What role did Ronald Reagan play in the ending of the Cold War? Former president Ronald Reagan left as his greatest legacy to the world a role in helping accelerate the end of the Cold War. The global competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, which consumed both nations for 46 years, cost hundreds of billions of dollars and led to building of the most destructive weapons ever known, reached a peak during Reagan's White House days and then expired only a few years after he left office. The reasons for this extraordinary turn of events are larger than Reagan and span events far beyond his presidency. The roots can be found in the stagnation of the Soviet system in the late 1970s and early 1980s and perhaps most importantly in the ascension of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who opened the floodgates of change.Yet the ending might not have happened but for outside pressures, and this is where Reagan's legacy lies.The United States, in the years before and during the Reagan presidency, underwent a revolution in high technology that the Soviets could not match.
The Cold War was a result of the failed alliance between the US and Soviet Union. For forty years, the two nations were at odds. Each tried to become better than the other, spread their political systems, and achieve world domination. During this time period, the rivals were always on the verge of a war. The Cold War was fought with thinly veiled threats and began due to the iron curtain.
The Cold War HIS/135 Assignment The Cold War Before World War II Britain, France and the United States allied with Russia to combine forces against Germany. The war had a devastating effect on the land and people outside the western hemisphere. After the war the United States and Soviet Union emerged as the world’s superpowers replacing Germany, France and England (Davidson, 2005). The United States power was supported by a growing economy, large military and the atomic bomb. In contrast the war took a toll on the Soviet Union, their lands were in ruin but they still had a formidable military (Davidson, 2005).
Two years after the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union buckled. The Communist party was broken because the Russian Republic hindered to eject Gorbachev from office. In December 1991, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) included Russian Republics. “The Russian Republic assumed leadership of the CIS, but the Soviet Union was no more.” The Cold War was a long drawn out battle between Democracy and Communism. The United States believed that a country should have the ability to choose its government; not be feared of it.
The peasantry were consistent opponents of Russian Government throughout the period, yet were rarely successful in doing so. One reason for this is the continuing role which the army played in limiting opposition from the peasantry, with military force frequently being deployed throughout the period. Lenin used it in the Civil War against the Green armies and Stalin used a similar style of brute force during the collectivisation process, albeit on a much grander scale. Middle Military force was continually employed by the state, with Lenin crushing the Kronstadt mutiny in a similar effect to the Lena Goldfields massacre of 1912 and Bloody Sunday. The
2). In WWII most of the fighting from 1941 until June 1944, took place in the Soviet Union and the Pacific. Meanwhile, in England, the Allies had spent two years building up a powerful force, to invade and liberate Western Europe from the Nazis. People in England joked that the only thing stopping the island from sinking under the weight of all the men and equipment
World War II left Europe in a distraught and confused state, and although The United States, Soviet Union, and allies had won, it seemed as if the United States and Soviet Union had not yet settled all of their differences. Germany was left in a completely disastrous state , and desperately needed the aid of some of the worlds super power countries , The United States and Soviets came to their aid, and at the Yalta Conference they decided to split Germany and Berlin . As the differences in Ideologies grew , the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to physically separate themselves and their occupation zone from the United States. into occupation zones. The Berlin Wall was a physical symbol of the political and emotional differences between East Germany and West Germany.
We joined forces with other nations in that effort, an effort that was mostly successful in Europe. Containment in East/Southeast Asia had one big success in Japan, but the war in Korea, losing China, and losing Vietnam in ’75 were major failures in containing communism. The Cold War was an era of major paranoia over a nuclear war and the spread of “red” throughout the world, and the U.S. leaders over that time period did their best to keep those bad things at
Cold War As World War II came to an end, the Cold War broke out between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cold War not only affected the United States and Soviet Union but also other regions such as Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The Cold War happened during the second half of the twentieth century from about 1945 to 1989. During the Cold War the two superpowers of the United States and Soviet Union fought over military and economic decisions. The Cold War was called the Cold War because there was no violent fighting actually going on during the war.
The United States also began to feel more threatened by South East Asian countries especially China around this time (Roberts, 2006). The US also supported and put Saddam Hussein in power at this time in an attempt to gain better control of the Middle East. In 1979 the Soviets had their version of Vietnam; they had Afghanistan. Under Jimmy Carter the United States had one of the best economies they'd had since World War II. By this time the threat of nuclear attack had decreased.