Account for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ending of the Cold War. Was the main reason for the collapse: (a) the rise of a new, youthful leadership cadre, (b) the USA's Strategic Defence Initiative ('Star Wars') (c) the expense of maintaining Soviet allies (d) some other factor(s)?
The end of the WWII marked the beginning of the cold war. The conflicts between the Capitalist bloc led by United States (US) and the Communist bloc led by Soviet Union (SU) put the world on the brink of war. However, a series incidents happened in 1980s including the reform of Gorbachev, the USA's Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) and the expense of maintaining Soviet allies destroyed the balance of power, leading to the collapse of the economic system and political system of SU. Eventually, they led to the collapse of SU and marked the end of Cold War. Thus, the ending of the Cold War was mainly due to the collapse of the SU.
English: A chart showing GDP for the Soviet Union ...
English: Map showing the maximum territorial exten...
The DneproGES, one of many hydroelectric power sta...This essay argues that the rise of a new, youthful leadership cadre was the main reason in causing the collapse of the SU and the ending of the Cold War because it was the core factor that shook both of the planned economy and communist ruling of SU. Consequently, it led to the collapse of the SU. This essay is going to analyse the factors leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ending of the Cold War with the comparison of each factors.
To commence with, a new, youthful leadership cadre led by Gorbachev carried a series of economic and political reform- Perestroika and Glasnost, which were proved to be a failure and eventually led to the 8.19 coup, which was the immediate cause of the collapse of SU. SU was facing...