End of the Cold War
G2 Full History - syllabus K227, 2027
Why did the Cold War end? Soviet shortages, military costs, US pressure and Gorbachev's reforms, then 1989 in Eastern Europe and the USSR's breakup in 1991.
- Background: easing tension, not ending rivalry
Detente eased tension between the USA and USSR in the 1970s, but the rivalry went on and flared again after 1979.
- Why the Soviet economy fell behind
Soviet factories were rewarded for meeting targets, not for making good products, so shortages and poor living standards grew.
- Soviet power became too costly
Paying for a huge military and for control over Eastern Europe drained resources the USSR also needed for daily life.
- US pressure in the 1980s
President Reagan's arms build-up and the SDI plan raised the cost of competing, which pushed the USSR towards arms deals.
- Gorbachev's reforms backfired
Gorbachev's reforms did not fix the economy quickly, and new freedom to speak let people attack the system itself.
- Eastern Europe breaks free in 1989
When Gorbachev stopped using Soviet force to prop up allies, local people in Eastern Europe pushed communist governments out in 1989.
- Why the USSR broke apart in 1991
A failing economy, republics demanding self-rule and a failed coup in August 1991 destroyed the power holding the USSR together.
- Put it together: Choose what you are explaining
Choose an outcome first. Pressure for reform, the fall of allied governments and the breakup of the Soviet state were connected, but they need different explanations.
Sources and context
Background reading for this chapter.
- Reagan asks Americans to support defence spending
Paraphrase of President Ronald Reagan's televised address to the American public, 23 March 1983; transcript held by the Reagan Presidential Library.
- Chernyaev's notes of Gorbachev's adviser meeting, 31 October 1988
Paraphrase of Anatoly Chernyaev's notes of Gorbachev's discussion with advisers, 31 October 1988, translated by Svetlana Savranskaya and published by the National Security Archive.
- American memorandum of the Ryzhkov-Shultz meeting, 14 April 1987
Paraphrase of an American memorandum recording Soviet premier Nikolai Ryzhkov's meeting with George Shultz in Moscow, 14 April 1987; published in Foreign Relations of the United States.