The end of the Cold War, 1979-1991

H2 History - syllabus 9174, 2027

Reagan's renewed confrontation and arms control, Soviet decline, Gorbachev's New Thinking and the Sinatra Doctrine, the revolutions in Poland and East Germany, and the debate over who ended the Cold War.

• Reagan's renewed confrontation

  Reagan revived confrontation with a military build-up, SDI, hard-line rhetoric and support for anti-communist rebels.

• From confrontation to arms control

  Reagan combined pressure with negotiation, and with Gorbachev reached the INF Treaty in 1987, the first to eliminate a class of nuclear weapons.

• The decline of the Soviet Union

  Economic stagnation, falling oil prices, the war in Afghanistan and military costs left the USSR unable to sustain the Cold War.

• Gorbachev's New Thinking and the Sinatra Doctrine

  Gorbachev's New Thinking stressed common security and cut military commitments; abandoning force in Eastern Europe let its regimes fall.

• People power in Poland and East Germany

  In Poland negotiation brought a non-communist government; in East Germany mass emigration and protest opened the Berlin Wall.

• Interpretations of the end of the Cold War

  Historians debate whether Western pressure, Soviet initiative or people power was most responsible for ending the Cold War.

• Put it together: Who ended the Cold War?

  Each interpretation emphasises different actors. Choose one and test it.