Cold War (1985–1991)
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The time period of around 1985–1991 marked the final period of the Cold War. It was characterized by systemic reform within the Soviet Union, the easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet-led bloc and the United States-led bloc, the collapse of the Soviet Union's influence in Eastern Europe, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The beginning of this period is marked by the ascent of Mikhail Gorbachev to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Seeking to bring an end to the economic stagnation associated with the Brezhnev Era, Gorbachev initiated economic reforms (perestroika), and political liberalization (glasnost). While the exact end date of the Cold War is debated among historians, it is generally agreed upon that the implementation of nuclear and conventional arms control agreements, the withdrawal of Soviet military forces from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the Soviet Union marked the end of the Cold War.
Thaw in relations
After the deaths of three successive elderly Soviet leaders since 1982, the Soviet
On the Western front, President Reagan's administration had taken a hard line against the Soviet Union. Under the
and elsewhere.A major breakthrough came in 1985–87, with the successful negotiation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The INF Treaty of December 1987, signed by Reagan and Gorbachev, eliminated all nuclear and conventional missiles, as well as their launchers, with ranges of 500–1,000 kilometres (310–620 mi) (short-range) and 1,000–5,500 kilometres (620–3,420 mi) (intermediate-range). The treaty did not cover sea-launched missiles. By May 1991, after on-site investigations by both sides, 2,700 missiles had been destroyed.[1][2]
The Reagan administration also persuaded the Saudi Arabian oil companies to increase oil production.[3] This led to a three-times drop in the prices of oil, and oil was the main source of Soviet export revenues.[3] Following the USSR's previous large military buildup, President Reagan ordered an enormous peacetime defense buildup of the United States Armed Forces; the Soviets did not respond to this by building up their military because the military expenses, in combination with collectivized agriculture in the nation, and inefficient planned manufacturing, would cause a heavy burden for the Soviet economy. It was already stagnant and in a poor state prior to the tenure of Mikhail Gorbachev who, despite significant attempts at reform, was unable to revitalise the economy.[4] In 1985, Reagan and Gorbachev held their first of four "summit" meetings, this one in Geneva, Switzerland. After discussing policy, facts, etc., Reagan invited Gorbachev to go with him to a small house near the beach. The two leaders spoke in that house well over their time limit, but came out with the news that they had planned two more (soon three more) summits.
The second summit took place the following year, in 1986 on October 11, in Reykjavík, Iceland. The meeting was held to pursue discussions about scaling back their intermediate-range ballistic missile arsenals in Europe. The talks came close to achieving an overall breakthrough on nuclear arms control, but ended in failure due to Reagan's proposed Strategic Defense Initiative and Gorbachev's proposed cancellation of it. Nonetheless, cooperation continued to increase and, where it failed, Gorbachev reduced some strategic arms unilaterally.
Fundamental to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Gorbachev policy initiatives of Restructuring (Perestroika) and Openness (Glasnost) had ripple effects throughout the Soviet world, including eventually making it impossible to reassert central control over Warsaw Pact member states without resorting to military force.
On June 12, 1987, Reagan
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union, Central and South-East Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate; Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall![5]
While the aging communist European leaders kept their states in the grip of "normalization", Gorbachev's reformist policies in the Soviet Union exposed how a once revolutionary
Revolt spreads through Communist Europe
Grassroots organizations, such as
The initially inconspicuous opening of a border gate of the
Also in 1989 the Communist government in
The collapse of the Eastern European governments with Gorbachev's tacit consent inadvertently encouraged several Soviet republics to seek greater independence from Moscow's rule. Agitation for independence in the Baltic states led to first Lithuania, and then Estonia and Latvia, declaring their independence. Disaffection in the other republics was met by promises of greater decentralization. More open elections led to the election of candidates opposed to Communist Party rule.
