Humanities - The 20th Century - The Cold War - Student Work 4

Born in 1931 in the Soviet Union Mikhail’s lasting achievement was to greatly contribute to the end of the Cold War. Rising to power in the USSR in 1985 Gorbachev had a more democratic approach to leadership than that of his predecessors and put in place many policies to extend the longevity and strength of the USSR’s economy and improve the lives of the Soviet citizens. He also held various negations with the USA to ensure there would never be nuclear warfare between the two super powers. His two most famous policies are that of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) these two policies were introduced to build a better and more democratic future for the USSR and allowed economic restructuring that would significantly lessen the amount spent on arms and more freedom of speech; both were considered radical at the time by Soviet traditionalists. The Western powers found Mikhail more reasonable to negotiate with and as such attended “summits” to negotiate the lessening of each countries stock of arms and a more peaceful coexistence that would remove the threat of nuclear warfare. Mikhail also became close friends with some of the Western leaders and this eased the tension of the Cold War considerably. By signing various treaties with US leader Ronald Reagan and later George W. Bush concerning nuclear weapons Gorbachev agreed to reduce the amount of arms that the USSR and its satellites would stockpile and remove some missiles that were a threat to Western countries. He agreed to redirect large amounts of state money away from the military and into more civilian activities, as was his intention with his perestroika policy. This was a large step towards the end of the Cold War; by removing many weapons the USSR became less of a threat. This map shows Eastern Europe post 1989, when the USSR had surrendered control of its satellites. During 1988 Gorbachev announced the USSR would no longer control the internal affairs of the Eastern Bloc nations. This policy of non intervention in the internal affairs of states of the Warsaw Pact proved to be one of Gorbachev’s most momentous foreign policy reforms. Speaking in France in July of 1989 Gorbachev stated that: “Any interference in the internal affairs, or any attempt to limit the sovereignty of another state, friend, ally, or another, would be inadmissible.” This lead to many revolutions in Eastern Bloc countries. More importantly it signalled the breakdown of Communism and the power of the USSR, which had been held for over 40 years. The loosening of Soviet control over Eastern Europe effectively ended the Cold War, and for this, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 15, 1990.

Reagan, although initially taking a hardline approach to the USSR during his presidency, is a major contributor to the end of the Cold War. Through participation in negotiations with Gorbachev and a willingness to lessen the USA’s arms stockpile he was largely responsible for the thaw in relations between the East and West. He was also influential in reuniting East and West Germany through urging Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall. By agreeing to summit meetings Reagan showed he was willing to negotiate with Gorbachev and find a peaceful conclusion to the Cold War. Reagan also believed that if he could get Gorbachev to grant more democracy and free speech in the USSR this would lead to the end of Communism and, ultimately, the Cold War. This assumption was essentially correct and when Communism fell across Eastern Europe the Cold War ended. In a famous speech delivered at the Berlin Wall on June 12th in 1987 Regan publically challenged Gorbachev to show he was serious about reform by saying: “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation; Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Regan was also partially responsible for the signing of a significant weapons reduction treaty, The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at the White House in Washington in 1987. This eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons and lessened the threat of a nuclear holocaust. When Reagan attended the Moscow summit he was viewed as a celebrity by the Soviet citizens and when a journalist asked if he still considered the USSR an “evil empire” he replied: “No, I was talking about another time, another era” This change in perception was representative of how much the nineteen-eighties had changed the relations between East and West. The Cold War was a major political and economic endeavour for over four decades, but the confrontation and depleted relations between the two superpowers decreased dramatically by the end of Reagan’s presidency. It is widely agreed Reagan played a role in the downfall of the USSR and that his defence policies, summits with Gorbachev and hard line against communism were significant contributing factors to the end of the cold War.

