Cold War Historians Vary Widely

Cold War Historians vary widely in why the liberal world system won the Cold War. Some argue that it was the aggressive action of the United States and others assert that the Soviet Union unraveled on its own accord. However, the reality is that both sets of dynamics played complimentary roles in the end of the Cold War, producing the perfect storm for Cold War collapse. The United States implemented a $1.5 trillion military buildup that made it too expensive for the Soviets to win the arms race.

At the same time, President Reagan endorsed arms control negotiations, giving the Soviets a viable exit strategy. The so called "zero option" proposal promised the stoppage of Pershing and Tomahawk deployments by the United States if the Soviets agreed to withdraw their SS-20s in Europe. The fact that the Soviet Union was also imploding due to failings of its centrally-planned economy further greased the wheels for the Soviet's desire to discontinue its participation in the Cold War.

Even though the Soviet Union had some of the greatest agricultural land in the world, it still had trouble producing enough food because there were no incentives for the farm workers to produce. This coupled with little technological innovation led to reliance on the West for grain and technology. The Soviets financed their purchases with oil sales, but as the price of oil plummeted in the early 1980s, financial turmoil resulted. The United States pursued aggressive military and material support for resistance movements aiming to end Soviet tyranny.

For example, the Reagan administration supported anti-Soviet guerrillas in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Angola and Nicaragua. Also, it worked with the Vatican and the international wing of the AFL-CIO to keep alive the Polish trade union solidarity. In 1983, U.S. troops successfully ousted the Marxist government in Grenada. and, in the same year, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a new missile defense program. Not only did the Soviets have to fend off American-backed attacks, they had also unwittingly contributed to laying the groundwork for further dissention.

This happened as a side effect of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev experimentation with liberalization of the economy and the political system to increase productivity and encourage innovation. This liberalization, for the first time, allowed criticism of the Soviet System by nationalist leaders. However, as a result, they began to demand freedom and declared the independence of their republics.

In 1991, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed the Belovezh agreement, which declared that "the U.S.S.R., as a subject of international law and a geopolitical reality, ceased to exist. By the end of the early 1990s, there were no important Cold War issues left. By that time, both sides had practically identical goals, a Europe whole and free, and a world where international disputes would be solved through negotiation rather than through attempts by one side or the other to impose its will by force.

This all came about through American arms proliferation, Soviet economic collapse, and widespread dissention fueled by Americans and a liberalization attempt by the Soviets. Bibliography D'Souza, Dinesh. "How the East Was Won:.