1 Why did the Cold War end?

The end of the Cold War is undoubtedly the most consequential event in recent times. Forty-four years of bipolar world order governed by two super powers, The United States, and the Soviet Union. By definition, the Cold War was an intellectual battle between capitalism and communism. The hostility between two superpowers was characterized by an English writer George Orwell as a nuclear stalemate between 'Super States', each possessing weapons of mass destruction and could annihilate the other. The following essay will discuss the fundamental causes and events that contributed to the demise of Soviet Union, hence ending the Cold War.

Rooted in the ashes of Second World War diplomatic ties between old allies, USA, UK and USSR began to get sour. America feared Soviet dissolution of democratic and capitalist institutions, and the Soviet Union feared the US would use its money and power to rule Europe and ultimately overthrow the Soviet regime. The Truman Doctrine of 1947, which was supported by The United States, as a containment policy, encircled the Iron Curtain. The living standards of soviet citizens further deteriorated, due mainly to shortages of food and consumer goods. The more economically stable USA in 1948 under the 'Marshall plan' aided economic resources to western Europe which led to swift development of the western bloc in no time. With the establishment of 'NATO' in 1949, which was a security alliance of 30 countries, whose foundational purpose was to protect freedom and provide security to the allies by political and military means. It was the principal security instrument to safeguard western democratic values and furthered the US goals of freedom and peace in the western bloc. With west developing swiftly, Stalin feared communism will loose and an economic battle erupted, as Stalin came up with his own recovery policy 'COMECON', which was a failure.

The USSR established its own nuclear power in 1949, and the ideological struggle switched from direct conflict potentials to multiple proxy wars across the globe. Both the superpowers now completely, economically and militarily, funded these conflicts. The 1950 Korean war, the middle east cold war, conflict between Somalia and ethopia,1973 Isreal-Arab war and the US fighting communism Nicaragua. During this high military spending by USSR its counterpart USA invested in research and development, technological advancements as well as social and cultural reforms. USA ended Mccarthyism and created an advanced Espionage technology. USSR on the other hand drained its economy on making missiles, funding spy operations, and even paid members of Manhattan project hefty amounts in attaining missile technology.

In the 1960s, extreme cultural tensions, assassinations and nuclear apocalypse were at their peak. Berlin City was the highlight of economic rivalry. People from the East were able to travel openly to the west, and many people decided to remain there to avoid the rough communist life. By August 1961, under Nikita Khrushchev's regime, the town of Berlin was split by the famous Berlin Wall. The wall showed insecurity among communists, fear and failures, families were set apart, and hundreds died crossing the wall. Kenneddy said, "Democracy is not perfect but we never had to put a wall to keep are people in." After Cuban missile crisis (1962), series of treaties were signed for limited display of power between both nuclear giants and adapted to a policy of Détente, Doctrine of MAD (1963) and later Salt treaties (1972).

The confrontation between USA and USSR arises out of the ideological, economic and political conflict, where both the world powers were committed for relative gains. The successive American political leadership referred Soviet Union as evil as during his speech in 1983, Ronald Reagan referred Soviet Union as an 'Evil Empire'. The Soviet Union was viewed as expansionist state forcing communism in the newly liberated countries and a threat to the liberal countries The downfall of USSR was contributed by a combination of factors; political and economic inefficiency that curbed its growth compare to the western world. Soviets over- invested in weapons and there was corrupted bureaucracy all over the eastern bloc. This atmosphere of arms race in eastern bloc decreased livelihood rate. Services and public sector such as education, healthcare were largely overlooked.

Soviets were unable to work on their IT industry timely. In comparison, the USA had revolutionized the computer system and mass media. It was falling behind in modern technology and its industrial production decreased. Its factories were outdated economic efficiency was evident. Majority of working farmers lived below the poverty line and they used to import grain from North America. Workers did not have motivation to produce quality goods and work harder. The inefficient check and balance by the state hampered the labor morale due to persistent alcohol consumption. Also, Eastern social theory infiltrated the superior Western paradigm of economics and politics.

USSR back in eastern bloc kept brutally suppressing further reforms such as Prague spring and polish crisis. () The worst decision and lesson learned was when the USSR invaded Afghanistan to check the U.S backed Islamic insurgency during 1978-89, which like the Vietnam crisis, permanently weakened the USSR and later on contributed to its downfall. During this time, US President Ronald Reagan came in with guns blazing at the Soviet Union, as his declaration in the UN Security Council that the Soviet Union was "the focus of evil in the modern world" further heightened tensions in the 1980s. The US dominated the media that defamed the USSR around the world. He went on further funding arms race, space race and technological advancements in computing and laser technology.

During this time the incumbent Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sought to reverse the socio-political and economic failure by implementing reforms. 'GLASNOST (openness), 'PERESTROIKA' (Restructuring), freedom of the press, Transparency of the government, loosen grip on the economy and introduces elements of democracy. The Constructive dialogue opened as a result of the INF Treaty (1987), which saw the removal of all intermediate missiles and was a significant move towards world peace. Military and war expenses became a permanent dent, and the collapsing economy appeared difficult to reverse, and in 1989 the 'iron curtain' fell with the fall of the Berlin wall. 1989 elections brought Boris Yeltsin as the president of Russia and the Ukrainian and Belarusian agreement led to the USSR dissolution on 26th December 1991.

Decades of tension and the threat of nuclear war came to an end and democratic forms of governments were established in many old Soviet republics. The world now transitioned to a unipolar system and new World Order. The cold war, failure of communism and demise of Soviet Union gave lessons to the world of contemporary global politics. One of the lessons was talking to the adversaries, which throughout the cold war USA did and tries to establish a more calm and harmonious diplomatic ties. The clash of ideologies and egos led to a global suffering where third world was affected so bad that it still couldn't rise. Priorities have not been set and revitalizing own society is lacking because the world still does not adhere to its values. "Healthy societies respect dignity of individuals, seek justice and equality as well as freedom. Such societies diffuse foes, win converts and empower their own citizens and therein not only individual security, but also national security," – Melvyn leffler.