After reading both articles, which do you agree with (and why): Reagan brought an end to the Cold War or The Cold War was already coming to a close and therefore Reagan was in the right place at the right time?
Bethany
6/9/2016 06:27:42 pm
I believe that Ronald Reagan was a big part of why the Soviet Union fell. He saw the weakness of the Soviet Union and their self-destruction and took advantage of it. He sped up the whole destruction process by forcing an arms race onto the Soviet Union that he knew the Union could not win, let alone survive. If it wasn't for his pressure, the Soviet Union would have taken a lot longer to fall on its own. Reagan doesn't deserve all of the credit because he did have the advantage of favorable conditions for the fall of the Soviet Union.
Sean
6/9/2016 08:34:59 pm
I agree with Bethany that Ronald Reagan was a big part of why the Soviet Union fell but I also believe that the Cold War was coming to an end. Reagan was able to notice the Soviet Union weaknesses and their self-destruction. However, the self-destruction was due to domestic problems within the Soviet Union. The fall of the Soviet Union was also due to economic problems. Instead of focusing on problems throughout the Soviet Union, the government decided to spend all their money on the military. The Soviet Union spent approximately $1.7 million dollars a day while fighting in Afghanistan. This made the Soviet Union become weaker. Therefore, giving Reagan the opportunity to force an arms race that we knew the Soviet Union wouldn’t be able to afford. With the pressure that Reagan put on the Soviet Union and their domestic problems of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union’s reign came to an end along with the Cold War.
Lindsay
6/9/2016 09:44:36 pm
Ronald Reagan had the ability to end the Cold War by using the Soviet Union's weaknesses against themselves. This is why the end of the Cold War was accomplished by both parties. The Soviet Union would have ended up self-destructing, but how long that would've taken was unknown. Reagan used his knowledge of this and sped up the process. The arms race that he created forced the Soviet Union into collapsing and therefore ending the war. Overall, Ronald Reagan should be credited with speeding up the end of the Cold War, keeping in mind the fact that the end of the war was inevitable.
Ben Reeves
6/9/2016 10:13:24 pm
I believe that both Reagan's policies and the economical failures of the Soviet Union led to a Soviet crumble and end of the Cold War. Both factors played keys roles in ending the decades long arms race between the two world super powers. Reagan believed that putting the most pressure on the Soviet Union was the key to winning the war. Although he received lots of criticism, Reagan deployed missiles in European countries. Reagan never backed down and his harshness forced the already crumbling Soviet Union to a surrender. Although the Soviet Union seemed to be in competition in terms of weapons, their supporting economy could not outlast that of the United States. I believe that while both factors played key roles, Ronald Reagan should be credited with the American victory. If he had not been as hard on the Soviets and considered more peace talks the war would have ended in a stale mate.
Alli
6/9/2016 10:25:14 pm
In my opinion, Ronald Reagan did not have much to do with the ending of the Cold War. The Soviet Union collapsed due to many internal conflicts such as a lack in a civil society, dysfunctional political institution and the arms race crushing their economy. As the first article, "President Ronald Reagan: Winning the Cold War", states Reagan's idea was to support Mikhaik Gotbachev in the reform efforts and pursued an arms reduction agreement, this agreement could do nothing but aid the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would be crushed economically if the arms race had increased its intensity, this would have ultimately been the doom of the Soviets because the economy is the driving force behind every political leadership. However, it was not just these economic problems that brought an end to the Soviet Unions advancements. The political policies in Eastern Europe were transitioning during this time period, capitalism was growing and socialism was failing. Socialism in the Soviet Union was dysfunctional and inefficient for the technological growth that they were experiencing. This dysfunction lead the Warsaw Pact nations and the U.S.S.R. down a damaging path. This is made clear on the top of the second page of the second article that we read, "No, President Ronald Reagan can be credited only with helping end the Cold War...", when it mentions the various policies of the Soviet Union and the containment policy of American. America could not have played a major role in this destruction of the Soviet Union if they were upholding their policy of containment. There is also evidence in this article of the Soviet Union attempting to figure out reforms to their political, military and economic policies prior to the United States intervening. Since this was all done prior to U.S. involvement, this can only mean that the Soviet Union had planned on making these changes and the U.S. policies really had nothing to do with it. Also mentioned in the second article, Gorbachev announced a "'deidolization' super-power relations". This means that he was lessening the military action and stepping down from the United States. These were two major parts of the Cold War, so essentially he was taking away two key components of the war and ending it. In these ways, Gorbachev had a larger influence on ending the war than Reagan did.
Mackenzie
6/9/2016 11:02:36 pm
I personally believe that Ronald Reagan added to the Soviet Union downfall. But I also believe that the Cold War was slowly coming to an end. Reagan used the Soviet Union's weaknesses to his own advantage which overall helped the Soviets to basically destroy their nation. Even though the Soviet Union cause their downfall themselves due to the insignificant amount of economic problems Reagan built up the military knowing that the Soviets could not win. I feel like Soviets brought this on themselves and Reagan was just at the place at the right time. Ronald Reagan did help in some aspects to put an end to the cold war although he does not deserve all the credit since he favored the Soviets disadvantages.
