Lesson Objectives
To identify and evaluate the long and short-term causes of the collapse of the USSR

Key Features of the End of the Cold War

Mikhail Gorbachev
  • ​Glasnosts (openness)- more democracy within the USSR, criticism in order to reform the government
  • Perestroika (restructuring)- for changes to the command, economics- market forces were to be introduced and private business allowed, military spending was reduced
  • 1978: Deng Xiaoping under China, capitalist styled reforms
  • Gorbachev knew the USSR couldn't compete with the US in the arms race, too technologically advanced
  • Arms race had been abandoned, USSR simply couldn't compete anymore
  • April 1986: Chernobyl disaster, dangers of nuclear weapon
  • November 1985: Geneva, Gorbachev and Reagan agreed 'a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought'
  • October 1986: Reykjavik, disagreements over SDI, discussed and arms controls
  • December 1987: Washington, INF Treaty signed, abolished land-based nukes, inspections
  • May 1988: Moscow, further arms reductions, Reagan no longer believes in an 'evil empire'
  • 1988: Gorbachev withdraws from Afghanistan
  • 1989: Malta Summit, new US President George HW Bush, announced that the superpowers had 'buried the Cold War at the bottom of the Mediterranean'
Ronald Reagan
  • 1982: 'New Cold War', increased military spending by 13% and the SDI program, pushed the Soviet economy to breaking point
  • 'Reagan Victory School' Historians- critical of the détente policies of Jimmy Carter, argued that détente only helped to prolong the existence of the USSR
  • Willing to negotiate and compromise with the USSR, clear that Gorbachev was willing to introduce drastic changes
  • Robert J McMahon: 'To his great credit, Reagan proved willing first to moderate, then to abandon, deeply held personal convictions about the malignant nature of Communism, thereby permitting a genuine rapprochement to occur'
Events of 1989
  • May 1989: Hungarian government stopped patrolling its Austrian border, tens of thousands of people from East Germany went through Hungary to West Germany
  • 1988: 'Solidarity' (Poland union movement), legalized- won the first free elections, Gorbachev refused to use force to support the communist
  • October 1989: people leaving to East Germany, fleeing to Austria and publically protest against its government
  • Erich Honecker, East Germany leader- put down the protest, Gorbachev refuses
  • October 1989: Hungary's hardliner leader, Janos Kadar, sacked by reforming communist
  • 1990: free elections in Hungary
  • Czechoslovakia, the 'Velvet Revolution' took place, mass demonstrations led to pressure for free elections, Vaclav Havel was elected President
  • Romania, repressive President Nicolai Ceausescu tried to use force to put down protests, the army turned on him, tried to flee but was arrested and executed by the army on Christmas Day 

Causes of the End of the Cold War

Long Term Causes: Economic Collapse
  • 1982: Soviet economy was near collapse, promoted Gorbachev to introduce reforms and end the arms race, expensive commitment to the war in Afghanistan
  • USSR spent $4 billion a year to Cuba, $6 billion to Vietnam, $3 billion to Eastern Europe
  • USSR was spending 25% of CDP on its military, US was only spending 4-6%
  • 'Command economy' was failing- little money was invested into consumer goods and promoting domestic demand, no incentive to work hard or efficiently- corruption, annual growth was dropping, Soviet economy was imploding under the strains of military competitions with the USA
 
Long Term Causes: Ideological Collapse
  • USSR was a regime built on Communist ideology, indoctrinated with the belief that was building- world revolution did not happen
  • Cohesive 'faith' that Soviet people had in the system was eroding, provided Gorbachev with the pressure for reform
  • General Dmitriy Volkogonov: ‘I was an orthodox Marxist, an officer who knew his duty. I was not part of some liberal current. All my changes came from within, off on my own. I had access to all kinds of literature. .. I was a Stalinist. I contributed to the strengthening of the system that I am now trying to dismantle. But latently, I had my ideas. I began asking myself questions about Lenin, how, if he was such a genius, none of his predictions came true. The proletarian dictatorship never came to be, the principle of class struggle was discredited, communism was not built in fifteen years as he had promised. None of Lenin's major predictions ever came true! I confess it: I used my position, I began gathering information even though I didn't know yet what I would do with it.’ (Remnick, 1992, p. 15)
Long Term Causes: Social Collapse
  • Members of society lost faith in the system, Soviet citizens growing up in the 1960s/1980s faced a lack of career opportunities
  • Young people received a free education, indoctrinated with high expectations in the Soviet system- lost optimism and faith in the system
  • Alcoholism and anti-social behavior- rampant throughout the Soviet
 
Long Term Causes: Nationalist Feeling
  • 1980s: Eastern Europe protests, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland, no interest in reform and repressive
  • Glasnost and Perestroika seemed to allow people to criticize their leaders
  • December 1988: Gorbachev gave a speech to the United Nations, announcing the USSR would cut its troops commitment
  • Gorbachev: '‘force and the threat of force cannot be and should not be an instrument of foreign policy… Freedom of choice is… a universal principle and it should know no exceptions’.
  • Turning point as the Brezhnev Doctrine- using force to rule Eastern Europe

Collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, encouraged calls for independence within the republics of the USSR 1991: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all declared independence from Russia, Gorbachev became deeply unpopular due to his inability to improve the economy

August 1991: hardline communist attempted a coup, defeated by the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin who confronted the soldiers Yeltsin restored Gorbachev who remained as President of the USSR, he was put under pressure by Yeltsin to resign 25 December 1991: Gorbachev resigned as President

​USSR was formally dissolved, being replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russia became the Russian Federation with Boris Yeltsin as its first President