In an attempt to halt the rapid changes to the system, a group of Soviet hard-liners represented by Vice-president
End of the Cold War
After the end of the Revolutions of 1989, Gorbachev and President Bush Sr. met on the neutral island of Malta to discuss the events of the year, the withdrawal of the Soviet military from Eastern Europe, and the future course of their relationship. After their discussions, the two leaders publicly announced they would work together for German reunification, the normalization of relations, the resolution of Third World conflicts, and the promotion of peace and democracy (referred to by President Bush as a "New World Order").[12]
Between the Malta Summit and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union negotiations on several arms control agreements began, resulting in agreements such as START I and the Chemical Weapons Convention. Additionally, the United States, still believing the Soviet Union would continue to exist in the long term, began to take steps to create a positive long-term relationship.[13]
This new relationship was demonstrated by the joint American-Soviet opposition to
Several conflicts in third world nations (i.e. Cambodia, Angola, Nicaragua) related to the Cold War would come to an end during this era of cooperation, with both the Soviet Union and the United States working together to pressure their respective proxies to make peace with one another. Overall, this détente which accompanied the final twilight of the Cold War would help bring about a relatively more peaceful world.[15]
As a consequence of the Revolutions of 1989 and the adoption of a foreign policy based on non-interference by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved and Soviet troops began withdrawing back to the Soviet Union, completing their withdrawal by the mid-1990s.[16][17]
The United States had established a complex global presence by the 1990s and policymakers felt that some structure to explain the "threats, interests and priories" that guide foreign policy was needed, but there was no agreement how to proceed. Anthony Lake has said that attempts at doctrine making during this period risked introducing "neo-know-nothing" isolationism or what he termed "irrational" ideas. The goal then of Bush Sr. and Clinton during their terms in office was to develop foreign policy objectives that would support consensus rather than accelerate fragmentation inside America's sphere of influence.[18]
Causes
Scholars have pointed to materialist and ideational reasons for the end of the Cold War. Materialists emphasize Soviet economic difficulties (such as economic stagnation and sovereign debt),[19] whereas ideationalists argue that the worldviews and personas of Gorbachev and Reagan mattered. Ideationalists point to a Gorbachev and Reagan's mutual desire to abolish nuclear weapons,[20] as well as Gorbachev's perceptions of the legitimate ends and means of foreign policy.[21]
Legacy
Countries such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia experienced
The post–Cold War era saw a period of unprecedented prosperity in the West, especially in the United States, and a wave of democratization throughout Latin America, Africa, and Central, South-East and Eastern Europe.
Sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein expresses a less triumphalist view, arguing that the end of the Cold War is a prelude to the breakdown of Pax Americana. In his essay "Pax Americana is Over", Wallerstein argues, "The collapse of communism in effect signified the collapse of liberalism, removing the only ideological justification behind US hegemony, a justification tacitly supported by liberalism's ostensible ideological opponent".[22]
1985
- January 20, 1985 – Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term as President of the United States.
- March 10, 1985 – General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Konstantin Chernenko dies.
- March 11, 1985 – Soviet Politburo member Mikhail Gorbachevbecomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party.
- March 24, 1985 – Major Military Intelligence officer is shot to death by a Soviet sentry in East Germany. He is listed as the last US casualty in the Cold War.
1986
- February 22–25, 1986 – People Power Revolution successfully overthrows Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.
- April 26, 1986 – The Chernobyl Disaster.
1987
- January 1987 – Gorbachev introduces the policy of demokratizatsiyain the Soviet Union.
- January 27, 1987 – The United States recognizes the independence of Mongolia and establishes diplomatic relations.[23]
- March 4, 1987 – In a televised address, Reagan takes full responsibility for the Iran–Contra affair.
- June 12, 1987 – "Tear down this wall" speech by Reagan in West Berlin.
- June 29, 1987 – June Struggle in South Korea.
- July 15, 1987 – The Republic of China ends 38 years of martial law.
- November 15, 1987 – Brașov rebellion in Romania.
- December 8, 1987 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C.
