The Ending of Cold War Tensions (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
The End of the Cold War
Context and Bush's policy review
Following his election victory in November 1988, George H.W. Bush assumed the American presidency at a moment of dramatic change in international relations. Upon taking office, he ordered a comprehensive review of US policy towards the Soviet Union. Bush did not share the view that the Cold War had definitively ended, despite the transformations occurring across Eastern Europe. He faced political pressure to reassure the right wing of the Republican Party and demonstrate that he would not simply continue Reagan's approach without critical assessment.
Arms control negotiations with the USSR resumed in September 1989, occurring as communist control over Eastern Europe weakened and Gorbachev's ability to negotiate from a position of strength diminished rapidly. This timing was crucial - the Soviet Union was negotiating from an increasingly vulnerable position.
The Malta Summit and its aftermath
The December 1989 meeting
By the time Bush and Gorbachev met at Malta in December 1989, Eastern Europe had undergone transformations that exceeded mere recognition of change. Successive communist regimes had fallen from power across the region. This summit aimed to address the rapid political upheaval in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union's economic transition.
No formal agreements were signed at Malta; the primary objective involved discussing rather than codifying the dramatic shifts underway. The summit's significance lay in establishing informal understandings that would shape the Cold War's conclusion.
Economic agreements and the end of economic conflict
The Malta Summit marked the conclusion of the Cold War as an economic conflict between competing systems. The Soviet Union had begun moving away from the state-controlled centrally planned economic system mandated under communism towards a market-driven economy. This fundamental shift represented one of the most substantial changes in Soviet policy, as it acknowledged the failure of central planning to deliver prosperity comparable to Western capitalist economies.
Eastern Europe and non-intervention
Informal agreements reached at Malta concerned Eastern Europe's political future. Gorbachev made clear that the Soviet Union would not employ force to prevent Eastern European states from determining their own futures. This commitment marked a decisive break from the Brezhnev Doctrine, which had justified Soviet intervention to preserve communist regimes in its sphere of influence.
The principle of non-intervention removed the threat of Soviet military action that had previously constrained political change in satellite states. This was revolutionary - for decades, the threat of Soviet tanks had prevented Eastern European nations from choosing their own paths.
German reunification and the Baltic states
Regarding German reunification, less agreement emerged. Bush committed that the USA would not intervene in this matter, leaving decisions to the Germans themselves. Similarly, Bush agreed that the USA would not intervene in the Baltic states, despite the USA never having recognized Soviet annexation of these territories after the Second World War. Lithuania and Estonia had already begun demonstrating in favour of autonomy, seeking independence from the Soviet Union.
Arms control treaties
The Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (November 1990)
The Malta Summit paved the way for the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), signed by Gorbachev, Bush and other European leaders in Paris during November 1990. This treaty addressed conventional military forces rather than nuclear weapons. Gorbachev agreed to end the military superiority held by the Soviet Union in Europe, accepting limitations on the scale of military hardware any state could control.
These restrictions applied to tanks, artillery, armoured vehicles and other conventional weapons, fundamentally altering the military balance that had characterized Cold War Europe. The CFE Treaty effectively eliminated the Soviet Union's capacity to launch a conventional assault on Western Europe.
The Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (July 1991)
A final summit between Bush and Gorbachev took place in Moscow during July 1991, leading to the conclusion of START I and implementation of the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty. This agreement established specific numerical limits on nuclear arsenals:
| Category | United States | Soviet Union |
|---|---|---|
| Missile launchers | Fixed at 1600 | Fixed at 1600 |
| Warheads | Fixed at 6000 | Fixed at 6000 |
| Missile and bomb stocks | Reduced from 12,000 to 9000 | Reduced from 11,000 to 7000 (also agreed to cut ASS-20 warheads by 50 per cent) |
Additionally, both parties agreed that nuclear technology would not be passed to third party states, addressing concerns about nuclear proliferation beyond the superpowers. This provision was crucial in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to smaller nations or non-state actors.
The reunification of Germany
Helmut Kohl's objectives and NATO membership
In 1990, the future of East and West Germany emerged as a matter of pressing global concern, affecting the balance of power in Europe. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl pursued not merely the reunification of the two German states but also sought a united Germany as a full member of NATO. This prospect troubled the Soviets considerably, who regarded NATO expansion into East German territory as threatening.
They viewed East Germany as both a buffer zone protecting Soviet territory and an essential part of their sphere of influence built since 1945. Losing control of East Germany meant losing a crucial strategic position in Central Europe.
Gorbachev's agreement and motivations
In mid-July, Kohl met with Gorbachev, who initially expressed reluctance about NATO military resources expanding into East German territory. However, Gorbachev ultimately accepted what had become almost inevitable. The USSR faced acute financial difficulties, and Gorbachev proved prepared to compromise on this historically important issue if potential financial gain for the USSR could be secured.