Textbook Activities

Activity 1
"Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan made many mistakes at the summit. But their personal chemistry, the relations forged between their advisers, and the tenacity with which both sides kept talking all show that summitry can make a difference when properly managed. The encounters that began in frosty Geneva in November 1985 helped ensure that the Cold War ended not with a bang, or a whimper, but a handshake."- David Reynolds, Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century, Allen Lane 2007 (page 569)
 
1. What key points about the importance of the 'summits' are made by Reynolds?
  • Both leaders made mistakes at the summit but they 'forged' a relationship and continued talks
  • It helped 'ensure that the Cold War ended not with a bang, or a whimper, but a handshake'
 
Activity 2
"As former Pentagon officials like Caspar Weinberger and Richard Perle... and other proponents of the Reagan victory school have argued, a combination of military and ideological pressures gave the Soviet little choice but to abandon expansionism abroad and repression at home. In their view, the Reagan military build-up foreclosed Soviet military options while pushing the Soviet economy to the breaking point. Reagan partisans stress that his dramatic Star Wars initiative put the Soviet on notice that the next phase of the arms race would be waged in areas where the West held a decisive technological edge."- D. Deudney and GJ Ikenberry, 'Who Won the Cold War?’ Foreign Policy 87, Summer 1992 (page 124)
 
"The Jimmy Carter- Cyrus Vance approach of rewarding the Soviet build-up with one-sided arms control treaties, opening Moscow's access to Western capital markets and technologies, and condoning Soviet imperial expansion was perfectly designed to preserve the Brezhnev-style approach, delivering the Soviets from any need to re-evaluate (as they did under Gorbachev) or change their policies. Had the Carter-Vance approach been continued... the Cold War and the life of the Soviet Union would almost certainly have been prolonged.'- Patrick Glynn, letter to the Editor, Foreign Policy 90, Spring 1993 (page 171-173)
 
1. Identify three reasons from the first source to explain why Reagan's policies could be seen as responsible for ending the Cold War
  • Article critical of the 'Reagan victory school'
  • Policy argued both military and ideological pressures, gave the Soviet no choice but to stop expanding- economic and social reasons
  • Reagan's 'dramatic' increase in funding for projects, such as, Star Wars, gave the USSR no choice but to end the space race
 
2. What criticisms does Patrick Glynn have of détente?
  • Article takes the 'Reagan victory school' view of the 'détente approach relations with the Soviet Union
  • Believes President Carter and Cyrus Vance 'rewarded' the Soviet buildup with one-sided arms control treaties- benefited Moscow, Western capital markets and technologies
  • Glynn believed that if the Carter-Vance approach would have resulted in 'the life of the Soviet Union would almost certainly have been prolonged'
 
Activity 3
1. Who do you believed played the most important role in bringing a new relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union- Gorbachev or Reagan
  • Gorbachev- new reforming ideas: Glasnosts (opening) and Perestroika (restructuring), signing of INF Treaty with US, withdrawal from Afghanistan
  • Reagan- increased funding for the 'new Cold War', 'Reagan Victory School', willingness to negotiate with Gorbachev
 
2. Explain what Zubok means, to what extent do you agree with his assertion?
"It was Ronald Reagan's luck that his presidency coincided with generational change in the Kremlin and the exit of the Old Guard, Mikhail Gorbachev was the first Soviet leader since Stalin to reappraise drastically the relationship between ideology and Soviet security interests"- Vladislav M Zubok, A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev, UNC Press 2007 (page 341)
  • Agree-Gorbachev 'drastically' changed ideology and Soviet security interests in comparison to Stalin
  • Disagree- 'luck' wasn't necessarily the reason of Reagan's success, USSR was failing economic and politically- could not financially afford the Cold War
Activity 5
1. What is the airplane supposed to represent? What is significant about the war the cartoon has drawn the airplane?
  • The plane itself is mean to represent Communism, particularly the Soviet Union
  • Portrait of Lenin hung up in the cabin
  • Plane wing has the communism symbol printed on it, engine is on fire
 
2. Who are the passengers supposed to represent?
  • Soviet controlled countries, Poland being the first to jump out with a democracy parachute
  • Other people have suitcases above them with the countries: Lithuania, Estonia, East Germany
 
3. What is enabling Poland to jump out of the airplane?
  • Poland has a parachute with the words democracy on it, metaphor that Poland is saving themselves with the help of democracy and abandoning the crashing communism
  • Other nations (people) are looking at Poland as an example
 
Activity 6
1. Explain what is happening in the cartoon
  • Old Man with a 'history' sash, holding a button in his right hand, and a book in the other, watching a television, 'Eastern Europe' with the image of barbed wire and brick walls
  • History: "Oops I accidentally hit fast forward...'
 
2. What is the message of the cartoon regarding events in Eastern Europe?
  • Represents the escalation in Eastern Europe, events that took place happened very quickly in a short period of time

​Activity 9
At what point do you think that it could be said that the Cold War was over? Discuss the implications of each of the following dates and decide which one most appropriately represents the end of superpower hostility (in order of significance)
  • 25 December 1991: Resignation of Gorbachev, no longer a Communist Party and the USSR was disbanded
The ending of the Cold War was confirmed by the ending of the Communist Party, as it was a war on ideologies and superpowers- the downfall of the country represented an official end to the Cold War and the conflict between the US and USSR
  • 3 October 1990: Reunified Germany joins NATO, symbolizing the end of the reunification process, Condoleezza Rice called it 'VE Day two'
  • 25 February 1991: Warsaw Pact disbanded, there were no longer 'two opposing camps'
  • 2/3 December 1989: Malta Summit, when Gorbachev recognized the US as a 'European power' and Eduard Shevardnadze said that the Cold War was 'buried at the bottom of the Mediterranean'
  • December 1988: President Reagan in Moscow said he no longer believed in the 'evil empire'
  • Christmas Day 1991: President Bush's address, stated that the 'confrontation is over'