...that the Cold War came to an end because of Mikhail Gorbachev’s new approach to US-Soviet relations in the mid- to late 1980s? The ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 had a strong impact on the Cold War as well as the US-Soviet relations. Gorbachev new political thinking brought about new reforms for the Soviet Union and a much less hostile approach towards the US which lead to a relaxation in the tension between the two great superpowers. It can be argued that other factors such as the pressure from the West and People Power had a much more profound effect in the Cold War and that these factors lead to the end of the war. It can be agreed that Gorbachev’s new approach towards the US had an impact on ending the Cold War up to a point but other factors mentioned previously also had a huge part to play in ending the Cold War. The emergence of Gorbachev brought a great change to the Soviet’s foreign policy both towards the US and eastern Europe. In source 1 the ascension of Gorbachev is said to be the most critical turning point in the cold war’s final phase as Gorbachev himself was a unique individual who deprived the US of the enemy they were fighting. Gorbachev saw that the Russian people could not continue living in the terrible conditions they were in due to the arms race and thus believed that concessions with the West were needed. Just like the source states these concessions changed the US-Soviet relations and eventually lead to the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev’s...
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...On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan took office as the 40th President of the United States. Previous administrations had failed to keep up with the Soviet Union in what had become the most technologically advanced arms race the world had ever seen. The destructive capabilities of both nations had grown from a reason of concern into the potential for nuclear holocaust. There were few options to ending the Cold War which was approaching 35 years in duration at the time of President Reagan’s Inauguration. It would take strong leadership and an informed vision of a peaceful future to finally bring an end to the Cold War, but this leadership and vision could not be unilateral. Upon taking office, President Reagan recognized that United States had disarmed during the 1970s while the Soviet Union had gained nuclear superiority. He took a hard line while negotiating with the Soviets (Gillon, 299). Reagan’s dramatic increase in defense spending forced the USSR to keep up. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985. Gorbachev was the first leader to have been born after the Communist Revolution and would prove to be the most progressive leader the nation had seen. With his willingness to be the catalyst for reform and eventually peace, it seemed there was finally hope for de-escalation (Britannica, 2014). In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev made speeches acknowledging that his nation’s economy had stalled and advocated sweeping reforms to...
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...usually hear casual chatter about how the day is going to be or something funny a child saw on television. Now, imagine waking up and being afraid, the same question running over and over through your head," Is my family going to perish in a nuclear explosion, are we going to war with America today?" This is what it was like for many people living in the Soviet Union, a.k.a the USSR, or present day Russia, around 1985 during the Cold War. The Cold War was a period of tension and, on many occasions, near-war conflicts mostly between the Soviet Union and the United States. It was basically started after so-called diplomatic relations between the USA and the USSR started to dissolve after World War II. The war ended in 1991,leading to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Many factors brought upon the end of the Cold War. One major thing that led to the end was the internal problems the Soviet Union was facing. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, also contributed in more ways than most to the end of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan, the American president at the time, was considered one of the greatest factors. One of the less frequently mentioned issues leading to the end was communism itself. The Cold War, by the late 1980's, had been going on for about forty years. The Soviet Union was racing against the United States to develop better weapons and more of the weapons they already had. This cost the Soviets a pretty penny. In fact, they were spending an estimated fifty percent...
