Quick questions on The end of the Cold War 1985 to 1991: QCE Modern History Unit 4

After detente collapsed, both sides escalated. Reagan (President 1981-1989) increased US defence spending (to about 6 percent of GDP), described the USSR as the "evil empire" (1983), and proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars", 1983) for ballistic missile defence in space. Soviet leadership was fragile (Brezhnev's death 1982, Andropov 1982-1984, Chernenko 1984-1985). The 1983 Korean Air Lines flight 007 incident (Soviet jets shot down a civilian airliner) and the Able Archer NATO exercise (November 1983, which the USSR briefly feared was a nuclear strike preparation) marked the dangerous low point.

Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931) became General Secretary of the CPSU on March 11, 1985, on the death of Chernenko. He was 54, the youngest Politburo member, and signalled reformist intentions. His diagnosis: the USSR's economic stagnation and military overstretch were unsustainable; reform was necessary to preserve the system.

Glasnost (openness). Increased freedom of expression. Censorship loosened; Soviet press began addressing previously taboo topics (Stalinist crimes, environmental disasters, economic failures). The Chernobyl disaster (April 26, 1986) accelerated glasnost: the initial Soviet cover-up was widely criticised; subsequent transparency was credited to glasnost.

Geneva Summit (November 1985). First Reagan-Gorbachev meeting. Established personal rapport.

Gorbachev announced that Eastern bloc states would be allowed to determine their own internal affairs - explicitly renouncing the Brezhnev Doctrine that had justified the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. The phrase "Sinatra Doctrine" (after "My Way") was coined by a Soviet spokesman in 1989. The signal was unambiguous: the USSR would not intervene to preserve communist regimes.

The most iconic moment of the Cold War's end. On the evening of November 9, an East German official misread a directive at a press conference and announced new travel regulations as taking effect "immediately". Berliners began crossing at checkpoints. Border guards, with no instructions to stop them, opened the gates.

The Two Plus Four Treaty (between the two German states and the four occupying powers, USA, UK, France, USSR) settled the international status of a unified Germany. East Germany joined the Federal Republic on October 3, 1990. The unified Germany remained in NATO (an outcome Gorbachev had initially resisted but eventually accepted).

Reforms had unintended consequences inside the USSR itself:

Triumphalist (US conservative, 1990s). Reagan's confrontational policy and SDI bankrupted the USSR. The end of the Cold War was an American victory.

Increased freedom of expression. Censorship loosened; Soviet press began addressing previously taboo topics (Stalinist crimes, environmental disasters, economic failures). The Chernobyl disaster (April 26, 1986) accelerated glasnost: the initial Soviet cover-up was widely criticised; subsequent transparency was credited to glasnost.

Economic reform aimed at limited market mechanisms within the planned economy. Cooperative enterprises, modest decentralisation, and incentive structures were introduced. Results were poor: half-reforms produced shortages, inflation, and declining living standards.

Limited political reforms: contested elections to the Congress of People's Deputies (1989); the Communist Party's monopoly on power formally ended (1990); Gorbachev became Soviet President (1990).

First Reagan-Gorbachev meeting. Established personal rapport.

Near-agreement on the elimination of all nuclear weapons in 10 years. Broke down over SDI. The breakdown was widely seen as a missed opportunity but established the ambition for radical disarmament.

Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Eliminated all US and Soviet ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km. The first treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. Removed Pershing II from Western Europe and SS-20s from the USSR.