Victoria Lane
6/10/2016 08:01:54 am
I agree with Makenzie’s opinion on the debate between the ideas of whether Reagan was why the cold war came to an end or if it was already coming to an end and he was just in power at the right time. As she said in the blog above the Cold War was heading to an end do to the weak factors of the Soviet Union like not having enough money to build a strong army like Reagan did to defeat them. He saw a weakness and took advantage of it making the war come to an end sooner. Although he helped speed up the process of ending this war I do not think he can take full credit because there are too many other factors that came in to play on why the war ended. The Soviet Union was already collapsing before Reagan ended the war, he just finished them off with his stronger army and there for all the credit cannot go to him because he was just in power at the right time. I think anyone who was in power at the time could have sped up the process of ending the Cold War because the Soviet Union was only getting weaker.
Talia Torkomian
6/9/2016 11:10:09 pm
I agree with Ben that both the factors of the economic problems in the Soviet Union and Reagan's foreign policies led to the end of the Cold War. Some people may argue that Reagan was in the right place at the right time which is true but what he did during his presidency involving the Cold War sped up the end of the war and it also showed the Soviet Union how powerful America was. Reagan's strong diplomatic presence did not just "contain" communism but it worked to "roll-back" the reign of communism in the countries the Soviet unions power had become prevalent in. This strong force along with a build up of military and weapons showed the Soviet Union that they had no way to compete with the United States. Reagan built up the military so big that the Soviet Union who was struggling economically could not compete and build up their military that was far below the power of America's. These economic problems paired with Reagans powerful force and strong foreign policy put an end to the Cold War. Separately, just the economy or just Reagan's policies would not have been as successful but together the Soviet Union had no way to continue in the Cold War with America.
Leila Loparto
6/9/2016 11:22:31 pm
After reading the two articles, I believe that Ronald Reagan contributed greatly to the ending of the Cold War. This is not saying that the Soviet Union would never have self-destructed because the factors of the economic problems also contributed, however the time that it would have taken for this to happen is unknown and Reagan really just sped up the process. I agree with Bethany and Sean that Reagan recognized their weaknesses and took advantage of them at one point. Maybe he was just in the right place at the right time but that did not change the fact that he was using them and also created the arms race which forced the Soviet Union to collapse. He knew that the union would not last and did not have a chance of winning. He used this knowledge and proceeded eventually bringing the Cold War to an end. He built up the military and never stopped until the Union was forced to surrender. He believed this was key to winning the war, but soon found out it wasn't because they were no longer powerful and couldn't do much more. Although the economic problems contributed too to the downfall, Reagan is most to blame due to his forceful ways and foreign policy that eventually put an end to the Cold War. The two together created what had completely put an and to it, just likeTalia said, not one seperatly could have been as effective.
Garrett Scahill
6/10/2016 02:12:59 am
Many argue that Reagan single-handedly beat down the communist in Russia through his economic policy and strong leadership. This is only partially true, while he did lend a hand to the process, the biggest effects that caused the collapse of the Soviet Union were the near bankruptcy that they faced due to the arms race and the new policies that Gorbachev created to help the citizens of Soviet Russia. These two factors contributed in a much greater sense than Ronald Reagan did.
Zack
6/10/2016 07:57:25 am
I believe that Ronald Reagan played an important role in the down fall of the Soviet Union. I also believe that the Cold War was coming to a close during this time period. President Reagan was able to notice that the Soviet was weak and was about to fall apart. The collapse of the Soviet Union was caused by many factors. The economic state during this time for the Soviets was a major problem. The Soviet Union’s government put most of its funding into the military. When the Soviets tried in invade Afghanistan the government was spending approximately $1.7 million dollars a day. This made the Soviet Union become weaker. By having the Soviet Union become weaker Reagan was able to take the opportunity to try and weaken the arms race. With the pressure from President Reagan on the Soviet Union and the economic state of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union fell along with the Cold War.
Abby Maziarz
6/10/2016 08:13:23 am
I agree with Ben and Talia that both the problems with the economy of the Soviet Union and the policies put in place by Ronald Reagan led to the end of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was already crumbling because of their economic problems, but the arms race Reagan forced upon them made problems worse. Reagan knew how weak the Soviet Union already was so he built up an army that he knew they would not be able to handle. They spent too much money trying to build up their own military and they didn't focus on the problems within their country. This made their economy even worse. Because of this they could no longer compete with the United States. The end of the Cold War can be credited to both the work of Ronald Reagan and the downfall of the Soviet Union that was already happening and virtually unavoidable.
Nate Heon
6/10/2016 09:08:16 am
The first article argued that it was Reagan's aggression that pushed the Soviet Union into giving in, but it was the second article that made a more convincing case for Gorbachev and his forward thinking. In the second article Gorbachev's role was more prominent in making new policy and providing a different way of thinking from the past Soviet Union leaders. From what was said in the second article it sounded like Gorbachev was the one taking the initiative and putting in place necessary policy to stop the aggression.
