Assess the role of Mikhail Gorbachev in bringing the cold War to an end

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Assess the role of Mikhail Gorbachev in bringing the cold War to an end.

Gorbachev : 1985 - 1991

He knew USSR would collapse without change

Improve the relation between the two superpower

→Perestroika : State-owned industries had more freedom (could take decisions), failed to attract foreign investment

⇒ first step in looking like the west : free market, liberalization ⇒ capitalist

⇒ looked like USSR was admitting defeat

→Glasnost : Give freedom of speech and press to Eastern bloc and USSR

→Sinatra Doctrine : allowing the satellite state decide for themselves

Communist regimes getting overthrown : Czechoslovakia (Velvet Revolution)

⇒ Collapse of the Eastern bloc

Gorbachev wanting to negotiate an end to arms race ⇒ USSR inability to follow + fragile economy

⇒Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed in 1987 was a landmark agreement that eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons

Gorbachev’s willingness to talk (international meetings…) ⇒ less tensions and fear

Allowing revolution in Eastern bloc : peaceful, no bloodshed ⇒ USA not scared of communism

He allowed the Berlin wall to f all : Sinatra doctrine, rejection of Brezhnev doctrine (which justified USSR military implication in the Eastern bloc)

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