Gorbachev's Role in Ending the Cold War

Gorbachev's Arrival and the End of the Cold War

The arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev to the Kremlin was the key element that triggered a rapid process that ended the Cold War. To implement the reforms of Perestroika, Gorbachev needed a new foreign policy to end the arms race marked under President Reagan. This new attitude in Moscow meant the end of the tensions of the previous period. However, it was the failure of Gorbachev's reforms in his country and the democratic revolutions of 1989 that led to the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the end of the USSR. The Cold War ended by the implosion of one of its contestants.

"New Thinking" Political Philosophy

Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the CPSU on 11 March 1985.

Situation Upon Taking Power

The situation faced by the new Kremlin leader was generally unfortunate: after years of stagnation, the economy was on the verge of bankruptcy and Soviet society, etc., found itself in a moral crisis characterized by lack of ideological commitment and skepticism.

The Challenge from Reagan

It was impossible for the USSR to maintain any longer the fiction of "parity" with EE.UU. El challenge of Reagan and his Strategic Defense Initiative had made the Soviet leaders aware of their real potential to address technological competence and U.S. military. With defense spending, according to sources, ranging between 16 and 28% of its budget, the USSR needed urgently to reduce its military spending and focus their investments to offset its many shortcomings and deficiencies of Soviet economía.

Shift in Foreign Policy

Gorbachev's need for a rapprochement with the U.S. was urgent. La reform was obvious and in foreign policy came before the Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (openness) in domestic politics. In July 1985, the perennial soviético Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko was replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze. In October, the telegenic Gorbachev started what some are calling a "charm offensive" by visiting Western capitals. In his first meeting with President Reagan in Geneva in November 1985, the Soviet leader raised the need for detente and nuclear arms reductions.