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...TERM PAPER COMPARATIVE POLITICS By PRAKASH BHANDARI {SAU/IR (M)/2015/O8} Submitted to: Prof. Siddharth Mallavarapu Date of submission: 02/11/2015 Word Count: 3520 approx. (excluding bibliography) Table of contents S.No. | Title | Page no. | I. | AbstractIntroduction | 3 3 | 1. | Satyajit Ray: The Master Storyteller: | 4 | 2. | Maqbool Fida Husain | 6 | 3. | Arundhati Roy: | 8 | III. | Conclusion | 10 | Abstract: Basically, before the 20th century, the study of the politics was shaped by history, ethics, philosophy, and law, but from the late 19th century onwards, scientific approach to study politics gradually emerged. Comparative politics, in my view, do not study and analyze big issues of politics only. It also provides us the stage to study and analyze the political, social and economic situation of a particular society or state from the lens of art, literature, cinema, dramas, etc. Not only that, art and literature are the mirror of the society, so to understand particular society and political system, studying and analyzing art, literature is important. Being a student of comparative politics, here I have a good opportunity to study and compare three distinct images of a particular society. In this term paper, I am going to study three distinct pillars of Indian art and literature, which represent three different images and ideas. Satyajit Ray, MF Husain, and Arundhati Roy are an Indian film director, painter, and writer respectively...
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...What factors led to the end of the Cold War? The Cold War, which is a much discussed topic till today in the political corridors, was an extended conflict at worldwide level between two great powers, where one favored communism and the other favored capitalism (Baylis and Smith, 2007:770). It started in 1947 and ended after a long haul in 1989 and resulted in the collapse of one side, which was Soviet power in Europe. There were many factors which played role in the end of the Cold War. But the major factors were: the reforms brought about by Gorbachev, weakening economy of Soviet Union, the Satellite States refraining from supporting USSR, and various external factors. The different external factors which led to the end of the cold war were: diplomatic relations between USSR and United States, several treaties signed between them which limited the use of arms. While all the above mentioned factors were important, the leading factor contributing to the end of Cold War was the radical reforms brought by Gorbachev which made all the systemic problems turn into systemic crises. This in turn led to the unwilling initiation of the divide of the Soviet Union and as a result to the end of the Cold War (Crockatt, 2007:115). There was a difference in attitude of Gorbachev from his predecessors as he was not strongly adhered to Stalinist Legacy (Crockatt, 2006:114). The reforms brought by him such as perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) are considered as the most important...
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...Ronald Wilson Reagan was the President of the United State from 1981 to 1989. During his presidency, the Cold War was still occurring. Beginning in 1947, the Cold War was a states of political and military tension, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, a communist country. The war lasted for forty-four years, ending in 1991. President Ronald Reagan was instrumental in ending the Cold war because of his build-up of the United States military, implementation of the Reagan Doctrine and his strong diplomatic position with Mikhail Gorbachev. Early in Reagan’s Presidency, he gave a speech deeming the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and told the U.S. citizens that he would keep an aggressive campaign against communism (Cold War...
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...Essay #1 from the end of the cold war to a new global era The Cold War was a conflict between the two Superpowers of the USA and the USSR. Even though there was no direct military action between the two countries, the 'war' greatly changed the political scene of Europe and the rest of the world, This conflict resulted in turn to start a new global era where the global economy. Between 1969 to 1978 both the powers realized that such a situation could not establish peace in the world. During this period, there was a marked decline in the cold war so Many factors have contributed in ending the cold war such as Both the blocs realized that there would be no winner in a nuclear war, The break up between Russia and China further destroyed the fear of the spread of Communism, The collapse of the U.S.S.R. has further facilitated the end of the cold war after December 1991, The efforts of the former U.S. President George Bush (senior) and the former Soviet President Gorbachev proposed reduction in armaments in 1991, The rigid military alliances also showed signs of breaking down. France withdraws her troops from NATO, Pakistan went out of SEATO and In 1992 President Bush (senior) and the Russian President Boris Yeltsin formally announced that the cold war was over. In conclusion the end of the cold war led to the emergence of a unipolar world, also includes many high and low points for the two superpowers and the world as a whole, the Soviet economy faced the continuously escalating...
