To what extent was Gorbachev responsible for the end of the Cold War?

Look at each of these introductions to this essay: Which do you prefer? How could each one be
improved?

1.

The Soviet Union dissolved on the 25th December 1991 with the establishment of the
Commonwealth Independent States. With this came the end of the cold War and the once satellite
states became free countries, Several historians such as John Mason have accredited the breakdown
of the cold War to Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the USSR, due to his enlightened principles of
glasnost and perestroika, his enthusiasm to negotiate with the West over nuclear disarmament and
his refusal to enforce the Brezhnev Doctrine. However, there are reasons to suggest that Gorbachev
was not the most important in ending the Cold war.

2.

The cold War officially came to an end in 1989 when both the USSR and USA argued that it was
‘buried at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea’. The Cold War lasted over 40 years, but came to an
end for a number of reasons. Reagan’s hard-line military build-up but willingness to negotiate and
reach agreements is widely seen as responsible for the cold war ending, as is the USSR’s long-term
economic stagnation making it unable to continue competing with the US. However, without
Gorbachev, the cold War would not have ended. His new policies such as Glasnost created a new
atmosphere of nationalism in eastern Europe which led to independence from Soviet influence.
Gorbachev’s willingness to negotiate compared to past Soviet leaders meant that the USA the USSR
could finally come to agreements to end the war that had lasted since 1945.

3.

The cold War, characterised by heightened tensions and nuclear standoffs had begun in the
aftermath of world War Two. This cold War lasted through to the late 1980s, when it began to
disintegrate. In 1989, at the Malta Summit, the cold war was declared ‘buried at the bottom of the
Mediterranean; and with the collapse of the USSR in 1990, the end of the Cold war was affirmed.
Many reasons contributed to the end of the Cold War. In 1985, Gorbachev became general Secretary
of the Communist Party and through radical reforms and progressive diplomatic relations, his actions
began to erode hostilities and leading to the collapse of the USSR and with it the Cold War. However,
other factors such as Reagan, economic stagnation in the USSR and the idea of ‘people power’ also
played crucial roles. Despite these, it would seem that Gorbachev remains primarily responsible for
the Cold War’s end.

© Jo Thomas and Keely Rogers

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