Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War 1985–1991

The end of the Cold War was one of the most remarkable and unexpected events of the twentieth century. The Soviet Union — a nuclear superpower with the world's largest military — collapsed without a major war, an outcome almost no one predicted. The key question is: what caused the Cold War to end — was it Reagan's pressure, Gorbachev's reforms, structural economic failure, or popular movements in Eastern Europe?

Key Definition: Perestroika ("restructuring") and glasnost ("openness") were the twin reform policies introduced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985. Perestroika aimed to modernise the Soviet economy through limited market reforms; glasnost aimed to increase transparency and public debate. Together, they unleashed forces that Gorbachev could not control.

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Gorbachev's Rise to Power

Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 11 March 1985, following the deaths in quick succession of Brezhnev (1982), Andropov (1984), and Chernenko (1985). At 54, Gorbachev was a generation younger than his predecessors and represented a new approach.

The Soviet Crisis

Gorbachev inherited a system in profound crisis:

Problem	Detail
Economic stagnation	GDP growth had fallen from ~5% in the 1960s to near zero by the mid-1980s
Military burden	Defence consumed an estimated 15–25% of GDP (compared to ~6% in the US)
Afghanistan	A costly, unwinnable war draining resources and morale (~15,000 Soviet troops killed)
Technological gap	The USSR was falling further behind the West, especially in computing and information technology
Social decay	Declining life expectancy, rising alcoholism, environmental degradation
Ideological exhaustion	Few Soviet citizens still believed in the official ideology

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Gorbachev's Reforms

Domestic

Reform	Detail	Consequence
Glasnost	Relaxation of censorship; permitted public criticism	Unleashed demands the system could not satisfy
Perestroika	Limited market reforms; cooperative enterprises	Disrupted the planned economy without creating a functioning market
Democratisation	Competitive elections for the Congress of People's Deputies (1989)	Challenged the Communist Party's monopoly on power
Anti-alcohol campaign	Restrictions on alcohol production and sales	Reduced state revenue; deeply unpopular

Foreign Policy — "New Thinking"

Gorbachev fundamentally reconceived Soviet foreign policy:

• Rejected the Brezhnev Doctrine — Eastern European states could determine their own political systems
• Announced unilateral cuts of 500,000 Soviet troops and 10,000 tanks (UN speech, 7 December 1988)
• Withdrew Soviet forces from Afghanistan (completed 15 February 1989)
• Pursued genuine arms reduction, not merely arms control

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The Reagan-Gorbachev Summits

Summit	Date	Outcome
Geneva	November 1985	Personal relationship established; no breakthroughs
Reykjavik	October 1986	Near-agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons collapsed over SDI
Washington	December 1987	INF Treaty signed — eliminated all intermediate-range nuclear forces (500–5,500 km)
Moscow	May–June 1988	Further progress on START; Reagan walked through Red Square

The INF Treaty (8 December 1987)

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was the first agreement to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. Under its terms:

• All ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500–5,500 km were destroyed
• 846 American and 1,846 Soviet missiles were eliminated
• Unprecedented on-site verification procedures were established

Exam Tip: The INF Treaty was qualitatively different from SALT — it actually reduced nuclear weapons rather than merely limiting their growth. It demonstrated that genuine disarmament was possible.

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The Revolutions of 1989

The most dramatic year of the Cold War saw the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe in rapid succession: