Why The United States Won The Cold War?

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The Cold War lasted from 1947 to 1991. It was a time of tension and competition between the two superpowers of the world, The Soviet Union and The United States. The Cold War followed the end of World War II and carried through The Presidency of Ronald Reagan and eventually ended in 1991. The Cold War was called the Cold War because it never heated up into actual armed combat rather it was a competition between the powers on who could gain more military power, who could claim the land first and who could infiltrate the opposing side. There were instances where The Soviet Union and The United States did cross paths and meet. Planes flew over the Soviet Union in order to find information in order to make sure the United States were ahead in the …show more content…
The policies that he made weren’t the primary reason on why we won the Cold War nor does it prove that Reagan won the Cold War. “The United States and the Soviet Union each controlled opposing military and political alliances.” (Gale) The United States and the Soviet Union having controlling opposing powers that were competing with each other didn’t have to do with Reagan or his policies. Also, “ Both factions depended on a combination of military and economic power.” (Gale) they didn’t depend on Reagan and his policies. If is policies were rational and made more of an impact the factions would depend on him as well as the military and the economic power that both superpowers had. “Each side tried exhaustively to promote their values. Finally, the United States and the Soviet Union battled for spheres of influence throughout the Third World.” (Gale) In the Gale article it shows how the competition between the United States and Soviet Union didn’t have any relation from Reagan’s policies and how the reason the United States thrived and won and the Soviet Union fell was a problem internally in the structure of the actual power rather than a policy that Reagan created that would help the victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold …show more content…
His rise to power had nothing to do with the hostile behavior of the Reagan Administration it just had to do with his successors. If Reagan did have something to do with Gorbachev there might have been no progress in easing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union which would have just prolonged the war and nothing progressive would have come from it. “Only Gorbachev’s premature ascension to power and extraordinary departure from prior Soviet leadership patterns allowed for the stunning breakthroughs of the late 1980s.” (Weller) Also, “Gorbachev’s ideas, including his belief in the need to fundamentally reform the Soviet economy and to pull the superpowers away from the nuclear brink were not influenced by Reagan’s stridency. Instead, it is clear that Gorbachev and his key ideological ally, Alexander Yakovlev, had recognized the fundamental weaknesses in the Soviet system years before Gorbachev came to power” (Weller) What happened before Reagan was president so he couldn't have made a difference and he didn’t do anything. Finally, “ Gorbachev’s political mentor, the former KGB head Yuri Andropov, who was acutely aware of the bottlenecks, breakdowns and discontent in the Soviet system, also influenced Gorbachev’s understanding of the need for significant internal change.” (Weller) These factors led to the implosion of the Soviet Union

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