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...Do economic or security interests play a greater role in shaping the foreign policy of the United States? Has this changed since the end of the Cold War? Attempting to separate economic and security interests in terms of American foreign policy is no easy feat as both play, and have always played, a major role in the decisions made by the government at different times over recent years. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, security interests appear to be of the utmost importance, but prior to that, since the end of the Cold War, economic interests seemed to be the priority. Over the past seventy five years or so, the interests of the United States has fluctuated between security and economy, but all of this has relied upon the world situation at the time. For example, during the Cold War, the U.S. had the worry that they would be the target of missile attacks, making security the number one priority; as is to be expected. However, prior to this, during the depression, the economy was clearly the number one concern. In an attempt to distinguish between the two, the following essay will cover a number of separate occasions where the interests of the United States have swayed between their economy and national security, and how foreign policy was affected by this; those cases being the Great Depression, the Cold War, America’s support for Israel, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the very recent Global Financial Crisis, or GFC. With this evidence a conclusion will be made which...
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...Peace and Conflict > The Cold War 1945-1991 > Overview of US-Soviet relations and the Cold War The Cold War 1945-1991 Overview of US-Soviet relations and the Cold War David Mclean Charles Sturt University Principal Focus: Students investigate key features and issues in the history of the Cold War 1945 - 1991 Outcomes Students: H1.1 describe the role of key features, issues, individuals, groups and events of select twentieth-century studies (Extract from Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus Board of Studies NSW 2004.) Key features and issues: • origins and development of the Cold War • influence of ideologies on the Cold War • impact of crises on changing superpower relations • the arms race • reasons for the end of the Cold War This is the transcript of a talk given at a seminar co-sponsored by the History Teachers’ Association of New South Wales and the US Information Service in Sydney on 2 September 1995. From this tutorial you will learn about: • influence of ideologies that led resulted in the division of the world into two opposed camps from 1945 • emerging differences between the superpowers Contents 1. US – Soviet relations were not synonymous with the Cold War 2. Chronology of the Cold War 3. Influence of ideologies of communism and capitalism on the Cold War 4. Soviet Objectives 5. American objectives 6. The Arms Race 7. The Third World was important for the Cold War 8. Why did the Cold War not end earlier? 9. Did the United...
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...head: COLD 1 The Cold War Corwin Schneider HIS 104 Professor Patrick Williams June 19, 2012 COLD 2 The Cold War Keep your Finger Off the Button! The Cold War, how did these two countries get to this point in history? While the United States and USSR should have been more grown up and learned to work out their problems, who were the major players in the Cold War and how were the two sides involved in the space race, when did the Cold War start and end, and what were the two sides arguing over. The United States was in an intense war with the USSR for five decades. It started in 1945, shortly after Communist Leader Joseph Stalin learned of the first atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Japan August 6, 1945. “The Cold War was a strategic struggle that developed after World War II between the United States with its allies and the Soviet Union with its allies” (Bentley, J., Ziegler, H., & Streets, H. 2008 pg. 638). But, this was not an ordinary war between the two, it was a Cold War. It had more attacks of words and propaganda competing which was the better country. One reason these two superpowers never had direct military action against each other was they both possessed Nuclear Weapons. The major powers in the Cold War between...
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...The Cold War Celena Daley Kaplan University SS211: Prof. Jennifer Schmidt 03/12/2016 The Cold War began as a result of a dispute between The United States of America and The Soviet Union. Although the war was never “officially” declared, it began somewhere around 1947 and ended roughly around 1991. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars. The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945. Throughout this period, the rivalry between the two superpowers unfolded in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; sports; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars. There was never a direct military engagement between the US and the Soviet Union, but there was half a century of military buildup as well as political battles for support around the world, including significant involvement of allied and satellite nations in proxy wars. Although the US and the Soviet Union had been allied against Nazi Germany, the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even before the end of World War II. Over the following decades, the Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the US sought the "containment" of communism and forged numerous alliances...
