The Fall of the Iron Curtain: The Finale of the Cold War

Although many consider the end of the Cold War to be when the Soviet Union dissolved (perhaps for dramatic reasons), the Cold War was arguably already finished by the end of Reagan’s presidency. On December 7, 1988, Gorbachev gave a speech to the U.N. General Assembly. His speech was a huge shift in the political ideology of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev abandoned the previous psychology of setting out to spread communism and promote revolutions. He cites the reason being that previous Soviet leaders had taken such a course and only been led down a path of endless competition with the U.S., one that was not sustainable. Demonstrating his commitment towards the thawing of relations, Gorbachev voluntarily reduced both conventional weapons and military troops. The Soviet Union was not to intervene in the affairs of Eastern Europe again.

As with any success, many groups within America attempted to claim credit from the end of the Cold War. Reagan supporters and Republicans argued that Reagan’s policy of massive arms buildup in order to drain the Soviet’s economy was the absolute key to the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Some Democrats argued that the Soviet economy was already failing due to the Truman Doctrine, and Gorbachev deserved much of the credit for ending the Cold War. As always with polarizing opinions, the true answer is somewhere in between.

A series of foreign events continued to lead to the eventual breakdown of many communist governments in 1989. The Soviet Union, applying Gorbachev’s policies, had less and less influence in Eastern Europe, and also pulled out of Afghanistan in early 1989. Protests in Tiananmen Square contributed to anti-communist sentiment such as the Polish Solidarity movement as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent German reunification in the next year, marked the falling of the Iron Curtain that lasted since the end of World War II.  

Although George H. W. Bush entered the U.S. presidency essentially after the Cold War was completed, he was an important part of the full resolution of the Cold War. At the Malta Summit, Gorbachev said, “We are at the beginning of a long road to a lasting, peaceful era,” another event that some consider to be the true end of the Cold War. In the middle of 1991, a few months before the dissolution of the Soviet Union (which you can read about in Jeremy’s post), Bush and Gorbachev together signed the START I, or the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, limiting up to 1600 missiles and 6000 warheads and removed 80% of the nuclear weapons in existence at the time. The Cold War was over. 

Sources:

Reagan and Gorbachev : How the Cold War Ended by Jack F. Matlock, Jr. 

https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/start1