1988
- February 12, 1988 – Hostile rendezvous off coast of
- February 20, 1988 – The regional soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan decides to be part of Armenia, but the Kremlin refuses to do it.[25] The subsequent First Nagorno-Karabakh War would be the first of the internal conflicts in the Soviet Union that would become the post-Soviet separatist conflicts.
- August 8, 1988 – Burma.
- August 17, 1988 – Pakistani president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq dies.
- August 20, 1988 – End of Iran–Iraq War.
- September 17, 1988 – Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea; first time since 1976 that both Soviet Union and the United States participate; it is also the last Olympic Games for the Soviet Union and its satellite states.
- October 5, 1988 – Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is defeated in a nationwide referendum.
- December 21, 1988 – Pan Am Flight 103 bombing.
1989
- January 7, 1989 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito dies, he was succeeded by his son Akihito.
- January 20, 1989 – George H. W. Bush becomes president of the United States.
- February 1989 – End of Soviet–Afghan War; continuation of internal conflict without Soviet troops.
- June 3, 1989 – Ayatollah Khomeinidies.
- June 4, 1989 – People's Republic of China.
- June 4, 1989 – Solidarity's decisive victory in the first partially free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of anti-communist Revolutions of 1989 across Central, later South-East and Eastern Europe.
- August 14, 1989 – Tripartite Accord.
- August 19, 1989 – The opening of the border gate between Austria and Hungary at the GDR and the Eastern Blochad disintegrated.
- August 23, 1989 – Hitler-Stalin Pact.
- August 24, 1989 – Communist bloc.
- October 23, 1989 – End of Communism in Hungary.
- November 9, 1989 – Fall of the Berlin Wall.
- November 24, 1989 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia leaders resign during the Velvet Revolution, effectively ending one-party rule in that country.
- December 2–3, 1989 – Malta Summit between Bush and Gorbachev, who said, "I assured the President of the United States that I will never start a hot war against the USA".
- December 10, 1989 – Czechoslovak President Gustáv Husák's resignation amounted to the fall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, leaving Ceaușescu's Romania as the only remaining hard-line Communist regime in the Warsaw Pact.[26][27][28]
- December 25, 1989 – Execution of Romanian Revolution against Communist Partyrule.
- December 29, 1989 – Václav Havel assumes the presidency of Czechoslovakia at the conclusion of Velvet Revolution.
- December 30, 1989 – The Securitate, the secret police of Romania, is dissolved.
1990
- January 13, 1990 – The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is dissolved.
- January 22, 1990 – the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the ruling party of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is dissolved during its congress, ending the one party system in the country.
- February 1, 1990 – StB, the secret police of Czechoslovakia is dissolved.
- March 15, 1990 – Inauguration of Gorbachev as the first President of the Soviet Union.
- April 12, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Slovenia within Yugoslavia holds its first multi-party elections.
- April 22–23 and May 6–7, 1990 – the Socialist Republic of Croatia within Yugoslavia holds its first multi-party elections.
- April 25, 1990 – Sandinista rule and the Contrasinsurgency.
- May 22, 1990 – South and North Yemens are unified.
- June 8, 1990 – the Message from Turnberry, described as the "first official recognition of the end of the Cold War", is issued.
- July 5–6, 1990 – NATO holds its 11th summit in London.
- July 13, 1990 – The 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union announces the end of its monopoly of power.
- August 2, 1990 – Beginning of Gulf War.
- September 9, 1990 – Helsinki Summit between Bush and Gorbachev.
- September 12, 1990 – The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany is signed in Moscow.
- October 3, 1990 – Official reunification of Germany.
- November 6, 1990 – Soviet Bloc country to join the Council of Europe.
- November 11, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia holds its first multi-party elections.
- November 18, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Yugoslavia holds its first multiparty elections.
- November 19, 1990 – NATO and Warsaw Pact sign the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
- November 28, 1990 – UK Prime Minister; John Majortakes office.
- December 9, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Montenegro within Yugoslavia holds its first multi-party elections.