Five “summits” held between 1985 and 1989 helped the USA and the USSR to come to many agreements that would ultimately signal the end of the Cold War through the signing of various treaties relating to the amount of arms each country might stockpile and how they may use them. These summits mainly included talks between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, and were often held on neutral territory. The first was held in Geneva, Switzerland (shown in blue on the map below) in November of 1985 was a discussion concerning economic issues and the scaling back of the arms race. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev spoke for well over their allotted time in a beach house and were accompanied only by a translator. They also planned two more summits to be held in following years. The major thing to come out of this summit was cooperation between the two countries and a willingness to resolve their issues peacefully. During the second summit, held in Reykjavik, Iceland (shown in red on the map below) in 1986 the talks went well between the two leaders until Gorbachev raised the issue of Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative (or Star Wars) which he expressed a desire for the US to abolish. Reagan refused and the negotiations were largely considered a failure this time around. The third summit held in Washington, USA in 1987 is considered the most successful and vital in finishing the Cold War. It was where Gorbachev and Reagan chose to sign the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminated all nuclear-armed, ground launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,000 kilometres and their infrastructure. The fourth was held in Moscow, Russia (shown in purple on the map below) in mid 1988 was when George W. Bush signed the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with Mikhail Gorbachev. It was a huge step towards the end of the Cold War and further major reductions in arms stockpiled by each country. The final summit was held in Malta (shown in yellow) in late 1989 where Gorbachev said “I assured the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war against the USA.” This assurance really signalled the end of the Cold War and removed the threat of a nuclear holocaust. I was representative of the thaw in relations between the two superpowers.

The 1988 Summer Olympics, held in Seoul in 1988, were significant in the ending of the Cold War because it represented the first Olympic Games in two editions that the USSR and the USA both chose to compete in. In 1980, at the Moscow Olympics, the US had boycotted the games. Four years later, when the games were held in Los Angeles, the Soviet Union and thirteen other countries boycotted the Olympics in retaliation of the 1980 boycott. This made both sides of the Cold War participating significant, as it was for the first time since the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. This was representative of the relaxation in conflict between the two nations and showed they were willing to compete on a world scale through sports instead of by building superior weapons and armies. It was the largest Olympics to date with 159 participating nations and approximately 8,500 athletes. By the end of the Game the Soviet Union had the largest medal count at 132, East Germany was second with 102 and the United States was third with 94, therefore it would appear that on a sporting scale the USSR, and Communism was winning the Cold War. These graphs depict the amount of medals won by the USSR and the USA between 1924 and 1996. There are sharp downturns where boycotts occurred (1984 for the USSR and 1980 for the USA) It would appear that the USA has been more consistent and continued to win after the Cold War (1992 and 1996) whereas the Soviet Union suffered a sharp downturn in 1996.

Armed Mujahids return to a destroyed village, March 25, 1986.

Da te

De ce m be Re So r Belligerents su vie 27, lt t19 wit 79 Democratic Mujahideen of –of Republichd Afghanistan ra Fe Afghanistan wa br Foreign l; Soviet uaUnion Mujahideen Af ry gh 15, an Commanders 19 Civ 89 il Soviet 40th Army: Abdul Haq Wa Jalaluddin Haqqani r Sokolov Sergei Gulbuddin Hekmatyar co Ismail Khan Valentin nti Ahmad Shah Massoud Varennikov nu es. Boris Gromov DRA: Babrak Karmal Mohammad Najibullah Abdul Rashid Dostum Strength Soviet forces: 80,000- 45,000 (in 1983) 104,000 250,000 (in 1986)[2] Afghan forces: 329,000 (in 1989)[1] Casualties and losses

From 1979 till 1989 the Soviet War in Afghanistan was held until the Soviets withdrew their forces in February of 1989. The USSR was supporting the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) against the mujahideen resistance. The mujahideen found support from the USA, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. When the Soviets withdrew their forces civil war continued in Afghanistan. In 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power he expressed a desire for the war to be over after Soviet occupation of Afghanistan for six years. This meant that the PDPA had to be able to continue resistance of the mujahideen fighters on their own before the Soviets could withdraw. So a plan was set to train PDPA soldiers in 1985-1987 before the Soviets left. In 1988 the Soviet withdrawal began and continued until the last troops had left by February of 1989. This withdrawal reduced the threat of a large scale conflict like that of WWII.

