End of the Cold War Historiography

Orthodox view vs Revisionist views on the significance of US policy to the collapse of the Soviet Union/Cold War 

Orthodox

John Lewis Gaddis (early work) – US strength and Reagan’s hard line “forced the Soviets to negotiate from weakness.”

Revisionist

William Appleman Williams – US economic imperialism prolonged Cold War; collapse owed more to internal Soviet failures than American policy.

Gabriel Kolko – Reagan’s policies irrelevant; USSR collapsed under economic contradictions of socialism.

Post revisionist view of diplomacy

John Lewis Gaddis (later work) – End was a “triumph of diplomacy”: Reagan and Gorbachev both shaped peaceful resolution.

Post revisionist view on the affect of environmental factors 

Melvyn Leffler – Collapse owed to interplay of US pressure (arms race) and Soviet domestic weaknesses.

Marxist view on ideological fault 

E.H. Carr – USSR fell because it betrayed socialist principles; bureaucratic elite strangled revolutionary dynamism.

Historian view on economic burden for USSR

Odd Arne Westad – Global Cold War stretched USSR beyond limits: costly interventions in Third World + globalised economic pressures accelerated collapse.

Historian view on the structural fragility of the USSR

Stephen Kotkin – USSR collapse “overdetermined”: system structurally unsustainable, Gorbachev’s reforms simply exposed it.

Historian view on Gorbachev’s role in ensuring peace

Archie Brown – “Without Gorbachev, no peaceful end”: his refusal to use force allowed collapse without mass bloodshed.