- December 9–23, 1990 – The Socialist Republic of Serbia within Yugoslavia holds its first multi-party elections.
- December 22, 1990 – Lech Wałęsa becomes president of Poland; Polish government-in-exile ends.
- December 23, 1990 – Slovenia holds an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Slovenians voting in favour of Slovenia seeking independence from Yugoslavia.
1991
- January 1991 – Money transfers from the Velvet Divorce.
- February 28, 1991 – End of Gulf War.
- March 3, 1991 – Estonia and Latvia hold an independence referendum with a majority voting to restore independence.
- March 31, 1991 – Georgia holds an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Georgians voting in favour of Georgia becoming independent from the Soviet Union.
- May 1, 1991 – The Republic of China abolishes the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion which was in place during the Chinese Civil War.
- May 19, 1991 – Croatia holds an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Croatians voting in favour of Croatia seeking independence from Yugoslavia.
- May 24, 1991 – End of Eritrean War of Independence in Ethiopia.
- June 27, 1991 – Beginning of the Yugoslav Wars in Slovenia.
- June 28, 1991 – Comecon is dissolved.
- July 1, 1991 – The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
- July 10, 1991 – Russia.
- July 31, 1991 – Ratification of START I treaty between United States and the Soviet Union.
- August 19, 1991 – Start of the Soviet Union coup d'état attempt.
- August 21, 1991 – The Soviet Union coup d'état is dissolved.
- August 24, 1991 – Gorbachev resigns from the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- September 6, 1991 – The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic States.
- September 8, 1991 – The Republic of Macedonia holds an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Macedonians voting in favour of Macedonia seeking independence from Yugoslavia.
- September 21, 1991 – Armenia holds an independence referendum resulting in a majority of Armenians voting in favour of Armenia becoming independent from the Soviet Union.
- October 26, 1991 – Turkmenistan holds an independence referendum resulting in a majority of voting in favour of Turkmenistan becoming independent of the Soviet Union.
- November 6, 1991 – The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet KGB are dissolved.
- November 7–8, 1991 – NATO holds its 12th summit in Rome.
- December 8, 1991 – The Belavezha Accords are signed by the leaders of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, sealing the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of the CIS.
- December 24, 1991 – Gorbachev resigns as Moscow Kremlin, and in its place the flag of the Russian Federationis raised.
- December 25, 1991 – The Supreme Soviet dissolves the Soviet Union.
See also
- History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)
- History of the United States (1980–1991)
- Post-Communism
- Reagan Doctrine
- Solidarity
- Timeline of events in the Cold War
Footnotes
- ^ Lynn E. Davis, "Lessons of the INF Treaty." Foreign Affairs 66.4 (1988): 720–734. in JSTOR
- ISBN 978-1-4522-3532-5.
- ^ a b Gaidar, Yegor. "Public Expectations and Trust towards the Government: Post-Revolution Stabilization and its Discontents". Retrieved 2008-03-15.
- ISBN 978-5-8243-0759-7.
- ^ "Reagan's 'tear down this wall' speech turns 20". USA Today. 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
- ^ Leebaert, Derek (2002). The Fifty-Year Wound. New York, USA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 595.
- ^ Michael Frank: Paneuropäisches Picknick – Mit dem Picknickkorb in die Freiheit (German: Pan-European picnic - With the picnic basket to freedom), in: Süddeutsche Zeitung 17 May 2010.
- ^ Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German - Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.
- ^ „Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows“ (German - August 19, 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), in: FAZ 19 August 2009.
- ^ Miklós Németh in Interview, Austrian TV - ORF "Report", 25 June 2019
- ^ Garthof, Raymond L. "The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War" (Washington: Brookings Institution, 1994).
