Reasons why the Cold War ended

Question 1

Reasons why the Cold War ended
Introduction

Answer 1

• BK: In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the youngest ever leader of the USSR at the age of 54, he was the first USSR leader who had no experience of fighting in either of the world wars.
• BK: To try and fix the economic stagnation in the USSR caused by the Cold War and the regime’s structure, he implemented reforms and tried to cultivate a positive relationship with the USA, to end the Cold War.
• Factors: Role of Gorbachev, USSR defeat in Afghanistan, Failure of Communism in Eastern Europe, East and West economic differences, (role of Reagan)
• LOA: Gorbachev more important

Question 2

Reasons why the Cold War ended
Gorbachev

Answer 2

• KU: Glasnost aimed to make the USSR more open and honest when discussing politics, USSR politicians and the public would have freedom of speech, corruption would be eliminated.
• KU: Perestroika required military spending to be cut and therefore the arms race to come to an end, and that more small businesses were necessary to grow the USSR economy.
• A: USSR moving away from communist model, undermined whole purpose of the Cold War being Capitalist USA against Communist USSR, allowing it to come to an end
• A+: decisions Gorbachev made were not his own choices, he may have been forced by economic and other issues, lessening his role in the end of the Cold War
• E: changes to the economic and political system in the USSR fundamentally changed the nature of the Soviet union, bringing the Cold War to an inevitable end.

Question 3

Reasons why the Cold War ended
USSR defeat in Afghanistan

Answer 3

• KU: USSR army got involved in 1979 to help the pro-soviet regime in Afghanistan fight a rebel group called the Mujaheddin, ending the detente period between the USA and the USSR.
• KU: Mujaheddin used guerilla tactics, and some of their weapons and training was secretly supplied by the USA. Gorbachev withdrew in 1989, as no chance of a USSR victory
• A: USSR realised that if they couldn’t beat an inferior enemy such as the Mujaheddin, they had no chance at beating the USA,
• A+: only 1% of the USSR economy was dependent on trade with the USA, so the detente period ending shouldn’t have impacted the USSR economy enough to end the Cold War
• E: USSR was still a military superpower with mutually assured destruction after the Afghanistan defeat, but Gorbachev’s changes to the USSR changed this by his military spending cuts, causing the Cold War to end

Question 4

Reasons why the Cold War ended
Failure of Communism in Eastern Europe

Answer 4

• KU: Poland, a trade union called Solidarity was formed. The union was suppressed by the USSR until 1988 when it was able to form an anti-communist coalition government and eventually free Poland from soviet control. Hungary also became a democracy after a revolt in 1956.
• KU: border to Austria opened in 1989, allowing many people to leave the ‘Eastern Bloc’, including East Germany, Berlin wall was ineffective. It was brought down in November 1989
• A: USSR lost all of the vital people and resources that the eastern bloc had, and couldn’t fight the US
• A+: USSR still had many of its own natural resources and was able to save money that was previously spent in Eastern Europe
• E: the only reason communism was allowed to end in Poland was because of Gorbachev’s leadership. If some other person had been leading the USSR, they may have suppressed Solidarity and not allowed Communism to end

Question 5

Reasons why the Cold War ended
East and West Economic Differences

Answer 5

• KU: In the 1980s, the economy of the Western world was much stronger than in the USSR. For example, in 1989 the GDP of the USA was $21,082 per capita whereas for the USSR it was only $9211 and people in the USSR had a much poorer standard of living.
• KU: After a recession in the US from 1980-82, the economy started to grow at an incredible rate. Unemployment fell, and the car industry which lost $187 million in 1982 had $1.2 billion in profits in 1983
• A: US’ huge economic growth allowed them to fund military projects such as the Star Wars program which the USSR couldn’t win a war against
• A+: USSR still put 50% of its spending towards its military, so they shouldn’t have had to end the Cold War
• E: people living in the Eastern Bloc did protest the difference in living standards between the East and the West, any other Soviet leader would have stopped this. It was in fact Gorbachev’s leadership that allowed the protests to continue, eventually ending the Cold War

Question 6

Reasons why the Cold War ended
(Extra) Reagan

Answer 6

• KU: Reagan, the 40th US president, was extremely anti-communist, even calling the USSR an ‘evil empire’ in 1983. He took military action such as the Star Wars program which would use space lasers to take out USSR nuclear weapons, challenging the idea of mutually assured destruction.
• KU: Gorbachev and Reagan met multiple times in the 1980s, they agreed to abolish all nuclear weapons in 1986 and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed in 1887 to remove one type of nuclear weapon.
• A: if Star Wars was effective, the USSR would have no chance of winning a war against the USA, forcing them to make peace.
• A+: many scientists publicly said that the scheme was far-fetched and not possible, the USSR shouldn’t have had to seek peace due to an untrue military program.
• E: there were still tensions between Reagan and the USSR, for example, in 1987 Reagan wanted to bring down the Berlin wall which was a symbol of communist control.

Question 7

Reasons why the Cold War ended
Conclusion

Answer 7

• OJ:
• RJ:
• RJ: