IB History Impact on Cold War Notes

Gorbachev's Role in Ending the Cold War - The Debate

1. Historians disagree over whether Gorbachev ended the Cold War through genuine vision or was forced by circumstances beyond his control
2. Triumphalist historians argue Reagan's military build-up and SDI (1983) forced the USSR to negotiate from a position of weakness
3. Revisionists counter that Gorbachev was a genuine reformer who chose to end confrontation - not because he was forced but because he believed in "new thinking"
4. Structuralists maintain the Soviet system was collapsing anyway - economic stagnation, imperial overstretch, and ideological exhaustion made the end inevitable
5. The IB exam rewards candidates who can weigh all three perspectives and reach a substantiated judgement on Gorbachev's significance
6. Gorbachev became General Secretary in March 1985 - the youngest Soviet leader since Stalin - inheriting a system in deep crisis
7. His aim was to save the Soviet system through reform, not to dismantle it - this is the central paradox of his legacy
8. By December 1991 the USSR had dissolved - Gorbachev had unwittingly presided over the end of superpower bipolarity

Arms Reduction and the End of the Nuclear Threat

1. The INF Treaty (December 1987) eliminated all intermediate-range nuclear missiles - the first treaty to abolish an entire class of weapons
2. Under the INF, 2,692 missiles were destroyed - including Soviet SS-20s and US Pershing IIs that had terrified Europe since the early 1980s
3. The START I Treaty (July 1991) reduced strategic nuclear warheads by roughly 35% on each side over seven years
4. START I capped warheads at 6,000 per side and delivery vehicles at 1,600 - a landmark in verifiable disarmament
5. The CFE Treaty (November 1990) set equal limits on conventional forces in Europe - tanks, artillery, aircraft - reducing the threat of a ground war
6. Gorbachev made asymmetric concessions - the USSR destroyed more weapons than NATO because it held larger stockpiles in Europe
7. At the Reykjavik Summit (October 1986) Gorbachev proposed total nuclear abolition - the talks collapsed but demonstrated his radical willingness to negotiate
8. Arms reduction transformed superpower relations from mutual assured destruction toward cooperative security - a fundamental shift in Cold War logic

Withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Third World

1. The Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) cost an estimated 15,000 Soviet lives and billions of roubles annually
2. Gorbachev called Afghanistan a "bleeding wound" and began troop withdrawals in May 1988 - completed by February 1989
3. The Geneva Accords (April 1988) formalised the withdrawal - the US and USSR both agreed to non-interference in Afghan affairs
4. Withdrawal signalled the end of Soviet expansionism - the USSR would no longer use military force to spread communism in the developing world
5. Soviet support for Third World allies - Cuba, Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua - was drastically cut as Gorbachev prioritised domestic reform
6. Cuba lost an estimated 4 dollars-6 billion in annual Soviet subsidies after 1989 - triggering its own severe economic crisis
7. The retreat from the Third World removed a major source of US-Soviet proxy conflict - reducing global tensions significantly
8. Gorbachev's UN speech (December 1988) announced unilateral cuts of 500,000 troops and withdrawal of 10,000 tanks from Eastern Europe

Abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine and the Revolutions of 1989

1. The Brezhnev Doctrine (1968) had justified Soviet military intervention to preserve communist regimes - as seen in Czechoslovakia (1968)
2. Gorbachev replaced it with the Sinatra Doctrine - "they can do it their way" - allowing Eastern Bloc states to choose their own political systems
3. Poland held semi-free elections in June 1989 - Solidarity won 99 of 100 Senate seats, forming the first non-communist government in the Eastern Bloc
4. Hungary opened its border with Austria in September 1989 - allowing thousands of East Germans to flee west, undermining the GDR
5. The Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989 - the most iconic moment of the Cold War's end, broadcast worldwide
6. Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution (November 1989) peacefully removed the communist government - Vaclav Havel became president by December
7. Romania was the sole violent exception - Ceausescu was overthrown and executed in December 1989
8. Bulgaria and the Baltic states also moved toward independence - the entire Soviet sphere collapsed within months
9. Gorbachev's refusal to deploy the Red Army against protesters in 1989 was the decisive factor - without Soviet tanks, communist regimes had no defence
10. The speed of the 1989 revolutions stunned the world - Poland took 10 years, Hungary 10 months, East Germany 10 weeks, Czechoslovakia 10 days

German Reunification and the Malta Summit

1. After the Wall fell, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl pushed for rapid reunification through his Ten-Point Plan (November 1989)
2. The Two-Plus-Four Treaty (September 1990) settled reunification - the two Germanys plus the US, USSR, UK, and France agreed on terms
3. Gorbachev accepted a unified Germany in NATO - a stunning concession that previous Soviet leaders would never have made
4. Germany was officially reunified on 3 October 1990 - the GDR ceased to exist and its territory joined the Federal Republic
5. The Malta Summit (December 1989) between Gorbachev and Bush declared the Cold War "over" - though no formal treaty was signed
6. At Malta both leaders acknowledged the shift from confrontation to cooperation - Bush carefully avoided humiliating Gorbachev with triumphalist language
7. The Charter of Paris (November 1990) formalised the new European order - 34 nations declared the "era of confrontation and division" had ended
8. Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1990 for his role in ending the Cold War - ironically, he faced growing hostility at home
9. German reunification proved that Gorbachev prioritised peace over Soviet strategic interests - losing a key buffer state to NATO without military resistance

Dissolution of the USSR and the Domestic Failure Paradox

1. The August Coup (19-21 August 1991) by communist hardliners attempted to reverse Gorbachev's reforms - it failed within three days
2. Boris Yeltsin emerged as the hero of the coup's defeat - standing on a tank outside the Russian parliament became an iconic image
3. After the coup, Soviet republics declared independence in rapid succession - Ukraine's referendum on 1 December 1991 was decisive
4. The Belavezha Accords (8 December 1991) - signed by Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus - declared the USSR "ceased to exist"
5. Gorbachev resigned as Soviet President on 25 December 1991 - the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time
6. By 31 December 1991 the USSR formally dissolved into 15 independent states - ending 74 years of Soviet rule
7. The central paradox - Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize abroad while being despised at home for economic chaos and the loss of superpower status
8. Domestically, perestroika failed - GDP fell, shortages worsened, and inflation soared, yet internationally Gorbachev transformed global politics
9. In Russia's 1996 presidential election Gorbachev received under 1% of the vote - illustrating his unpopularity among Russians who blamed him for collapse
10. The domestic vs international paradox is a key analytical theme - examiners reward essays that explore why success abroad coincided with failure at home

Historiographical Debate - Interpreting Gorbachev's Impact

1. The triumphalist school credits Western pressure - Reagan's military build-up, SDI, and economic warfare forced the USSR into concessions it could not afford
2. The revisionist school argues Gorbachev was a genuine reformer whose "new thinking" represented a sincere ideological shift, not a response to Western pressure
3. The structural school contends the Soviet system was collapsing from within - economic stagnation, technological backwardness, and imperial overstretch made the end inevitable
4. A balanced essay might argue Gorbachev accelerated an inevitable process - structural decline created the conditions, but his choices shaped how and when the Cold War ended
5. The key analytical question - was the Cold War's end peaceful because of Gorbachev's character, or would any Soviet leader have had to negotiate?