The Berlin Wall came down in 1989 after 28 years and one day of dividing East and West Germany. Germany was officially reunified in 1990. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signified the fall of the Iron Curtain that had descended across Europe almost forty years earlier. It was representative of the joining of Eastern and Western Europe and the end of the friction that had defined the past forty years of the twentieth century. Ronald Reagan gives his famous “tear down this

The Wall was dismantled mainly by civilians following the announcement by the East German government that visits to West

Germany would be allowed. Thousands of East Germans fled to West Germany as parts of the Wall came down and through surrounding countries as peaceful revolutions took place across Eastern Europe. These countries included Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. November 9th is considered the day the wall fell as thousands of East Berliners flocked to the checkpoints in the wall and overwhelmed the guards, eventually passing through to West Berlin and joining the celebratory atmosphere in the West. The Fall of the Berlin Wall is largely considered to be the catalyst for the fall of the Iron Curtain across Europe and the end of Soviet power and ultimately the end of the Cold War. This map shows the “sections” West Germany was divided into before it became a country in its own right. The yellow line down the middle of the map represents the Berlin Wall.

The ultimate cause of the end of the Cold War was the cost of the Arms Race and the resulting strain in placed on the economies of the two world superpowers; mainly that of the USSR, who fell into economic stalemate and suffered an economic growth rate of close to zero percent in 1985. The military expenditure of the two countries fell into the trillions and left the economies of the US and USSR devastated. It was simply not economically viable, or possible to continue building the military and weapons at the previous rate. The USSR spending has been estimated at trillions of dollars as well and was crippling for their economy, although there are no official statistics available. The CIA spent much of the twentieth century trying to estimate the spending of the USSR. Annual US Military Spending During the Cold War: (Total of 13.1 Trillion US1996 Dollars for Cold War Military Expenditure 1948-96) Decade Spending (Billions of Dollars) 1940’s (4549)

1819.5

1950’s

3218.7

1960’s

3149.2

1970’s

4719.7

1980’s (198091)

3913

Above: Stockpile of Nuclear Weapons: US vs. USSR 1945 - 2000

The Warsaw Pact was the binding pact between the eastern European states and the Soviet Union signed in 1955 that bonded the countries together for the majority of the cold war. It was essentially an agreement that stated that were there to be a threat against any of the member states the others would step in and help to defend the country. It is officially known in the eastern bloc countries as the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. (To the left is a map where the coloured nations represent members of the Warsaw Pact.)

The Members: •

People's Republic of Albania (left in 1961 as a result of the Sino-Soviet split)

•

People's Republic of Bulgaria

•

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

•

People's Republic of Hungary

•

People's Republic of Poland

•

Socialist Republic of Romania

•

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

•

German Democratic Republic (joined in 1956)

The members of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend each other if one or more of the members were attacked. The treaty also stated that relations among the signatories were based on mutual non-interference in internal affairs and respect for national sovereignty and independence. As a result of most of the eastern European communist governments falling, the Warsaw Pact fell apart in 1991. The Warsaw pact was divided into two branches; The Political Consultative Committee, which was responsible for all non-military activities and the Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces, which had authority over the troops and military of member states. The headquarters for the Pact were in Warsaw, Poland. The end of the pact was formally announced on July 1st, 1991 in Prague. The map below represents the two binding “pacts” of the Cold War’ where NATO is highlighted in blue and the Warsaw Pact in red.

In 1989 a series of peaceful revolutions took place in Eastern Europe with many Soviet satellites overthrowing their communist governments. It followed and easing of control over the Eastern European nations by the USSR in 1989, announced by Mikhail Gorbachev. The Revolutions began in Poland and then spread to Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. The only violent revolution took place in Romania, where Ceausescu was killed. The revolutions greatly changed the balance of power in the world and signalled, along with the fall of the USSR, the end of the Cold War era. On December 3rd in 1989 the leaders of the two world super powers declared an end to the Cold War at the Malta summit. When the Soviet Union rapidly withdrew its forces from Eastern Europe the spillover from the 1989 revolutions in neighbouring countries began reverberating throughout the USSR itself. This led to Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Armenia declaring their independence. These movements continued as the Soviet economy weakened and the Soviet command structure breaking down. In 1991, a coup attempt failed, but Gorbachev’s authority was undermined. In September of 1991 the Baltic States were granted independence and on Boxing Day of 1991 the USSR was officially disbanded, and broke into fifteen constituent parts. Since there was no longer a USSR this really was the end of Cold War as there was nobody left to fight.

Maps of Europe during and after the Cold War show significant changes across Eastern Europe in particular, and serve to highlight the “sides” that each country took during the Cold War.