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END OF COLD WAR.   Term Paper ID:23394 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Historical context, causes & effects, reformist policies of Soviet ruler Gorbachev, military issues, failure of communist economy.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Historical context, causes & effects, reformist policies of Soviet ruler Gorbachev, military issues, failure of communist economy. Paper Introduction: END OF THE COLD WAR This research paper explains what is meant by the end of the Cold War and how and why it ended. The end of the Cold War encompasses a combination of events, the most important of which was the cessation of the confrontation and competition of the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and their allies, including nuclear disarmament, the withdrawal of Soviet military powerfrom Central Europe, the toppling of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the breakup of the Soviet empire and the collapse of the Soviet communist government and economic system. Many internal and external factors contributed to this result, but the most important were the internal centrifugal forces unleashed by the policies of the last Soviet ruler, Mikhail Gorbachev. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Through the means of moderncommunication, especially television, the stark contrast between thefailures of the communist system and the much greater degree of politicalfreedom and economic progress in the West could not be kept from theRussian people. The Disintegration of Soviet Rule In his 1947 article on the Sources of Soviet Conduct, which was animportant contribution to the formulation of American policy at theinception of the Cold War, George Kennan remarked with considerableprescience: "the possibility remains (and in the opinion of the writer itis a strong one) that Soviet power . bears within it the seeds of itsown decay, and the sprouting of these seeds is well advanced" (La Feber"America in" 744). "How the Cold War Really Ended." Commentary, November, 1994, 95: 4 -45.Spanier, John. Spanier's reply is that "had there been noAmerican opposition, who can say that the Soviets would not have failed toorganize Western Europe and made themselves into a far more productivestate, affording both a reasonable standard of living and formidablemilitary power-and present an overwhelming threat to the United States?"(38 ). harvests haverepeatedly failed since the 197 s . As Kennan put it in 195 , that was one of its principal aims:"to promote tendencies which must eventually find their outlet in eitherthe breakup or the gradual mellowing of Soviet power" (127,128). America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-199 . Conclusion The Cold War ended because of a number of factors, but basically thecommunist system fell by its own hand. . New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989.Kennan, George. Many internal and external factors contributed to thisresult, but the most important were the internal centrifugal forcesunleashed by the policies of the last Soviet ruler, Mikhail Gorbachev. . Chicago: U of Chicago P, 195 .La Feber, Walter (Ed.). Spaniersays that "without containment, the inefficiency of the Soviet system mightnot have mattered much, and as a hegemon, the Soviet Union would not havehad to engage-let alone overreact-in a costly continuous arms competition"(38 , 381). By 1986, the Soviet Union was spending16-25 percent of its GNP on defense, as compared with six percent in theUnited States and three percent in Western Europe (Spanier 347). Some liberalization of the regime in Russia occurred in thewake of the death of dictator Josef Stalin in 1953, especially during theearly 196 s under Nikita Khrushchev, but the Soviet system was largely inplace within the Soviet Union and, to a modified extent, in the otherSoviet bloc countries through the mid-8 s. . La Feber tends to blame the United States for the Cold Waritself, arguing that post-war American responses to aggressive Sovietactions in Eastern Europe "stiffened Russian determination" and thatStalin's aims was not "world revolution," but "Russian security and his ownpersonal power" (17, 21). Gorbachev then initiated in progressive steps his policies ofpolitical and economic liberalization at home, perestroika restructuring)and glasnost (greater openness culturally and politically), and adopted apolicy of easing tensions with the West. . As a result of its defeat of Nazi Germany in the SecondWorld War, Soviet control was established in the wake of the advance of theRed Army over Eastern Europe. During the 197 s, Soviet power had been projected into many areasof the world. . Gorbachev's reforms, which were designed to enable the regime tosurvive, basically failed and unleashed pressures for further political andeconomic reforms which were inconsistent with the maintenance of amonolithic system of control. This was not self-evident at the time Gorbachev becamethe leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. Nothing in history is, however, inevitable. Had the 1991 coup attemptbeen better organized, it is conceivable that the Cold War would not haveended when it did. Economically, as Robert Heilbroner said, "the contestbetween capitalism and socialism: capitalism has won" (Muravchik 4 ).Gorbachev