The Cold War which was started by communists

Cold War

The Cold War which was started by communists with the intention of spreading the ideology to the entire world came to an end with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is still a heated debate on who is specifically responsible for bringing the Cold War to an end. But among the people who contributed included Ronald Reagan, the then US president at the time when the war ended. The arguments that proposed that Reagan won the war are based on two mind sets. Liberals believe that it is because of massive disarmament that occurred during Reagan’s tenure contributing to the Soviet Union backing down from the war. However the conservatives argue that there was a hostile build up of arms such that the Soviet Union could not match up with the US. This eventually led to their yielding.

Both Reagan and his Russian counterpart Gorbachev were known to be silent nuclear abolitionists who both contributed to the end of the Cold War. During his first term in office, Reagan was involved in massive nuclear build up that created tension in the camp of the Soviet Union. The budget on military and nuclear arms buildup was very high giving implications of the magnitude of arms America was building. In response to this, Gorbachev had to give Reagan a disarmament plan to reduce America’s nuclear arm by 50 percent not unless Russia will fully get into the second phase of this nuclear arm race and build weapons beyond their capability.

In the third year of his first term in office, Reagan had already spent approximately a trillion dollars in building up missile and a nuclear missile defense system. He was very stern about the idea of bringing down communism. This created a strong wave of new threats among the soviets and could possibly have been the introduction of the second phase of the arms race.

In 1985, Reagan and his Russian counterpart Gorbachev met face to face at a forum in Geneva. As Gorbachev describes, there was a something that went on between the two leaders. They both felt the need to compromise even though America had already caused shivers in the Soviets. Losing the hard stands was the way to go since it became obvious that no one could actually win the arms race. The more they build more powerful and dangerous weapons, the more risks were involved. Mistakes could easily happen as well like in the case of Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The power plant was directly managed by Moscow and this disaster created a situation of distrust in the nuclear plans conducted by Moscow.

The Strategic defense initiative was also a big contributor to the fears of the Soviets. They did not have a defense program and this created fear among them. As a result they ventured into too much unnecessary spending into military power at the expense of their domestic economic growth. Their economy deteriorated adversely by the 1985.

During Reagan’s second term in office, he changed his stand on the issue of arms race. After meeting Gorbachev at a forum of world rich nations, the two obviously did not like each other but there was a feeling that the competition for arms should end. This is where liberals describe Reagan as a silent abolisher of nuclear weapons. He began compromising his positions and even thinking of negotiations with the enemy. Some people criticized this move but he was committed to ensure the war comes to an end.

The poor economic status of the Soviet Union led to the restructuring plans by Gorbachev to restore the economy. The main reason why their economy was in a bad state was the actions that Reagan began during his first term in office. The huge spending on military buildup and the strategic defense initiative caused the Soviet Union to respond by heavy spending on military force. But the spending was unnecessary. This was discovered by the Gorbachev when he assumed office in 1985. He decided to focus on saving the economy and offered Reagan and disarmament plan since none of them would really win the war if they were to use the weapons that they build.

The doves made many assumptions with reference to the war. They were mainly appeasers of the communism. The main reason for this was the fact that they were against the war. Their assumptions were a misunderstanding of the communism. For instance when President Reagan referred to communism as evil, the appeasers respond by terming these comments as outrageous and sectarian.

The speech that he gave at the Berlin wall was an iconic part of his presidential and career life. During this speech he openly called for peace between himself and Gorbachev. This was a call for the prosperity in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. It was for the sake of liberation of this region. This is when the war began to cease gradually although in some quarters, the comments by Reagan were considered highly provocative and war mongering. What followed then was a disarmament agreement between Reagan and Gorbachev. They both agreed to stopped the competition and reduce their nuclear weapon by 50 percent. Out of this argument, it can be concluded that both policies that Reagan had during his first and second terms in office contributed to the end of Cold War.

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