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...------------------------------------------------- THE NEW WORLD ORDER Terms by George Bush Senior Can be generally divided into three stages of transformation: * From the end of the Cold War until 9/11 * From 9/11 until the Global Financial Crisis * From the GFC to present day ------------------------------------------------- From the Cold War until 9/11 * Period from 1989 until 2011 * After a stagnant period, the 1990s turned into a decade of economic growth * Globalization saw a technological revolution * Number of states increased at the UN 1989: End of power politics * End of Bipolarity – The Cold War was marked as an era of bipolarity in which the US-inspired capitalist system ‘played off’ against the Soviet-inspired ‘state socialism’. * NATO vs WARSAW PACT; US dollar system played off by COMECON * Move towards Perestroika effectively killed off competition – leading to a reduction of ideological contestation End of Ideology/ Victory of Capitalism? * Belief that capitalism ‘triumphed’ over socialism – greater expansion of capitalist norms. * TINA syndrome. With the exception of a few ‘rogue’ states, most have realized its best to ‘play’ the game and embraced market values. * Led to: * 1. The ‘Retreat of the State’ argument * 2. The ‘End of History thesis’ Post-Cold War Triumphantism * Led to the liberalization moves in the 1990s and the renewal of International Organizations * Increase in collective forms of Security ...
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...Cause and Effect of War American Intercontinental University Abstract The following paper will look at a couple of major consequences the cold war had on the United States as a society. The paper will also go into the way the cold war affected the American population as a whole. The paper will also look at the reason the war could have been beneficial or detrimental on the United States. Cause and Effect of War The cold war took place during the mid-40’s and on into the late 80’s. The cold war got its name cold war due to the fact that there was not an active war at all. The cold war later on would cause other hot conflicts or active wars to arise in different parts of the world it led to destructive conflicts like the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The inactivity of the cold was partially due to the fact that the weaponry was stronger than ever, the world had been introduced to nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons if set off could literally destroy the world. This was something on everyone’s mind. The cold war was a long period of tension and hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war was a conflict that began at the end of the second world war by the two dominant powers or the superpowers left from the aftermath of world war one. The United States and the Soviet Union both had their views; the Soviet Union advocated communism and most Americans wanted freedom or Democratic society. The Soviet Union wanted to spread it’s ideology of communism...
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...In the book The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy, Hoffman focuses on the arms race during the Cold War, and the events that led up to finally bringing it to an end. Hoffman’s book also goes into detail about the secret decisions and motives the United States and the Soviet Union had during the Cold War. Hoffman also draws in top secret documents deep within Kremlin, interviews, and memoirs from both the Soviet Union and the United States, which he introduces the soldiers, scientist, diplomats, and spies all witnessed the world going towards what was thought as a complete disaster. From this, the author draws in the official leaders and their influence in the Cold War during that time, telling stories of President Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, and others who fought to bring the arms race and the Cold War to an end. The author’s purpose for writing this book was that he wanted to deliver a narrative how the arms race during the Cold War officially came to an end, along with explaining the...
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...James Bennett Professor George J. Prokopiak HIS-114-OL010 Written Assignment 5 16 February 2015 Vietnam War and a New World Order with the End of Cold War Written Assignment 5 Question #1: As far as Vietnam is concerned, how did President Johnson "Americanize" the war? What was Nixon's policy of Vietnamization? Was anything achieved at the peace talks? What are the legacies of the Vietnam defeat? President Johnson “Americanized” the Vietnam War by many different avenues of approach taking a more aggressive posture. The president first started by supplying the South Vietnamese army with American military and economic assistance (Roark, 976-981). He significantly increased the American troop presence from 16,000 in 1964 to over 553,000 by 1969 displaying a much larger American presence (Roark, 976-981). America had stepped up bombing throughout Vietnam and neighboring countries (Roark, 976-981). In hopes of getting the backing of the American people and government, he strategically thought out who and where the bombs would be dropped (Roark, p. 980-981). He did not bomb near the northern border of Vietnam (Roark, p. 980-981). President Johnson did not want to provoke China or the Soviet Union into the war (Roark, p. 980-981). He did not want to make the same mistakes as Korea with the Chinese. He also thought about collateral damage. He tried to focus the bombings to low populated areas to minimize civilian casualties (Roark, p. 980-981). The bombing campaign was known...
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