Confrontation and reconciliation: The end of the Cold War

What was the impact of Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev introduced 2 key reforming ideas - perestroika and glasnost. Perestroika (restructuring) aimed at restructuring the economy and glasnost (openness) was the principle that every area of the regime should be open to public scrutiny. This represented a radical change in politics in the Soviet Union. It involved greater ‘democratisation’, with more people involved in the Communist Party and in political debate.

Through these strategies, Gorbachev intended to make the Soviet system more productive and responsive, and he realised that part of this process also had to involve a reduction in military spending. He decided to abandon the arms race and attempt a negotiated reduction in arms with the USA.

Other foreign policy initiatives put into action by Gorbachev were reassuring to the West. By 1988, Gorbachev had announced his plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, and he pulled back Soviet aid to its ‘allies’ in the developing world.

The Chernobyl disaster

The Chernobyl disaster, in which an explosion destroyed a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, only heightened Gorbachev’s awareness of the dangers of nuclear power. As an aide to Gorbachev put it, ‘Gorbachev knew even before that catastrophe about the danger of nuclear weapons. That explosion showed that, even without war and without nuclear missiles, nuclear power could destroy humankind’

Arms control agreements

Reagan was also interested in disarmament and had previously put forward to the Soviets an arms control proposal known as ‘zero option’, which would eliminate all intermediate-range missiles in Europe. Gorbachev was prepared to discuss this option. This resulted in the 2 leaders meeting together in 4 summits to discuss arms control:

• Geneva Summit, November 1985: No substantial progress was made but the 2 leaders established a personal rapport and they agreed that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought’.

• Reykjavik Summit, October 1986: Talks ended without agreement, mainly because of disagreement over SDI. Gorbachev was against and Reagan refused to make any concessions. Gorbachev declared that it had ‘been an intellectual breakthrough’ in relations between the US and USSR.

• Washington Summit, December 1987: At this summit, agreement was reached. An Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF Treaty) was signed, which actually agreed to abolish weapons: land-based missiles of intermediate and shorter range. Agreement was also reached for the first time on inspection of the destruction of missiles.

• Moscow Summit, May 1988: Again there was disagreement over SDI, but arms reductions negotiations continued. Standing in Red Square, Reagan confessed that he now no longer believed in the ‘evil empire’.

What was the role of Ronald Reagan

Historians argue that it was Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union in the early 1980s that was crucial for pushing the Soviet Union into arms negotiations.

Other historians also claim that Reagan played an important role, but believe this role was more connected to his views on eliminating nuclear weapons, which helped at the different summits to convince Gorbachev of the possibilities of halting the nuclear arms race. Reagan’s character and willingness to engage with Gorbachev was also important. There was probably no other politician around at the time who would have ‘move forward, as Reagan did, to engage Gorbachev’.

What was the role of the Soviet economy in the ending of the Cold War

By the time Brezhnev died in 1983, both the political and economic policies of the Soviet Union were in crisis.

Under Brezhnev, spent even more resources on foreign policy. By the mid-1980s, about 25% of the USSR’ GDP was being spent on the military; in comparison the US was spending 4-6%. The cost of maintaining the USSR’s empire proved to drain resources; ventures in Africa and Afghanistan were extremely costly. Cuba received $4 billion in Soviet aid and subsidies; Vietnam received $6 billion. The members of the Warsaw Pact were also given $3 million worth of oil subsidies.

Brezhnev’s era is also remembered as a period of stagnation and decline in the USSR.This is due to the lack of spending on consumer goods and the domestic economy as a whole. It was falling behind in modern technology and industrial output was declining. A large portion pf the agricultural workers lived below the poverty line. When Gorbachev took over, he inherited an economy in serious trouble.

The impact of Gorbachev’s reforms

Through perestroika and glasnost Gorbachev wanted to revive the Soviet economy and to modify the Soviet system. However, the economic reforms which encouraged private ownership led to chaos. There was no effective system in the Soviet Union to cope with a market economy. In addition, the liberalisation coincided with a fall in the world’s oil prices.

At the same time, glasnost allowed for openness and discussion, which opened a floodgate for criticism of both the old Soviet system and of Gorbachev’s reforms. In this new open atmosphere, with the faults of the Soviet Union laid bare, it was hard to defend the legitimacy of the existing system.

What was the role of ideological challenge and people power in ending the Cold War?

In the late 1980s, a resurgence in nationalist movements began to develop in most of the satellite states. The reasons for this were:

1. The continued deterioration of living standards; as in the Soviet Union, the state-controlled industries in the satellite states were inefficient both in terms of quality and quantity of goods produced. Meanwhile, people in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, who were on the borders of West Europe, could see images of Capitalist living on West German television, and it looked decidedly superior to what they were experiencing in the East.

2. The growing disillusion with the Communist Party, which had shown itself as corrupt, with its leaders more interested in preserving their own privileges than in making life better for the workers. By the 1980s the regimes of Eastern Europe were led by men who had no interest in reform, and were out of touch with the people they ruled.

3. The implications of Gorbachev’s reforms. Gorbachev also made it clear that he was unwilling to use force to maintain control over the satellite states.

