Download Possible Reason 1: Glasnost and Perestroika

Why did the Cold War End?
Possible Reason 1: Glasnost and Perestroika
Upon becoming General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev set out
to reform the Soviet political and economic system to make it more efficient and responsive to the will of the
people. Glasnost, or openness, dramatically changed Soviet society in letting churches reopen and allowing
increased freedom of speech and the press.
With this newfound freedom, the people of the Soviet Union made it clear that they were unhappy with their
quality of life. This led Gorbachev to institute Perestroika, a series of economic reforms designed to bring some
elements of free market capitalism into the Soviet Union’s centrally planned economy in order to improve
efficiency.
Finally, Gorbachev introduced the reform of democratization, allowing for free elections for the creation of a new
parliament.
Gorbachev instituted these reforms to improve the practice of communism in the Soviet Union, not to end it.
However, economic progress came very slowly in the wake of Perestroika, and Communist Party officials
performed poorly in the parliamentary elections. In addition, the loosening of control by the Communist Party led
to increased nationalism and calls for independence in the Soviet Republics besides Russia.
Gorbachev’s use of military force in response to Lithuania’s declaration of independence in 1990 proved
unpopular. Boris Yeltsin was soon elected president of Russia, and Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of
the Communist party after a failed coup by party hardliners in 1991
Possible Reason 2: The Arms Race
Military expenditures in the former Soviet Union were a great burden on the Soviet economy, draining resources
that might otherwise have been available to improve the economic circumstances of the people. While the
Soviets’ centralized economy could provide the organization for an effective military establishment, it could not
efficiently manage the complex distribution system of a consumer-based society. The Soviet Union was a great
military power, but its people lived in disadvantaged circumstances throughout the Cold War.
Military expenditures in the United States also drained resources and talent that would otherwise have been
available to the private economy. By the 1970s, the United States, once the dominant economy in the world, had
fallen behind Japan and West Germany in the competition for high quality consumer goods. Two decades of
negative balances of trade caused the United States to become the largest debtor nation in the world. The preoccupation with the military race against the Soviet Union is, in part, the reason.
In 1987, Gorbachev realized that his nation could not compete in the arms race and signed the IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States, which banned nuclear missiles with ranges between 300 and
3400 miles.
Some historians believe that Ronald Reagan’s resumption of the arms race in the 1980s and the Soviets’ initial
attempts to keep up contributed to the economic problems that helped bring down the Soviet Union. The cost to
the United States was also high. The national debt of the United States Government increased from just under 1
trillion dollars to almost 3 trillion dollars during the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
Possible Reason 3: The Media
People living behind the Iron Curtain generally had very low standards of living in comparison to citizens of the
Western World. In Communist countries, the government-controlled media was often used for propaganda
purposes to mask this reality:
We were raised on a mountain of lies. There was a fantastical difference between the things they
told us and the things we saw. They published incredible statistics on agricultural production, and
in the shops there was nothing to eat.
–
Stefan Ghencea, Romanian Student
However, media originating in the West played a significant role in bringing down communism. Radio Free
Europe (RFE), an independent broadcast service that received funding from the CIA until 1972 and from the U.S.
Congress thereafter, broadcast their signal into Eastern Europe from headquarters in West Germany. RFE served
as a substitute for a free press, airing criticisms of communist regimes, broadcasting uncensored news, and airing
works of music and literature deemed subversive to communism. Lech Walesa said of the impact of Radio Free
Europe, “"Without Western broadcasting, totalitarian regimes would have survived much longer."
Communist governments responded to Radio Free Europe by jamming the radio signals – airing distortion and
noise on the same radio frequencies – until 1988. Gorbachev ended this practice, and communism collapsed the
next year.
Additionally, the airing of Western television programs in Eastern Europe (such as the primetime soap opera
Dallas) brought to life the contrast between the standards of living in the East and the West.
Possible Reason 4: The Power of the People
One of the first steps in the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe occurred in Poland, where Lech Walesa’s
Solidarity Labor Union won recognition from the government in 1980 by going on strike and winning the support
of millions of Polish people. While Solidarity was outlawed the next year and the Polish government declared
martial law, the Solidarity movement was an inspiration to the Polish people. A massive nationwide strike in 1988
forced the government to hold free elections in 1989 and 1990 in which the Communists were voted out of
power.
Similarly, demonstrations of over half a million people in both East Germany and Czechoslovakia in 1989
overwhelmed the desire of the Communist governments in those nations to maintain power through force.
(see diagram on next page)
Name:
Period:
1. Circle who you think was most responsible for the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet
Union and explain your answer.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Ronald Reagan
Lech Walesa
None of these individuals
2. What do you think was the most important reason for the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold
War? Why do you think so?