The+End+of+the+Cold+War+and+Impact+on+U.S.+and+S.U.

=__The End of the Cold War and Impact on U.S. and S.U.__ = By:Courtney Pike

The End of the Cold War
Towards the end of the Cold War many events began taking place. One of the most significant was the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Citizens of Eastern Germany were not happy with the conditions they were facing such as a much lower wage than those of Western Germany, and even shortages of supplies. They wanted to escape from the east, but this was a difficult task due to the wall. In 1989 some Germans got the opportunity to escape through Czechoslovakia when Hungary allowed non communists into their country, but Germany soon closed off its border to Czechoslovakia to avoid anymore citizens escaping. People continued to try and escape along with protesting, and eventually the gates were opened from West Germany to East Germany. The wall was torn down on November 9, 1989 and many people fled through to Western Germany.



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Also towards the end of the Cold War the U.S. president Reagan and the Soviet leader Gorbachev met to discuss nuclear weapons. At first the 50 percent reduction of nuclear weapons proposed by Gorbachev was a failure, but then on December 8, 1987 the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed. This treaty got rid of a whole class of nuclear weapons called intermediate range missiles. this made it so Europe removed more than 2,600 nuclear missiles. This was done in an effort to avoid nuclear warfare for the rest of the Cold War, and at any other point in the future.



By 1991 the Soviet Union had fallen. The Communist government officials could no longer control the people who wanted more freedom. They stopped having an effect on things involving their country, such as Hungary taking down the fence between its border and the East. The Soviet Union did nothing to stop this. They also removed their troops from Afghanistan, and promoted the nuclear talks with the United States to avoid even more fighting. The new ruler Gorbachev was also trying to save the communistic system. He came up with two new policies, and the first was Glasnost which took away the strict censorship of banned books and foreign radio broadcasts, as well as allowing citizens to speak about the problems of the society. His other new policy was Perestroika which was meant to end the inefficiency and corruption of the current communistic government through multicandidate elections, more power to factories, having product prices rise when production prices rose, and some private enterprise. Instead of fixing communism this led to more of a democratic government which led to dispute. Some people promoted this while others missed Stalin's communistic rule. The fall of the Soviet Union was the major contributor to the end of the war, but the threat that President Reagan presented to Soviet Union contributed as well to end the Cold War by 1991.



The Impact of the Cold War on the United States
The Cold War created a huge fear in America. Nearly everyone was paranoid about the existence of communism around them. Aside from the fear the war created there were also many other it had on the United States. One of the effects was the large arsenal of nuclear weapons that had been created in case of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. They wanted to be prepared in case the Soviet Union attacked, which seemed like a serious threat during the war. Another large effect was the Korean and Vietnam wars which were a way for America and the Soviet Union to fight without truly fighting each other. The United States would side with the democratic and capitalistic sides of these countries while the Soviet Union would help out the Communistic side. They wouldn't directly fight, but they would provide supplies and help. These things were costly, as was the rest of the war, leading America to spend billions of dollars. this caused them to go into $4 trillion of debt by the end of the war. This money was primarily spent on the military effort, but some was spent in other areas as well such as the space program. Along with the high amount of money spent the United States also experienced casualties just like in any other war. This war consisted of little physical fighting and therefore had a drastically smaller amount of deaths than other wars. America only suffered about 400 lost lives because this war was primarily a competition to see who could be the more advanced country, but more importantly if the United States could stop the Soviet Union from spreading even farther. One of the better effects the war had on the United States was that it made it an even more powerful country. It eliminated one of the other top powers of the world, making it so the United States could become the biggest superpower, but they still had threats from smaller countries who did not spend so much during this war, and were in better shape than the United States was.



The Impact of the Cold War on the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union experienced many of the same effects that the United States did. Instead of fearing communism they were trying to expand it to surrounding countries even though the United States was trying to stop it. They also built up a large arsenal of nuclear weapons for the same reason the United States did. They to be prepared in the chance that a nuclear war was started. The Soviet Union was also involved in the Korean and Vietnam wars, helping out the opposite side that the United States was. They also faced a similar amount of casualties with about 400 deaths. Along with a similar amount of deaths they also spent billions of dollars on the war effort. Aside from the similar effects the war had on the United States and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union also faced some much harder effects. By the end of the war their entire effort was ruined when communism began to fall in all the countries it had been introduced to. They lost their republics which were now becoming independent. Communism practically no longer existed even though they had been working so hard to spread it in the first place. Also the Soviet Union itself had fallen. They were economically weak after all they had spent on the war, and they no longer had the power to control the people of the country who no longer favored the idea of communism. While the United states was becoming the sole superpower of the world the Soviet Union was crumbling.



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It is hard to prove that either side won the Cold War because both the United States and the Soviet Union suffered large losses. Both countries suffered lost lives and huge economic losses. Although democracy survived while communism and the Soviet Union lost popularity and crumbled, America still cant be considered the winning country. There wasn't true fighting first of all because both countries acknowledged that a physical war between the two superpowers with nuclear capabilities could lead to the end of the world as they knew it. Also the Soviet Union did falter, but Russia was being established with a new form of democratic government and better rights and opportunities for those who lived there. Overall neither country can be considered the winner of the Cold War.

Works Cited
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