- ^ "1989: Malta summit ends Cold War". British Broadcasting Corporation. 1989-12-03. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
- ^ Arjen Molen (2015-09-14), Cold War - Conclusions 1989-1991 - Part 24/24, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2018-03-31
- ^ "S/RES/678(1990) - E". undocs.org. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
- ^ Cohen, Michael (December 15, 2011). "Peace in the Post-Cold War World". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ Bohlen, Celestine (February 26, 1991). "Warsaw Pact Agrees to Dissolve Its Military Alliance by March 31". The New York Times. p. 1,10. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ Marshall, Tyler (April 1, 1993). "Few Russian Troops Remain in Ex-Satellite States: Military: Of an estimated 600,000 in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, only about 113,000 haven't gone home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ISBN 9780813159324. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- S2CID 244846930
- S2CID 244858515
- ISBN 978-1-108-90677-7
- ^ "Wallerstein, Immanuel. "Pax Americana is Over"". Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2006-02-22.
- ^ "Mongolia - Countries - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
- ^ (in English) 1988 soviet ramming USS Yorktown CG 48 in black sea (video)
- Time, March 07, 1988
- ^ Roger East, Jolyon Pontin, Bloomsbury Publishing, 6 oct. 2016, Revolution and Change in Central and Eastern Europe: Revised Edition, p. 182
- ^ Florin Abraham, Bloomsbury Publishing, Nov 17, 2016, Romania since the Second World War: A Political, Social and Economic History, p. 107
- ^ The New York Times, 10 December 1989
Further reading
- Ball, S. J. The Cold War: An International History, 1947–1991 (1998). British perspective
- Beschloss, Michael, and Strobe Talbott. At the Highest Levels:The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War (1993)
- Braithwaite, Rodric et al. "Could the Soviet Union Have Survived? We ask four historians whether the demise of one of the 20th century's superpowers was as inevitable as it now seems." History Today (Oct 2020) 70#10 pp 8–10 [online].
- Brooks, Stephen G., and William C. Wohlforth. "Power, globalization, and the end of the Cold War: Reevaluating a landmark case for ideas." International Security 25.3 (2001): 5-53. [online]
- Engel, Jeffrey A. When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War (2017)
- Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History (2005) online
- Gaddis, John Lewis. The United States and the End of the Cold War: Implications, Reconsiderations, Provocations (1992) online
- Garthoff, Raymond. The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War (1994) online
- Goertz, Gary and Jack S. Levy, eds. Causal explanations, necessary conditions, and case studies: World War I and the End of the Cold War (2005), 10 essays from political scientists; online
- Hogan, Michael, ed. The End of the Cold War. Its Meaning and Implications (1992) articles from Diplomatic History
- Kalinovsky, Artemy M. "New Histories of the End of the Cold War and the Late Twentieth Century." Contemporary European History 27.1 (2018): 149–161. online
- Kegley Jr, Charles W. "How did the cold war die? Principles for an autopsy." Mershon International Studies Review 38.Supplement_1 (1994): 11–41.
- Kenney, Padraic. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End: A Brief History with Documents (2009) covers Poland, the Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China
- Leffler, Melvyn P. For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (2007) pp 338–450.
- Mann, James. The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War (2010). popular
- Matlock, Jack F. Autopsy on an Empire (1995) online by US ambassador to Moscow
- Matlock, Jack F. Reagan and Gorbachev : how the Cold War ended (2004) online
- Powaski, Ronald E. The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917–1991 (1998)
- Romero, Federico. "Cold War historiography at the crossroads." Cold War History 14.4 (2014): 685–703. online
- Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State (1993), a primary source
- Westad, Odd Arne. The Cold War: A World History (2017) pp 527–629
- Wilson, James Graham. The Triumph of Improvisation: Gorbachev's Adaptability, Reagan's Engagement, and the End of the Cold War (2014)
- Wohlforth, William C. "Realism and the End of the Cold War." International Security 19.3 (1994): 91–129. online
- Zubok, Vladislav M. "Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War: Perspectives on History and Personality," Cold War History (2002) 2:2, 61–100, DOI: 10.1080/713999954
- Zubok, Vladislav M. A failed empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2009). online