Dominic Laflamme-DaCosta
6/10/2016 09:10:21 am
After reading both articles, I agree with the second one. The Cold War was already coming to a close and therefore Reagan was in the right place at the right time because of the Soviet Union’s failing economy. By the beginning of the 1980s, the Soviet Union had stretched their resources to supply Third World countries, to fight the war in Afghanistan, and also to build up their military to appear stronger than they actually were. Because of this increase in military funding and ignorance to the rest of the economy, the Soviet Union was sure to collapse even without Reagan’s input, thus ending the Cold War.
James kozlowski
6/10/2016 09:20:35 am
The Soviet Union was already falling in on itself economically.But some would argue that Reagan single handedly took down the Soviet Union. It was more of a combined contribution with the Soviet Union already falling and Reagan's strict consistant economic policies. The Soviet uno. Was already falling but Reagan pushed them to fall even faster. If it were not for these two events falling in line the Cold War may never have ended.
Julia Germani
6/10/2016 09:28:39 am
In my opinion the end of the Cold War was inevitable. However, this process was sped up by President Reagan. The Soviet military was deteriorating rapidly and soon would be obliterated. Despite this, Reagan continued to build up the United States military even though it was evident the Soviets would not be able to keep up. This was a classic example of an arms race. President Reagan took advantage of the Soviet's weaknesses and exploited them ultimately resulting in the end of the Cold War.
Eleni
6/10/2016 09:34:02 am
I believe that both the Soviet Union's weakness' and Ronald Reagan's steps to defeat the Union contributed to the end of the Cold War. However, the Soviet Union was already weak to begin with, which made Reagan have little to do with the Union's collapse. Gorbachev's plans to better the economy failed because they were moving to slow for the Soviet Union. His plans depleted Eastern Europe of its natural economic resources. Gorbachev's plan called perestroika which was originally meant to restore the Union and the original ideals of socialism, resulted in the Union's collapse.
Sandra Nkwantabisa
6/10/2016 09:49:35 am
In the article "president Ronald Reagan: winning the Cold War", The view was more of President Reagan essentially made it so that the Soviet union had no choice. Margaret Thatcher said "...Gorbachev realized that he had no choice: continue a no-win arms race, which would utterly crippled the Soviet economy, or give up the struggle for global hegemony." In the second article, the views were slightly different. It said that Gorbachev's policies were not done in reaction to Reagan's machinations but for reasons internal to the Soviet union. The main focus was that victory was due to a combination of factors which were beyond the control of the White House. Personally I believe the Soviet Union had many issues internally that caused it's only downfall. President Reagan should be somewhat accredited for making the push but solely it was based on the Soviets economic issues that caused them to lose the Cold War. The Soviet Union had no choice, they could not continue an arms race because they were going bankrupt, that alone caused them to divide.
Alexi
6/10/2016 09:50:07 am
Along with many other people in the class, i believe that the end of the Cold War was not entirely because of Reagan. The Soviet Union was already getting weak and Reagan was able to be in the right place at the right time and take them down completely. Reagan was a major part of the end of the Cold War because he was able to succeed in bringing down the Soviet union but their economy was already failing so therefore their downfall was not all because of Reagan, it was a mix of both.
Nicole Accardi
6/10/2016 10:11:31 am
In my opinion the ending of the Cold War was for the most part out of the White House's control. The Soviet Union couldn't afford to continue the arms race because of their poor economy. Also, they were spending millions in Afghanistan where they weren't making any progress. The Soviet Union set themselves up to fail. However, I think Reagan made the process go a little faster. He knew the Soviet Union was running out of money so he increased the military budget to insure the arms race would continue. Other than that I think Reagan just happened to be in office at the right time.
Derek Degnan
6/10/2016 11:28:50 am
I believe that Ronald Reagan had a big part in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although he definitely had a big impact, it was not 100% the work of Reagan. A lot of the cause was the internal conflicts of the Soviet Union. One conflict was its crippling economy, that has been noted as, on its own, one of the major causes of the Soviet Union's downfall. The poverty stricken streets, the food riots and overall the horrible status economically led to the people wanting change, when they voted themselves out of the Soviet Union. Another impact was the reforms brought upon by Gorbachev. Gorbachev instituted internal reforms that did the opposite of what they were supposed to- they crippled the Soviet Union. Gorbachev has been called the architect of the Soviet downfall, due to the horrible economy and crippling reforms. However, as previously stated, Reagan had a huge impact on the Soviet downfall. Reagan led the Soviets into an arms race that was impossible for them to win and would continue to cripple the Soviet economy. Reagan had a major part in defeating the Soviet Union, but it was not 100% him, as a lot of trouble came with internal affairs of the Soviet Union.
Steven Anzivino
6/10/2016 11:41:45 am
I believe that the Soviet empire was destined to fall during Reagan's presidency. Reagan did all that he could to hasten it's fall but I am doubtful that it would have gone anywhere near as smoothly without the new soviet leadership. Without Gorbachov's reform policy the soviet a would likely stay an iron wall against change. Gorbachov understood that his nation was spending too much money for his economy to sustain and understood that they had too large of a standing military to sustain it. Reagan's policies just happened to coincide with the goals of the Russians so that they worked together. Comments are closed.
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