The Fall of the Cold War, Research Paper Example

The Cold War lasted between 1947 and 1991and is most commonly understood as the tension of power shared between the United States and its NATO allies, and the Soviet Union and their respective communist supporters from around the world.  The event that sparked the Cold War was believed to be the victory both the U.S. and USSR had over Germany which resulted in them both being the two largest economic superpowers in the world.  The Soviet Union established the Eastern Bloc, which referred to the Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe was made up of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, specifically Albania, Bulgaria, Czechs, Slovakia, Germans, Hungarians, Polish, Romanians, and Russians.  NATO was formed in 1949 through the Truman Doctrine, for the specific intent of containing the communist expansion. Likewise, the Warsaw Treaty Organization was formed through the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and it ultimately made up what would become recognized as the Soviet Union.  There were some countries that respectively associated their governments with these super powers, while other remained neutral (Sanborn, 2011).

Despite its name, there was never any actual military action associated with The Cold War. The threat of danger, each side equipped with advanced levels of nuclear power and knowing the other side would utilize that arsenal if fired upon, kept both sides dormant but in a constant state of tension. The nature of nuclear warfare ensures that both side would have be completely destroyed had any attacks been carried out.  There were severe moments of tension that would in turn be followed by times of neutrality, but there was always a constant awareness of the damage both sides could cause one another (Sanborn, 2011). The list of the most-tense historical moments during The Cold War that could have potentially erupted into a nuclear holocaust, are as follows: the Berlin Blockade in 1948, the Suez Crisis in 1956, the Berlin Crisis in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Yom Kippur War. During this time, the competitive culture shared between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in an indirect more cordial warfare such as the Space Race, espionage, contrasting propaganda to instill national pride and the demonization of opposition, and then minor proxy wars in smaller regions (Sanborn, 2011). When the 1980’s came along, The Soviet Union was already starting to show signs of economic decline and it was Mikhail Gorbachev’s new leadership and his attempts to pull The Soviet Union out of its economic slump that would ultimately result in its downfall.

Thirty years after the end of World War II, there was a passing of the guard in the Soviet  Union when several Soviet leaders died and Mikhail Gorbachev found himself in power. As the authors note, “When Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the reins of power in the Soviet Union in 1985, no one predicted the revolution he would bring. A dedicated reformer, Gorbachev introduced the policies of glasnost and perestroika to the USSR (ushistory.org, 2012).” He brought about an age of restricting. As noted above, the end of the Cold War is largely attributed to Mikhail Gorbachev. When Gorbachev assumed control over the Soviet Union in 1985, he put policies in place that resulted in much of the cordial relations the U.S. and the Soviet Union share to date. The most significant implementation by Gorbachev was the promotion of ‘glasnot.’ ‘Glasnot’ in English is translated to mean ’’openness,” it resulted in a more open-minded Soviet Union, willing to embrace western concepts.  This concept led to many engagements between the U.S. and the USSR that had never before been possible.

Between mid to the late 1980’s there was a significant change in U.S. and USSR relations. In fact negotiations to reduce nuclear weapons were entertained for the first time since the end of WWII (Rossenfeld, 2011). As noted in the historic archives documenting the meeting, “At a dramatic summit meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, Gorbachev proposed a 50-percent reduction in the nuclear arsenals of each side, and for a time it seemed as though a historic agreement would be reached (Rossenfeld, 2011).”  Despite the enthusiastic shift in U.S. and Society Union foreign relations, due to the new leadership of Gorbachev, the summit failed to accomplish its goal, but on December 8^th, 1987 the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was put into action, which junked a select group of nuclear weapons permanently (Rossenfeld, 2011).

