Of The Cold War Changed By Gorbachev And The End Of The Cold War

Thesis: Although NATO provided assistance in containing the spread of communism, and its member countries applied economic pressure on the Soviet Union, neither NATO nor President Reagan should be solely credited with causing the fall of the Soviet Union and thus the end of the Cold War. Instead, it was a combination of the tough Reagan administration policies and NATO’s threatening military armory along with grave economic problems within the Soviet Union that ultimately brought the end to the Cold War.

In order for Reagan to succeed, [Reagan] used patience and negotiation to end the Cold War. During Reagan's presidency four USSR leaders attempted to negotiate with Reagan (“Children’s”). Reagan increased pressure on the arms race and waited until a deal could be settled that did not compromise the American people. After forty years the Iron Curtain fell, and the new deal settled the “superpowers first agreement to reduce nuclear weapons” (“Children’s”). The fall of the USSR was significant because it liberated millions of people living the impoverished lifestyle of communism. While modern-day Russia does not have a perfect government the end of the Cold War significantly made the world closer to ending

The end of the Cold War (and the democratization of the Soviet Union) came about in 1991, as president Gorbachev put "perestroika" and "glasnost" into place; perestroika means "restructuring" and glasnost meant "open discussion and democratization" (Nye, 2006). Joseph Nye, Harvard "Distinguished Service Professor," writes that Gorbachev actually wanted to "reform communism, not replace it" but the reforms that Gorbachev put into place actually "snowballed into a revolution driven from below rather than controlled from above" (Nye, p. 1).

How did the Cold War end? The Cold War was an impactful event between the United States and the Soviet Union. The administration of Ronald Reagan influenced how and when this war ended. Using the sources provided and my knowledge of US history, the Reagan administration went to great extent to end the Cold War and contain communism.

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

Reagan became president in 1981, which means that he was president of the U.S. during a time in which the Cold War began to draw to a close. (Fischer, 1997, p.477). Whereas his predecessors used détente, a more relaxed approach in order to reduce tension between the U.S. and USSR, Reagan and his advisers rejected this strategy (Authors, People and a Nation, p.833). This led to a turning point in the Cold War. Even though the Cold War ended in 1991, two years after Reagan’s presidency, Reagan is still known to have made a huge influence on ending the Cold War. This essay will investigate his actions and how they might have influenced the ending of the Cold War, by looking at how Reagan expressed his distrust toward the Soviet Union and communism, the ways in which Reagan expanded the arms race in order to bankrupt the USSR and other ways in which he tried to sabotage the Soviet economy, but also

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

The cold war was the fourth longest war in U.S History, it lasted from 1947 to 1991 a total of 44 years. During that 44 year span, not one of the eight presidents could end the Cold War. This war involved every single country in the world. It was a global competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to see who could get more nuclear weapons and defense. It was also a war on two different political views, democracy and communism. Finally, President Ronald Reagan came into office in 1981 and brought the cold war to an end. Ronald Reagan is responsible for the end of the Cold war because through him the Berlin Wall fell, there was a great military build up, Reagan's willingness to challenge the soviet Union and his strict foreign policy.

ending of the cold war. It has been said that President Ronald Reagan ended the

18)Gorbachev’s policies lead to a new map of Europe and Asia. It would lead to an unrest across the Soviet map. The Eastern Europeans wanted an end to the Soviet power. Gorbachev did not want to interfere. Later on, communist governments were getting weaker and independent nations were being formed.

These beliefs tie into the ideas that changes to the Soviet Union were well under way prior to Reagan’s arrival to Washington D.C. Many also suggest that Reagan’s policies were limited only to the United States claim to victory in the Cold War and that they had no impact on the people of Eastern Europe. In addition, they also declare that Gorbachev’s policies were in favor of the people that were first handedly affected by the problems of communism and that Reagan’s actions were obsolete. Robert J. Allison, an involved writer that agrees with the belief that Reagan had little to do with the end of communism and that he and his administration should not be given full credit for the demise of communism, holds a strong, compelling opinion on how Mikhail Gorbachev deserves the credit for leading the people of Eastern Europe to freedom. Allison explains in his article “End of Cold War: Did Ronald Reagan Win the Cold War?” (History in Dispute 2000) that “What led the United States to victory is more accurately a

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

This is especially true for Gorbachev because he knew that The Cold War needed to end. However, in taking the steps to do this, Gorbachev eventually caused the collapse of The Soviet Union. However, in the end, he was ending the war for the greater good. This is a respectable and admirable trait of Gorbachev that is known globally.

Mikhail Gorbachev can be credited with ending the Cold War, but also can be blame for the collapse of the Soviet Union. For instance, the Soviet Union had been isolated from the rest of the world since the 1920’s and it was something Gorbachev wanted to end; he dismantled the old philosophies regarding foreign affairs and attempted to revive the stagnant economy of Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev believed that security of the nation would be more beneficial if the USSR would be to hold a minimal number of nuclear weapons to protect themselves rather than producing a mass number of weapons, something he called a “doctrine of sufficiency.” Moreover, the cost of holding Easter Europe had become a burden for the Soviet Union for there was no benefit