End of Cold War
The end of the Cold War marked a significant geopolitical shift that culminated in the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. While external factors, such as the policies of Western leaders like U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played a role, the primary drivers of change were internal to the Soviet Union. The leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, who became General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, was pivotal as he introduced reforms known as glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) to address widespread dissatisfaction with the government. Despite these initiatives aiming to revitalize the economy and promote democratic ideals, they inadvertently highlighted the systemic weaknesses of the Soviet regime, leading to increased public discontent.
The late 1980s saw a wave of liberation as Eastern European nations distanced themselves from Soviet influence, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall. By late 1989, the Cold War was officially declared over during the Malta Summit between U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Gorbachev. The aftermath was characterized by a heightened sense of optimism for global peace, although the subsequent years revealed complexities in the newly formed Russian state. The transition from the Soviet system led to both a reconfiguration of international relationships and a resurgence of nationalist sentiments that complicated the initial aspirations for a harmonious world order. The dynamics of U.S.-Russian relations evolved, ultimately facing challenges under subsequent leadership, indicating the enduring complexities of this historical transition.
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End of Cold War
Conclusion of the Cold War between the Western democracies led by the United States and the communist nations led by the Soviet Union
The collapse of the Soviet Union in December, 1991, was the final event in the end of the Cold War between the East and the West. This struggle emerged out of the victory of these allies in World War II. For more than four decades, the United States and its allies—primarily the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—were locked in a noncombative struggle with the Soviet Union and its allies, most of them members in the Warsaw Pact.
While the policies of U.S. president Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had significant impact on the end of the Cold War, the primary factors were internal to the Soviet Union. Symptoms of decline in the Soviet leadership and its system of governing were evident during the late 1970’s. Mikhail Gorbachev was named general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985, and he immediately moved to diffuse tensions between the East and the West. Gorbachev found the Soviet Union to be in a hopeless condition of stress that resulted from two major causes: a dismal economic and fiscal situation stemming from excessive military spending and exorbitant foreign aid commitments, and mounting public criticism of the war in Afghanistan and, then, in 1986, the government’s handling of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown.
The Soviet Unraveling
Attempting to turn the situation around, Gorbachev introduced two new concepts, glasnost and perestroika. Glasnost referred to a new openness in Soviet society that was sympathetic to democratic concepts; perestroika was focused on the economic reorganization of the Soviet system. He hoped that these policies would improve public support and provide more consumer products. In fact, these forces resulted in aggravating the domestic Soviet system because people expected unrealistically quick results; the reforms contributed significantly to the unraveling of the Soviet system and raised fundamental questions on identity and values among the populace. Combined with the aggressive nature of the Reagan policies (namely the Strategic Defense Initiative), the pro-Solidarity position of Pope John Paul II, and the toughness of Margaret Thatcher, the tenability of the Soviet Union became more questionable. In 1989, the Eastern European states broke with the Soviets without opposition, the Berlin Wall fell, and Yugoslavia imploded. At the Malta Summit (December, 1989) between U.S. president George H. W. Bush and Gorbachev, the Cold War was declared to be in the past; in December, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist when it was fragmented into numerous nation-states.
Impact
The excitement, aspirations, and hopes that were voiced for a world at peace were sustained through most of the 1990’s. Relations between the West and the East improved, a new Russia emerged from political and economic chaos, and the United States was viewed as the last remaining superpower. The political maps of Central and Eastern Europe and north-central Asia were redrawn to recognize national-ethnic realities. However, the fragility of the new freedoms in Russia was evident when many citizens voted for candidates that were representative of the Soviet regime. The close and rather informal relations that Russia under President Boris Yeltsin enjoyed with the West gave way to the stern, nationalist policies of President Vladimir Putin. The “partnership” of Putin and U.S. president George W. Bush gave way to a strained U.S.-Russian relationship that reflected the continuity of opposing international policies.
Bibliography
Arquilla, John. The Reagan Imprint: Ideas in American Foreign Policy from the Collapse of Communism to the War on Terror. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006. Arquilla’s interpretation on the end of the Cold War credits the policies and initiatives of President Ronald Reagan for much of the success in accelerating the end of the Cold War.
Bogle, Lori Lyn, ed. The Cold War. New York: Routledge, 2001. A collection of essays that collectively presents the end of the Cold War as a very complex development during which the leaders of both the West and the East recognized that the Cold War was not necessary or tenable in the 1990’s.
Bose, Meena, and Rosanna Perotti, eds. From Cold War to New World Order: The Foreign Policy of George H. W. Bush. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. This is an important work consisting of essays on the impact of the end of the Cold War on the foreign policy of the United States; Bush’s concept of a “New World Order” was focused on American hegemony in a worldwide community of democratic states.
Cowley, Robert, ed. The Cold War: A Military History. New York: Random House, 2005. Cowley’s study of the military strategies and weapons war between the United States and the Soviet Union is the best single volume available on the subject.
Dockrill, Michael L., and Michael F. Hopkins. The Cold War, 1945-1991. 2d ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. A comprehensive history of the Cold War that relies on primary sources; an excellent, general history.
Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. One of the most widely read and available histories of the Cold War. Gaddis’s interpretation of the end of the Cold War is sympathetic to Gorbachev and credits Reagan, John Paul II, and Thatcher for their parts in bringing about its end and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Gregory, Ross. Cold War America, 1946-1990. New York: Facts On File, 2003. An excellent reference book focused on the Cold War in the United States from its post-World War II origins to the Gorbachev era.
O’Sullivan, John. The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2006. O’Sullivan contends that Reagan, John Paul II, and Thatcher were the primary agents for change and that their combined policies and actions resulted in the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. An intriguing and highly readable book.
Pons, Silvio. Reinterpreting the End of the Cold War: Issues, Interpretations, Periodizations. London: Frank Cass, 2004. This book is perhaps the most thorough and scholarly revisionist explanation on the end of the Cold War; Pons advances many challenges to the simplicity of the earlier discussions on the topic.
Skinner, Kiron K., ed. Turning Points in Ending the Cold War. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 2007. The book’s articles focus on the early 1980’s, when a new phase of the Cold War began. Reagan’s initiatives to alter Soviet behavior, the roles of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, the emergence of democratic values in Poland and Hungary, and hopes for a reunified Germany contributed to the end of the Cold War.