was forced to cede independence to the Eastern satellites and toconsent to the reunification of Germany in 199 , not because he wanted tobut because domestic conditions and pressures for autonomy from the formerSoviet Republics such as in the Baltics left him no other option. confronted not only witha costly arms race when it needed huge capital investments at home, butalso a high-tech arms race when it could not even keep up with contemporaryWestern technology" (Spanier 347). The available evidence suggests that the Soviet system fell primarilybecause of its inherent internal weaknesses. All attempts by Eastern European peoples, in Hungary in 1956 andCzechoslovakia in 1968, had been put down by force under the BrezhnevDoctrine which, loosely translated, meant that the Soviet Union would keepwhat it had and take what it wanted when superior force did not prevent itfrom doing so. Spanier said that "capableonly of producing a plentiful supply of weapons, the Soviet economy wascharacterized by an absence of consumer goods and food . Someobservers, such as Raymond Garthoff, a senior fellow at the BrookingsInstitution, have portrayed the Soviet Union during this period as"haplessly seeking peace only to be rebuffed again by a confrontationalAmerican administration" (Muravchik 42). Most alarming wasthe poor performance of the Soviet economy. Washington, D. By 1989 he had negotiated the principalterms of the Start Treaty and in 199 the Central Front Europe Treaty whichled, respectively, to very large mutual reductions in nuclear arms and thewithdrawal of conventional forces from Central Europe. The Cold War then ensued, the militaryconfrontation between East and West, during which Soviet military power andpolitical, economic and ideological influence became a major factor inworld affairs. The Grand Failure. American Diplomacy 19 -195 . Gorbachev largely succeeded at first in achieving his principalforeign policy objective, which was to allay suspicions in the West so thathe could reduce defense expenditures and concentrate on the reform of theSoviet economy. The Bolsheviks seized power byrevolution in 1917 and, after winning the Civil War of 1918-1921, theirmonopoly of political power over the Russian people and the otherminorities within the Soviet Union was not seriously challenged for morethan 8 years. . the centralized Soviet economy wasnearing a breakdown" (347). Gorbachev quickly realized that all was not well. However, the United States posed a dilemma for the Soviet Union.Through the arms buildup and strategic forces modernization program of theReagan administration, "the Soviet Union was . American Foreign Policy Since World War II. After thefailed coup by hardliners in 1991, Gorbachev's dream of combining economicliberalization with the continuation of the communist state apparatus andparty control proved to be unworkable. The end of the Cold War encompasses a combinationof events, the most important of which was the cessation of theconfrontation and competition of the two nuclear superpowers, the UnitedStates and the Soviet Union, and their allies, including nucleardisarmament, the withdrawal of Soviet military powerfrom Central Europe,the toppling of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the breakup of theSoviet empire and the collapse of the Soviet communist government andeconomic system. . New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.Muravchik, Joshua. To those on the left like LaFeber, the massive military buildup under the late Carter and Reaganadministrations served little purpose other to aggravate Soviet-Americanrelations (3 9). America in Cold War. Soviet rates of economic growthhad declined from five percent in the 196 s to two percent in the early197 s to zero in the mid-198 s (Spanier 347). As Spanier puts it, "the Soviet politicalsystem has become the greatest obstacle to economic modernization" (35 ).In other words, the system had grown so rigid after 8 years in power thatit was incapable of reforming itself. This neo-Marxist interpretation of history fliesin the face of the facts. He withdrew Soviet forces from Africa and Afghanistan andreduced aid to Cuba and Nicaragua. Brzezinski says that "Marxist-Leninist policies were derived from a basic misjudgment of history and afatal misconception of human nature" (242) and that "communism's historicalperformance as a system of social organization has involved a painfuldisproportion between the massive human sacrifice forcibly extracted fromthe people and some of the undeniable socioeconomic benefits achieved"(236). Works CitedBrzezinski, Zbigniew. hadthrough a massive rearmament program achieved near parity with the UnitedStates. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969.La Feber, Walter. C.: CQ P, 1991.----------------------- 2 END OF THE COLD WAR This research paper explains what is meant by the end of the Cold Warand how and why it ended. In military terms, after being forced to retreat under the threat ofa nuclear showdown with the United States in 1962 from its placement ofnuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles in Cuba, the U.S.S.R. . In much of the Third World, the West appeared to be on thedefensive. Why Communism Failed It is true that Western policies contributed to the demise of theSoviet Union. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.