To what extent do you agree th
The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union (SU) states that once belonged to the superpower had one by one began to proclaim its independence and break away from it. The fall of so great a superpower could not happen overnight but was foreshadowed by events leading up to the crisis of communism. The development of the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) undermined the Soviets' confidence to continue the superpower rivalry and could have prompted peace initiatives on the Soviet side to lessen the hostilities between the superpowers. However, other facts such as the internal developments within the Soviet Union played a more significant role in the end of Cold War. The Strategic Defence Initiative was a military research programme that if it lived up to its expectations, promises to nullify any threats directed to America in the form of inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Its purpose was to provide America the means to protect itself from the accurate land-based missiles that SU have developed, in particular the SS-18s. It was easy to understand the Soviet's alarm when Reagan announced of this initiative in 1983. The balance in the nuclear arms race will be tilted in favour of the Americans as such a resea
Mutually Assured Destruction Theory would be replaced by Strategically Assured Defence in which America would have the upper ground. Gorbachev had offered a number of concessions that would never have been thought possible by his predecessors. The deadlock was short-lived however and Gorbachev continued initiating concessions on the nuclear arms situation in Europe. Reagan appeared to agree to the proposal but the condition on limiting SDI to laboratory and theoretical work for ten years was the stumbling block that both parties could not come to terms with. Instead, it was the political changes that Gorbachev implemented and the backlash it provoked that led to the end of Cold War. Peace between the two superpowers so mired in a history of antagonism could only be temporary and its frailty is exposed with the change of leadership as shown in the case of Presidents Reagan and Bush. rch programme if developed successfully would render the present Soviet's nuclear arsenal useless and encourage a nuclear strike from America. What the Soviets overlooked however was that the chances of Reagan's grand scheme actually materialising from the drawing board into a functional defence system that was within America's economic and military capabilities to maintain, were slim. Furthermore, it was internal developments within the Soviet Union and the subsequent break-up of Soviet Union that truly marked the end of Cold War. In fact, it was not until the reign of George Bush Senior was SDI implemented but even then, there was still a lot of room for improvement before the defence system could be judged fully competent. It marked a move towards capitalism and signifies the government's willingness to adopt change beneficial for the economy, but habits of old die hard and without directions from the government, the economy continued to deteriorate. The technology required for Strategic Defence Initiative to function was way beyond the nuclear arms expertise of Reagan's time. Lithuania's declaration of independence was soon followed up by similar declarations from other republics. The rise of nationalism among the republics coupled with Gorbachev's stance on non-intervention on their affairs began the dissolution process of the Soviet Union.
Common topics in this essay:
Soviet Union,
Cold War,
Defence Initiative,
Soviet Union's,
Senior SDI,
Bush Gorbachev,
Star Wars,
Eastern Europe,
Defence America,
SDI Gorbachev's,
soviet union,
cold war,
nuclear arms,
defence initiative,
strategic defence initiative,
strategic defence,
superpower rivalry,
internal developments,
internal developments soviet,
soviet union's,
peace initiatives,
union internal,
developments soviet union,
george bush senior,
|
Acceptance Essays
