed economic reforms of Perestroika and Glasnost that backfired. Reagan has a great impact on the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism with the assistance of Gorbachev.

Both Reagan and Gorbachev palyed big roles in Cold war. Gorbachev wanted to increase the spendings in the military and the government. In 1981, Reagan initiated Recovery Tax Act or ERTA to reduce individual income tax rates. However, the tax cuts worsened the deficits in the budget of the United States government. On the other hand, Gorbachev, who was a leader of Soviet Union, wanted to invest more money in technology to improve nuclear arms race.

“Tear down this wall!” these were the inspiring and captivating words that came out of President Ronald Reagan’s speech at the Berlin Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987. Speaking to the Soviet leader Mikahil Gorbachev, Reagan was calling for the unification of East and West Germany. With the destruction of the wall, he believed it would bring not only Germany prosperity, but The Soviet Union as well. During this speech, President Reagan brings forth the benefits of tearing down the wall and unifying Germany once again. He introduces his strategies to create freedom, economic prosperity, and free trade to stop Soviet Expansion. On this day, President Ronald Reagan’s speech was classified as a heroic event. Why? He challenged the Soviet leader like no other president had before.

On June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan gave his speech “Tear Down this Wall,” in Brandenburg Gate West Berlin Reagan begins by discussing the purpose of the Berlin Wall and how the Communists in August of 1961 built it to keep the Germans from escaping Communist-dominated East Berlin into Democratic West Berlin, that this wall was more than just a wall; it was a stark symbol of decades of a Cold War between the United States and Soviet Russia only to stop short of actual warfare. By giving this speech Reagan had intended to rally the people of West Berlin so the people would accept the western democracy and oppose the Berlin Wall. Due to Reagan being president the words he said had so much impact, he was able to use these appeals towards the German people and provide a very convincing argument.

There was a competition between the Soviet Union and other country. Economic problems made the Soviet Union to become weak compare to other countries. Gorbachev was still believed in socialism and he wants to save the Soviet Union from economic crisis. Gorbachev wanted to do some activities to make some changes and in 1987, the United States and Soviet Union got an agreement on Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces. They wanted to eliminate of nuclear weapons. They also talked about the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks, or START. They signed the first agreement of those negotiations in 1991. The Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan and Angola. They stop the Soviet support for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the communist governments in Cuba and Vietnam. He also canceled some of the activities that were pledged Soviet intervention where communism was under threat such as the Brezhnev Doctrine. The Soviet Union lost control over the countries of the Eastern Bloc and allowed them to have the same freedom like other countries. The Soviet Union wanted them to have the