In a speech to the UN in 1988, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would cut by half a million men its commitment of troops to the Warsaw Pact. This was a clear signal to the people and governments of Eastern Europe. Gorbachev had made it clear theat Brezhnev doctrine would not be applied, and that satellite states could determine their own internal affairs.

Thus, 1989 saw an amazing series of revolutions in the satellite states, resulting in the whole Soviet system, including Stalin’s legacy, being swept away.

The events in 1989

The process by which the Soviet Union collapsed began in May 1989 when Hungarian Prime Minister decided that his government could not afford to maintain the automatised border control along the boundary against Austria; he believed it was no longer necessary and was ‘anachronistic’ as Hungarians were allowed to freely travel anyhow. This gave an escape route for East Germans, many of whom took their holidays in Hungary with the intention of travelling form there to the West. Thousands of Hungarians and East Germans then crossed over to Austria in order to travel to West Germany.

Events in Poland

In Poland, the union movement called ‘Solidarity’ had been suppressed in 1981. Nevertheless, there continued to be popular support for Solidarity due to the combination of economic stagnation, which the government failed to solve, and support from the Catholic Church. In response to Gorbachev’s reforms, Solidarity was legalised in 1988, and some attempt to introduce reforms was made. The Communist Party had been defeated by a huge popular vote, and the government was the first in the Eastern bloc since the 1940s not to be controlled by Communists. Gorbachev had not intervened to support the old Communist regime, and, in the absence of internal or external support, the Polish Communist Party collapsed.

Events in East Germany

Although it was considered on of the more ‘successful’ countries in the Eastern bloc, living standards were well below those enjoyed by their fellow West Germans. The Communist leader of East Germany (Honecker) used sport as a focus for national identity, but this did not create the sense of an East Germany community, and many people still looked forward to the day when Germany would be reunified. The regime was popular but Honecker was particularly hated. By the mid-1980s there was growing pressure on the government to remove him.

Honecker wanted to use force to control the swell of anti-Communist Party feeling. Gorbachev, however, made it clear that he would not intervene if there were a full-scale revolt. Demonstrations in East German cities continued to grow and a new leader was put in place by the Politburo. In order to try to stem the flow of people from East Germany, the government announced on 9 November 1989 the easing of travel and emigration restrictions. Although this was not actually intended to signify an immediate opening of the checkpoints through the Berlin Wall, the lack of clarity of the official statement meant that thousands of East Berliners immediately descended on the checkpoints. The East German guards were taken by surprise and, lacking direction from above, had to go ahead and open the barriers at night.

When free elections were held in 1990, parties in favour of unification with West Germany won a majority of seats. East and West Germany were reunited on 3 October 1990.

Events in Hungary

Reform in Hungary came more from within the Hungarian Communist Party itself. Reformers, encouraged by the new policies emerging from Moscow, sacked the hardline leader and then dominated the government. On 23 October 1989, Matyas Szuros declared the Third Hungarian Republic and became interim president. Hungary’s first free elections were held in 1990.

Events in Czechoslovakia

The changes that took place in Czechoslovakia, and which led to the downfall of the Communist regime, have become known as the ‘Velvet Revolution’ as there was very little violence. People power can be seen as the clear driving force here. The government was forced to respond to mass demonstrations calling for reform. The campaign was co-ordinated by an organisation called the Civic Forum and, in 1989, a leading dissident playwright was elected by the president by the federal parliament. The Warsaw Pact nations, including the USSR, issued an official statement condemning the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia as ‘illegal’ and promising never again to interfere in each other’s internal affairs.

Events in Romania

Events in Romania were more violent. Romania’s leader and his regime was one of the most repressive in Eastern Europe. However, in December 1989, inspired by news of events in Hungary and by the killing of demonstrators by the Romanian army, there was an uprising against the leader and his wife. When the leader appeared at a rally in Bucharest one week after the army had killed 71 people in Timisoara, they met with a hostile reception. The army now refused to take action against the demonstrators. The leader and his wife tried to flee, but were arrested by the army and then executed on Christmas day, 1989.

The end of the USSR

Abroad, Gorbachev’s policies brought admiration, and in 1990 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At home, however, failure to bring about an improvement in the country’s economic situation meant that he became increasingly unpopular. Events in Eastern Europe brought about calls for independence from the republics of the Soviet Union. Thus during 1991, the Soviet empire disintegrated. In August, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania claimed their independence, as did the other republics that had been part of the USSR.

This break-up of the USSR intensified hostility towards Gorbachev in the Soviet Union and, in August 1991, there was an attempted coup by Communist hardliners against him. This was crushed but Gorbachev lost authority and on 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR. The Commonwealth of Independent States was established and the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist.

What was the impact of the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War?

The collapse of the Soviet Union had a huge impact on international politics as well as the economic situation of countries that had been dependent on the Soviet Union for aid.

For many in the US, it seemed that they were the ‘winners’, and international politics became ‘uni-polar’, with the USA as the only country now capable of having a military alliance around the world. Capitalism seemed to have triumphed. Communism remained the official ideology in only a few states - Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and China. Yet even in China and Vietnam, changes in economic controls allowed free-market forces to have an impact.

For Cuba, the drying up of Soviet economic aid, along with the US trade embargo, brought about an economic crisis.