Due to much of Gorbachev’s shift in Soviet Union social culture towards the west, when the decade neared its end in the late 1980’s, the Eastern Bloc began to crumble in response to many of the supporting countries adopting Gorbachev’s philosophy of ‘glasnot.’ When Hungry cut down their barbed wire separating them from Austria, the Soviet Union did not respond. Then in November 10^th, 1989, the greatest symbol of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall was knocked down and virtually every Eastern European leader was removed from power except for in Bulgaria. “Crews of German troops tear down the Berlin Wall. While many had taken axes and picks to the Wall upon the collapse of Communism in Germany in 1989, the official destruction of the Berlin Wall did not begin until June, 1990 (ushistory.org, 2012).” The wall was knocked down infusing a surge of liberation across Eastern Europe that affected the entire world. By the mid 90’s most of the Soviet republics were independent. Gorbachev’s power was threatened during this time, but none of the attempts to overthrow him were successful. He endured at helm of power, and by December of 1991 the Soviet Union was no longer existed. The Commonwealth of Independent States was established under the direction of the Russian President Boris Yeltsin which officially signified the end of the Cold War.

When Gorbachev initiated the policy of glasnot in the Soviet Union, he was really signing to his reign. Within 6 years after he gained power, Gorbachev became a man with no country. At one point there was a conservative coup formed against Soviet Union and Gorbachev that rebelled against him. This movement called themselves the hardliners. During this time it was necessary for Gorbachev to be placed on house arrest for his own safety. President Boris Yeltsin called for the arrest of the hardliners, and his public approval was significantly high, so the public and the military sided with him and approved of the arrest of these men. Gorbachev was reinstated, but it was clear that he had very little support from the public or media and there was no realistic way he could garner the type of support that was being enjoyed by Yeltsin (ushistory.org, 2012).

There were many complexities within the concept of The Cold War ending. One main issue was that it was a war that had no clear winner , as archives note, “Others pointed out that no one really won the Cold War. The United States spent trillions of dollars arming themselves for a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union that fortunately never came. Regardless, thousands of American lives were lost waging proxy wars in Korea and Vietnam (ushistory.org, 2012).” Despite the fact that large amounts of money was spent on military armaments, and even more resources and lives were lost in waging small wars that were indirectly related to the U.S. and their battle against communism, in the end there was no clear winner. This is very ironic considering the fact that had either side initiated military action with the other , both would have be decimated.  The entire gradual process that resulted in the fall of the Soviet Union was of great surprise to the United States, as authors note, “Most Americans found it difficult to get used to the idea of no Cold War. Since 1945, Americans were born into a Cold War culture that featured McCarthyist witchhunts, backyard bomb shelters, a space race, a missile crisis, détente, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Star Wars defense proposal (ushistory.org, 2012).” On a cultural level, to be free of this type of burden is clearly liberating for both parties.

In sum, many of the policies enacted and actions taken by Gorbachev resulted in his loss of power, but a more globalized economy, and safer world.  It can be argued that the fall of the Soviet Union had nothing to do with Gorbachev that it was already failing economically and he simply pushed it in the direction it was already heading. Glasnot, by its very nature of openness, embodies more free market capitalistic ideals, not suitable for a communist culture (Jason, 1998). However one looks at Gorbachev’s stint in power, there is something to say for the fact that the Cold War lasted for over 40 years and then within 6 years of his control it ends. He can be looked as a hero, or a failed diplomat, either way his actions changed the world enormously. Still there is much debate as to whether the Western World is better off having one large easily identifiable enemy like The Soviet Union or, as it has now, multiple often unidentifiable terrorist factions. The war on terror in many ways has become a hybrid of what the Cold War once was. The war in Afghanistan and the conflict the U.S. has in Libya are in many ways similar to the proxy wars of Vietnam. In light of everything that happened during the Cold War, this new war on terrorism has the sense of just being a “war for the sake of being in war.” With all of the liberating and evolutionary cultural and social shifts that occurred when Eastern Europe established its independence and chose peace and freedom over violence and nuclear holocaust, one would wonder whether anything was learned at all. In fact, if the amount of time the U.S. has spent not engaged war in some form is truly assessed, one might think the country isn’t sustainable without military conflict.

Work Cited

Jason Hall, J. W. (1998, 18 02). Cold war museum. Retrieved from http://www.coldwar.org/

Sanborn, J. (2011). Youtube. [0]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNocYwG9fDs

Rossenfeld, C. (2011). Cold war: A brief history (the end of the cold war. Retrieved from http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page22.shtml

ushistory.org. (2012). Ushistory.org. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/us/59e.asp