How was Ronald Reagan instrumental in the collapse of the Soviet Union?

Many believe Ronald Reagan alone didn’t win the Cold War but say that his policy of peace through strength was most critical in addition to his superb leadership. The Soviet Union collapsed of its own weight, but Reagan’s initiatives accelerated their fall. Reagan described the Soviet Union as an evil empire. With the scare of the Soviets nuclear weapons, Reagan developed the “Star Wars” program which forced the Soviets into an expensive arms race they couldn’t afford. During Ronald Reagan’s eight year presidency, his determination to put an end to communism and the Soviet Union was the highlight of his term in office. While the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable, the role of Ronald Reagan in acceleration its fall is not insignificant.  The rest of the essay will foray into the prevailing political circumstances and crucial diplomatic events that were initiated by the Reagan Administration, which eventually precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union and put an end to the Cold War[1].

To begin with, a short overview of the cold war is quite relevant here. History will show that the European nations after Second World War were divided geographically as well as ideologically as belonging to the western democratic bloc or the eastern communist bloc.  Long-time partner and a trusted lieutenant of the United States, namely Great Britain, is the leading representative of this western coalition.  Other nations that aligned with the United States were Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, etc.  The countries of Eastern Europe were imposed with communist governments and hence came under the influence of the Soviet Union.  Some of them were Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belarus, etc.  Germany was deemed a key prize in the spoils of the Second Great War and so its reigns were bitterly contested.  In the end both superpowers had to strike a compromise and divide Germany into their respective halves.  This event was a key flashpoint in the years immediately following the end of the War.  Appropriate to the strategic significance of Germany, history will mark the breaking of the Berlin wall as a landmark event in the establishment of a new world order, with the United States at the helm.  And Ronald Reagan’s political maneuvering in the days leading up to the breaking of Berlin Wall will be deemed by historians as legendary[2].

 Having said so, there were other brewing imbalances of power which contributed to the breakdown of the Soviet Union. For instance, the long confrontation between the United States and U.S.S.R. backed proxies in Afghanistan had frustrated and weakened the latter.  During the 1980’s the U.S.S.R. was going through a severe economic slump as well.  At this juncture, the Soviet Union was no more in a position to strengthen its war machinery, which gave its rival undisputed advantage, bringing an end to the Cold War.

In spite of the clever diplomacy exhibited by the Reagan Administration, there was another crucial factor that proved decisive in the subsequent unfolding of events.  More specifically, the deteriorating economic conditions stirred the people of the Soviet Union to openly demonstrate against their government’s failure, which by the late 1980’s had reached abysmal levels.  People from the communist bloc nations were making desperate attempts to flee to countries in Western Europe.  Likewise, people from East Germany were attempting to escape to the more prosperous West Germany in order to avail of better economic and social prospects.  The upper echelons of the Soviet government were facing tremendous pressure to act decisively and quickly.  The only option left was to dismantle the Union and open the countries to political and economic reforms.  Bringing down the Berlin Wall in 1990 was the symbolic act that ushered in a new post-cold war era in the world.

The ascent to power of Ronald Reagan was to prove crucial in the lead up to the end of the cold war.  Ronald Reagan devised a grand defense strategy, popularly called the Star Wars initiative.  The implementation of this strategy would give the United States a decisive advantage over their superpower rival.  The Soviet Union on the other hand neither had the resources nor the political will to respond to this threat – due mainly to their uncertain economy and growing domestic unrest.  Thus, Reagan’s brain child, the Star Wars initiative, proved an important factor in putting an end to the Soviet Union[3].

In Michael Gorbachev, the Soviet Union had a reformist and practical leader.  He saw the folly of continuing the cold war efforts and drafted policies facilitating a transfer to more democratic and capitalistic forms of government. Reagan’s agenda for his meeting with Gorbachev is related to his vision of a nuclear defense mechanism.  In other words, “Reagan’s vision of SDI—a shield that would render nuclear weapons obsolete—was scientifically preposterous but, by all accounts, genuine. Many of his hawkish aides (most notably the still-active Richard Perle) scoffed at it; they liked SDI because it would scare the Russians and, if it worked, might give us nuclear superiority. But Reagan believed what he said”[4].

At their one-on-one meeting of October 1986, Reagan went far beyond his Russian counterpart’s proposal of a fifty percent “strategic-arms cut”. To the concern of some members of his administration, who were excluded from the decision making process, he proposed a nuclear deterrent program and supplement it with the implementation of the SDI.  Though Gorbachev was at apprehensive about such an agreement, this proposal helped lift the image of Reagan within the Kremlin and he came to be seen as someone trustworthy.  Hence, though Reagan’s role is not tangible, certain subtle diplomatic victories by his administration had helped a great deal in bringing an end to the Cold War[5].

Parallel to the efforts of Reagan, some European leaders such as Lech Walesa, the polish politician, played a small but significant role in bringing the Cold War to an end.  When the 10^th plenary session of the communist party ended, Walesa played a crucial role in organizing Roundtable talks with the party members. His energetic and enthusiastic campaign for Solidarity ensured that it was eventually given legal recognition and opportunity to contest elections.  In a way, Walesa paved the way for reforms in other countries by taking the first step. In hindsight, the Roundtable talks and the success of the Solidarity proved very important for further developments in the Soviet bloc.

In a last ditch attempt to save the Soviet Union, its military generals tried to overpower Gorbachev and take control of the governance.  The failure of this plan proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Union.  Subsequently, Boris Yeltsin became the premiere of the Russian Republic and the satellite states of the communist bloc were given political autonomy.  The newly independent countries of Eastern Europe encouraged privatization of many services and adopted a western model of democracy.

The collective diplomatic efforts of the NATO countries under the guidance of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher pressured the U.S.S.R. towards a more appropriate model of economic and political organization.  But public discontent and disillusionment had already grown to unmanageable proportions that dismantling the union was the only option left.  This radical final step effectively put an end to the Cold War and had given peace and hope to the world community[6].

So, in the final analysis, the question of who ended the Cold War could be answered thus: Recently released declassified documents leave no doubt about Ronald Reagan’s pivotal role in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. Through a combination of “hostile rhetoric and a massive arms buildup, which the Soviets knew they couldn’t match, Reagan’s conservative succeeded in bringing an early end to the USSR.  But nevertheless, without Reagan too, the Soviet Union would have collapsed anyway, probably a decade later, due to the economic turmoil that it was in.

Bibliography:

Anderson, R D (Spring 2005)., Lessons from history on the limits of imperialism: Successful small state resistance to great power aggression., Journal of Third World Studies, 22, 1. p.21(20).

Chomsky, Noam., What Uncle Sam Really Wants, First published in 1993.

Frankel, Max. “The Cold War in the context of the Reagan Administration”, Smithsonian 33.7 (Oct 1990): 52.

The Library of Congress Archives., “Cold War: Its End”, <www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/colc.html>