Roots of Russia, U.S distrust 4

U.S. RUSSIAN RELATIONS POST WW2

REAGAN GORBACHEV YEARS

Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, he immediately began a refurbishing of the U.S. Military. Part of his plan was a missile defense system that was a cause for concern in the USSR. The Soviets had put their resources after WW2, first into a large number of armored vehicles on the borders of western Europe, then shifted to mobile nuclear missiles and a large investment in intercontinental ballistic missiles. The introduction of a missile defense system could make much of their investment obsolete.

Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in March 1985, he was the first Soviet leader born after the revolution, he was 54 years old and had been in favor of reform for some time. He was appointed by the Politburo, so we can assume there were others who favored reform, and of course there were others who were suspicious of any changes. He introduced the policy of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring). According to Gorbachev, perestroika was the "conference of development of democracy, socialist self-government, encouragement of initiative and creative endeavor, improved order and discipline, more glasnost, criticism and self-criticism in all spheres of our society. It is utmost respect for the individual and consideration for personal dignity".

The stagnation of the Russian economy brought about by top down control, regulation and little incentive for creativity and hard work was a serious problem. The rate of alcoholism was severe and the famous Russian quote summed it up," we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us." The black market thrived for goods that were not produced by the government industry. While still a believer in socialism, Gorbachev set in motion a series of events that led to a desire for independence by most of the eastern European republics. This was started in Poland with the "Solidarity" movement in 1980, it was a series of non-violent strikes and other protests that eventually led to semi-free elections in 1989. While Gorbachev introduced the possibility of free elections and self government, he believed that they would continue as communist countries. While these reforms were moving forward Gorbachev made overtures to all the major western leaders and suspended the introduction of the soviets newest intermediate missiles. In November of  1985 he met Ronald Reagan in Geneva, and while no agreements were made they came away in a very friendly atmosphere.

In January 1986 Gorbachev proposed the elimination of all intermediate range missiles in Europe and also the possibility of the elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2000. He also began the process of  withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. On October 11 1986, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed in principle to eliminate INF missiles in Europe and limit them to 100  worldwide. They also agreed to eliminate Nuclear weapons by 1996. These overtures were all made by Gorbachev and found a willing partner in Reagan. In November 24,  1987 they signed the INF treaty in Geneva. In 1988 Gorbachev completed the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. In 1989 he abandoned the "Brezhnev Doctrine" and allowed elections in the former Warsaw pact countries. By 1991 all of the former soviet bloc countries had become independent. While there was an attempted coup in 1991 and much uncertainty in the future, this was an amazing accomplishment. On December 25,1991 Gorbachev resigned and the next day the flag of the Soviet Union was replace with the flag of the Russian Federation. On Dec. 27, 1991 Boris Yeltsin replaced Mikhail Gorbachev.

While Gorbachev had hoped to keep the union of the states intact, things spiraled out of control once freedom became an option. Those days in the Soviet Union will go down as a pivotal time in the 20th century, alongside WW1,WW2, and the great depression. To unwind the Soviet Union without a large scale civil war was an amazing accomplishment.

originally published 1/22/17 part 4 of 7