He agreed to remove the Soviet military presence from East Germany and imposed no restrictions on German sovereignty. The reunification of Germany took place in October 1990.
Critical turning point: The Soviet agreement on German reunification represented an initiative taken by Gorbachev personally. He did not involve influential individuals such as Foreign Minister Shevardnadze or institutions like the Soviet Politburo in this decision. Whilst this represented another step toward ending the Cold War, Gorbachev's exclusion of other positions and personalities proved to be another step towards the dissolution of the USSR itself.
Implications for USSR stability
Gorbachev's increasingly isolated decision-making undermined his political support base within the Soviet system. By bypassing key advisors and institutions, he weakened the very structures that had maintained Soviet power and stability.
The collapse of the USSR and resignation of Gorbachev
Structure and nationalist pressures
The Soviet Union constituted a multiethnic and multilingual state comprising 15 republics. It had been held together primarily by force and the power of the Communist Party since its formation. Under Gorbachev's leadership, as the power of the Party inevitably diminished through his reforms, nationalist feelings that had remained latent for decades began to emerge strongly.
The fatal contradiction: Gorbachev's reforms aimed to liberalize the Soviet system whilst maintaining Communist Party control and territorial integrity. This proved ultimately impossible to reconcile. The weakening of Party authority that enabled political freedom also unleashed centrifugal forces that tore the Soviet Union apart.
The 15 republics included the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the largest), Ukrainian SSR, Belorussian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, Estonian SSR, Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Kazakh SSR, Uzbek SSR, Turkmen SSR, Tajik SSR, Kirghiz SSR, and Moldavian SSR. Each possessed distinct ethnic, linguistic and cultural characteristics, and many harboured historical grievances against Russian domination.
Formal dissolution
Gorbachev's influence in international relations finally came to an end in December 1991 when the Soviet Union was formally dissolved. The conclusion of the Cold War did not result simply from the outcomes of international summit agreements. Gorbachev's influence in ending the struggle extended beyond diplomatic negotiations. However, the internal contradictions of his reform programme proved ultimately impossible to reconcile.
Ethiopia: an illustration of Cold War's end
Why study Ethiopia? The case of Ethiopia demonstrates how the Cold War's conclusion affected Soviet client states globally, illustrating the wider implications of superpower disengagement beyond Europe.
A military junta led by Mengistu Haile Mariam had established the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1987, signalling that the country would function as a fully Marxist state under the Workers Party of Ethiopia (WPE). This regime received not only military but humanitarian assistance from the Soviet Bloc, including over 300 medical personnel from Cuba alone during the 1980s. Famine and drought continued to afflict Ethiopia, though the direction of relief from international organizations faced criticism. Ethiopia engaged in civil war and armed resistance from Eritrean nationalists who desired independence.
The combination of these two military engagements proved the undoing of the Marxist regime. The Ethiopian Army suffered a series of defeats in 1989, but Mengistu believed that provided the government maintained Soviet support, it could prevail. The events in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991 proved unsettling, particularly as the Soviets attempted to reduce their foreign expenditures.
In May 1991, as opposition forces approached the capital of Addis Ababa, Mengistu fled the country and found asylum in Zimbabwe. The new government, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, assumed power in May 1991 and promptly received assistance from the United States, even though its ideology retained Marxist roots and it opposed liberal democracy.
This relationship served more as a symbol of the rejection of the former communist regime than ideological agreement, demonstrating that as the Cold War ended, the importance of anti-communism in US foreign policy diminished markedly. Ideology became less important than geopolitical positioning and humanitarian concerns.
Remember!
Key Points to Remember:
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The Malta Summit in December 1989 established the principle that the Soviet Union would not use force to prevent Eastern European states from determining their own futures, whilst also marking the end of the Cold War as an economic conflict through Soviet movement towards a market economy.
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Two major arms control agreements followed: the CFE Treaty (November 1990) ended Soviet conventional military superiority in Europe, whilst START I (July 1991) imposed equal numerical limits on US and Soviet nuclear arsenals (1600 launchers and 6000 warheads each).
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German reunification occurred in October 1990 after Gorbachev agreed to withdraw Soviet forces and accept German NATO membership, motivated by the USSR's desperate financial situation rather than strategic calculation.
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The Soviet Union, a multiethnic state of 15 republics held together by Communist Party power, experienced rising nationalist movements as Gorbachev's reforms weakened Party authority, leading to formal dissolution in December 1991.
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Gorbachev's increasingly isolated decision-making, excluding figures like Shevardnadze and institutions like the Politburo, accelerated both the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR itself.