The End of the Cold War
Words: 550
Pages: 2
89
89
DownloadThe End of the Cold War.
The Cold War (the period 1985-1991) was triggered by the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet leader and Ronald Reagan as the President of the United States of America. History recognizes the period as involving increased arms competition as well as issue-based confrontations. The cold war error came to a halt because of internal political and economic challenges facing the government of Mikhail Gorbachev. These problems put pressure to implement political reforms, decentralization of the economy and severe economic challenges. These problems necessitated the need to shift focus to pay closer attention to issues at home.
In the outset, Gorbachev, compared to his predecessors, was more of a reformist. He is the name behind Glasnost as well as that of perestroika in USSR. These policies required accommodation of specific western ideas into USSR and control incentives offered to citizens by the government. Gorbachev introduced these changes with the hope that they would stimulate the economy to grow. These reforms became unpopular and were resisted by the people and led to a coup (Leffler 221).
Economically, the prices of oil and oil products went down because of massive production in Saudi Arabia. The economy of USSR was getting weak because of over-reliance on oil by USSR. President Reagan then took advantage to strengthen the US military. USSR could not increase the military budget, like the U.S, because of other sectors of the economy, agriculture and manufacturing required more focus.
Wait! The End of the Cold War paper is just an example!
This led to the signing of the Union Treaty which gave independence to Soviet Republics (Gaddis 112).
These internal factors put a strain on the USSR government, and as a result, it could not continue with the arms race ending the cold war in 1991.
Effect of Cold War on the Former Soviet Union and satellite countries of Eastern Europe
The end of the cold war led to the collapse of dictatorial regimes in Eastern Europe. For example, Nicolae Ceausescu fell in Romania. Many countries started putting pressure on authoritarian regimes like Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Many of the countries were allowed freedom. Independent countries which had gained independence began steering their destiny and many joined the European Union. Furthermore, the end of the cold war led to the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989 which separated West and East Germans. The fall of the Berlin wall led to the unification of Germany.
The new independence countries sought to establish their relationship with the government of the United States. They started implementing standard policies to the West like democracy, capitalism, and respect for human rights. A few economic issues became common in these eastern countries the way they were in the United States like music as well as fashion. This move was encouraged by the United States (Wilson 342).
Finally, the end of the cold war significantly marked the end of the Soviet administration and its authority on countries of Eastern Europe. While changes in the system of government were done abruptly, the effect was greater individual freedoms. It also led to chaos and disputes in some countries over boundaries, ethnic marginalization and distribution of political power.
In conclusion, the ending of the cold war era resulted in shared benefits across all actors. The Eastern European countries gained independence and started to steer their destiny; Russia focused on its agenda within its territories while the United States was recognized as the superpower.
Works Cited
Leffler, Melvyn. For the soul of mankind: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the cold
war. Hill and Wang, 2007.
Gaddis, Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Wilson, Graham. The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev’s Adaptability, Reagan’s
Engagement and the End of the War. Cornell University Press, 2014.
Subscribe and get the full version of the document name
Use our writing tools and essay examples to get your paper started AND finished.