End of the Cold War and the New Era
| Subject: | 🗽 American History |
| Type: | Synthesis Essay |
| Pages: | 1 |
| Word count: | 368 |
| Topics: | Cold War, ✔️ Political Science, Communism |
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The end of the Cold War was a historic moment in the world. In the conflict, the USA and the Soviet Union fought for dominance and control of the world. It encompassed the use of threats of nuclear attacks and conquering other nations to indicate the military ability of either of the superpowers. Although President Ronald Reagan reached out to Khrushchev numerous times, the USSR persisted in its quest for power until the end of the war in 1991 (Spohr & Reynolds, 2016).
Two primary causes led to the end of the Cold War. Firstly, the deterioration of the economic conditions in the two countries required the governments to shift their attention from the war. For more than forty years, the nations devoted a huge percentage of their resources to the creation of nuclear weapons and development of their military power (Immerman & Goedde, 2016). As a result, the rest of the critical sectors greatly suffered.
Secondly, the political changes in the world also contributed to the cessation of the conflict. According to President Reagan, people all over the world were keen on regaining their freedom (Enzo, 2016). A new era that required the use of cooperation, instead of force beckoned. In fact, Germany was split into two by a wall, where one side was democratic while the other was a dictatorship. Therefore, as these alterations continued, it was only natural that USSR was forced to concede.
However, it is noteworthy that the economic factors were more important in ending the war. In the 1980s, the USSR encountered a recession that interfered with its ability to recruit more men into the army, and develop advanced weapons (Betts & Smith, 2016). So bad was the situation that Khrushchev needed to find new avenues to promote economic growth. Besides, a reduction of the military budget was imperative for the USSR’s survival.
Lastly, the Soviet Union could have won the cold war by getting the support of the other nations involved in the strife. Unlike the USA that preached the doctrine of unity and freedom, the USSR did not reach out to the other regions. If they had communicated their ideas to the Asian and European countries, they would have had a better chance to win the war.
- Betts, P., & Smith, S. A. (2016). Science, religion and communism in Cold War Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Enzo, G. (2016). The Cold War. New York: Cavendish Square Publishing.
- Immerman, R. H., & Goedde, P. (2016). The Oxford handbook of the Cold War. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Spohr, K., & Reynolds, D. (2016). Transcending the Cold War : summits, statecraft, and the dissolution of bipolarity in Europe, 1970–1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Offered for reference purposes only.