When Reagan became President he had only one well-defined foreign policy goal: containing the Soviet Union or the "evil empire" as he once referred to it (Reagan 1983). He primarily wanted to stop the USSR from growing larger and to keep other non-Communist countries from becoming Communist. He disliked the decade-long Détente begun by President Nixon and continued by President Ford. Détente is defined as a relaxation of strained relations or tensions between nations, in this case the two nations being the United States and the Soviet Union. Reagan firmly believed that the USSR was using Détente and the SALT talks to take advantage of the United States.
A quote from Ronald Reagan with a conversation with Richard V. Allen says “My idea of the American policy toward the Soviet Union is simple, and some would say simplistic.” “It is this: We win and they lose. What do you think of that?” In his first term as president, both he and Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister, put down the Soviet Unions ideas and political thoughts. Other bold statements he has made of the Soviet Union is, “The Soviet Union is an evil empire and communism will soon be but an ash heap of history.” These
‘Peaceful coexistence' is an ideology enunciated by Khrushchev after the Twentieth Congress which governed Soviet foreign policy during the so-called Khrushchev Thaw. This emphasised the possibility of ideological coexistence of both the Communist bloc and the capitalist bloc which marked a paradigmatic shift from the Stalinist doctrine of antagonistic contradiction and inevitable conflict between Communism and capitalism. Furthermore, it highlighted that countries should be allowed to take ‘different roads to socialism’ thus decreasing the role of the USSR for stringent bolshevisation of states as seen in the dissolution of Cominform. Due to the emergence of brinkmanship politics and development of nuclear weapons such as the H-Bomb, the ideology aims to minimise possibilities of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), alongside ‘military conflict with the West’. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ was argued by revisionist historians such as Alperovitz that it eased political tensions between the two superpowers through modus vivendi such as in the Austrian State Treaty.
To what extent was Mikhail Gorbachev responsible for the fall of the USSR? “We can’t go on living like this” this was what Mikhail Gorbachev was reported to have said in the eve of his succession. What Gorbachev was talking about was the decline in living standards in the Soviet Union due to its crumbling economic, political and social policies, and was hinting at the change in policies and diplomatic relations which he would implement once he came into power, policies that would eventually lead to the end of the cold war and the collapse of the USSR. It was historian Raymond L. Garthoff who said “…Over four decades it performed the historic function of holding Soviet power in check until the internal seeds of destruction within the Soviet Union and its empire could mature. At this point, however it was Gorbachev who bought the Cold War to an end…”.
HOW DID THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR INFLUENCED THE GEOPOLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE BLACK SEA AREA ? INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND DIPLOMACY GHERASIM BIANCA-DANIELA SPE II The internal situation of Russia and its international position had changed rapidly between 1985 and 1988, but the real danger was not yet manifested. Many historians believe that the main factor to the dissolution of the USSR was the Cold War; it just took almost half a century for the real damage to occur. However, on Christmas day of the year 1991, the red flag waved over Kremlin for the last time. Few days before this important event had taken place, eleven states, that at that time were part of the Soviet Republic, had met in the capital-city of Kazakhstan and they all decided they will no longer be part of the USSR political entity, but they will now be part of the new interstate entity which was called the Commonwealth of the Independent States.
However, the breakdown in relations between the emerging superpowers during the war and the consequences of the disbandment of the Grand Alliance can be interpreted as the start of the Cold War. Tensions during wartime conferences paved the way for post-war conflict and it can be argued that as soon as the common enemy of Hitler was destroyed, the disparity in post-war aims of the superpowers led to the Cold War. The conferences of ‘the Big Thee’ at Yalta and Potsdam produced areas of tension surrounding plans for Germany and Poland, highlighting the USA fear of USSR’s expansion. Therefore Stalin’s policies for these countries can be construed as an attempt to form an ‘Eastern Bloc’, knowing this to be in complete contradiction with Western ideals for a world without spheres of influence. However, there is not much evidence to suggest the USSR’s was pursuing expansionist aims at this point, and in fact was simply securing its borders.
To What Extent did Ideological Differences Cause the Cold War? The Cold War is the term used to describe the relationship between capitalist America and communist USSR. Unlike most wars, neither side ever fought the other – but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states that fought for their beliefs on their behalf. This can be seen in South Vietnam, an anti-communist area supplied by the USA during World War II, whilst North Vietnam was pro-communist and fought the sough using weapons from communist Russia. The USA was the richest world power and capitalist, believing in free elections, a democratic government, personal freedom, freedom of the media, and ‘survival of the fittest.’ On the other hand, the USSR was communist with a poor economic base, no elections or fixed elections, a collective outlook, a society controlled by the NKVD (secret police), and total censorship.
The IMF loaned the amount of money on various conditions to the Russian Government. The deal also included the pegging of the US Dollar to the Rubles. After various failed attempts at confirming to the conditions, the IMF decided to stop the funding provided and the Russian Economy and Currency were left in shambles, despite the government’s efforts to rescue it. Analysis Q1. What were the causes of the surge of inflation in Russia during the 1990’s?
After the death of Stalin in March 1953, Nikita Khrushchev emerged as leader of the USSR. There was also change in the US Presidency as Harry Truman was replaced by Dwight Eisenhower. Both the USA and the USSR felt secure enough to pursue different approaches to foreign policy, and these changes led to the establishment of a framework for improved relations. Peaceful Coexistence was adopted by Khrushchev during the 20th Party Congress, with aims to reduce hostility between the two superpowers. Despite hostility created by Hungary in 1956 and Berlin 1958-1962, superpower relations after 1953 did generally stabilise, as pressures from the arms race and economic concerns pushed them towards accommodation.
Because of the disagreement with the foundation of a countries’ structure, the USA and the USSR were strange bedfellows during the Second World War. Their alliance was purely strategic. The underlying differences between the supreme capitalist nation (the USA) and the original communist state (the USSR) were bound to re-emerge once Germany and Japan had been defeated. Both of the Superpowers saw each other as a threat to its continued survival and adopted strategies to preserve their positions, which brought a high level of tension after World War 2. At the final stage of World War Two, it was quite clear that the Allies would get the final victory, so in February 1945, Stalin (USSR), Churchill (UK) and Roosevelt (USA) met at Yalta to discuss