Summary
Highlights
By the early 1980s, the US and the Soviet Union possessed over 12,000 nuclear missiles, leading to a state of mutual assured destruction. While a period of détente in the 1970s saw agreements like SALT I, President Ronald Reagan adopted a harder line. His Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), dubbed 'Star Wars,' aimed to shoot down nuclear missiles from space with lasers. Although never fully realized, SDI pushed the Soviet Union to try and match US spending, further straining its already stagnant economy and contributing to its economic decline.
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support its communist regime against Afghan Muslim groups. However, the Afghan rebels received support from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. After a nine-year-long, losing guerrilla war, the Soviet effort in Afghanistan significantly depressed its economy and weakened its power.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 amidst a Soviet economic crisis and growing discontent in Eastern European satellite states. His policies, 'Perestroika' (restructuring the economy to reduce central planning) and 'Glasnost' (openness, allowing dissent and criticism), aimed to address these issues. Additionally, Gorbachev ended military intervention to prop up communist governments in the Soviet sphere of influence. This led to democratic reform movements across Eastern Europe and within the Soviet Union itself, with states like Lithuania and Georgia declaring independence. The tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany further destabilized the Soviet Union, leading to its dissolution in 1991 and marking the end of the Cold War.